Cancel Culture Comes For Everyone
Cancel Culture Comes For Everyone
And hypocrites abound
I have a confession to make
This article has been difficult to write. If people like reading my content, I like to think it’s because I am saying something interesting and original. I hope it’s not because I’m only repeating things people already believe. I’m not interested in just being an echo chamber. At the same time I don’t want to be a contrarian just for the sake of disagreeing. More than anything I like poking fun at ridiculous people.
The problem with writing about cancel culture is that I’m not sure I have anything original to say. The fact is that almost everyone agrees that stifling people with non-mainstream opinions is un-American and unproductive. Certainly the vast majority of my readers believe that.
Recent polling has come out on the COVID misinformation nonsense and as it turns out something like 85% of Republicans, 75% of independents, and like 55% of Democrats are not in favor of censoring people. The problem is that the 45% of Democrats who don’t agree, drive the narrative.
I think most of us have a pretty good understanding of that. I think most of us agree that canceling people who say something offensive doesn’t work. Most of us agree that the cure for bad speech is more speech. So after a couple of rewrites, this is my take on the situation with Rogan, Whoopi & The View hens, and others. I hope it adds something to the conversation beyond what everyone is already saying.
—Virgil
I have second a confession to make
I kind of like Whoopi Goldberg. I know… I’m a male and a conservative. I am annoyed by The View and can’t imagine ever watching it. But I like Whoopi Goldberg. I have ever since I was a kid. I like her attitude and her black New York accent and affect. I’ve known several women who remind me of her, and I also like them. I also thought Sister Act was a great movie… and she was good in Ghost.
I’m not as fond of her “old lady on The View” persona, but as I’ve already explained, I don’t watch The View. From what I can tell the entire show is nothing more than a group of old ladies misremembering something they heard at their canasta game. Is it annoying? Yes. But The View isn’t made for me… the same way that the Joe Rogan Experience isn’t made for horrible old witches. C’est la vie. We don’t all have to like everything.
Even so, I still do kind of like Whoopi Goldberg. I think she has a good heart, and I have never seen anything out of her that makes me believe she wants to hurt anybody. She’s obviously a big lefty… I mean how could she not be? She has been in the Hollywood “in crowd” since the 80’s.
Having said that, the only times I’ve ever seen her get political is when she believes she’s helping someone. She’s vocal about gay rights, and she cares about race issues, sexism, and poor people. Is she always right? No, she’s almost never right. But from what I can tell, she is always coming at it from a good place. She’s an old school liberal that way… she thinks things should be fair and that mistreated people should be treated better. What’s not to like about that?
Whoopi’s Holocaust Whoopsi
I’m not going to go into what she said. It’s on tape if you haven’t heard it, and if the racism meter goes from 1-10, that was about a 3.5. Nobody believes Whoopi Goldberg is an anti-semite. Nobody thinks she was justifying the holocaust. She just happened to say something stupid when the right was looking for a target. She’s an aging actress on a bad TV show, not a guide at the Holocaust Museum.
It is also worth noting that had such a comment come from Meghan McCain or another conservative, she would not have been suspended for two weeks. She would have been fired… and Joy Behar would not be defending her. I don’t think anyone could or would argue with that.
What we have to understand about the Holocaust Whoopi Whoopsi is that this is all just theater. It’s a show. They suspended her because it’s good for business. Nobody is actually mad. Nobody is actually offended. Nobody actually cares. It’s just show business. Controversy sells… and if that’s surprising to you, you should probably grow up.
Joe Rogan said the no no word
Rogan has been under attack too. Everyone in media has been talking about it for over a week. It was almost over, and then some clown dug up some old podcasts where he said the “n-word”… and I don’t mean niggardly.
Like Whoopi, nobody on earth thinks Rogan is a racist. It’s not like someone secretly taped him telling his friends that “they” shouldn’t be allowed to come in the white people door. He used the word in the context of discussing its usage and meaning on several episodes of his podcast. You know, that podcast with millions of listeners…
Then some intrepid, deep diving internet sleuth / race baiter went on YouTube and made a supercut of several videos where this took place. Again… these supposed transgressions had already been heard by millions of people. And that clown pretended to be offended. I can’t roll my eyes hard enough.
But here’s the rub, everyone understands this and nobody actually cares, except maybe Joe Rogan, who seems to be a decent person and is horrified that he might have hurt someone. So why the outrage? Simple… it’s called show business.
Every time someone writes an article about Joe Rogan, people read it and money gets made. He’s a juggernaut. The left likes to hate him for reasons spelled out in my last article, and the right gets clicks and views when they write about how he’s under attack.
Spotify has done nothing but support him, yet every article you find on Daily Wire or Fox News implies that they are about to drop him. His fan base is incredibly loyal, they aren’t going to abandon him. Even if Spotify did drop him… he’d be on some new platform in about 30 minutes and Spotify would then have the same amount of listeners as Morning Joe.
It’s simple economics. People write about subjects their readers are interested in. The Rogan article I wrote was more read and got better distribution than anything else I’ve written on Substack. It was shared around and led to new subscribers. It’s very tempting to just keep doing that. The difference is that I don’t want to take part in cynicism or outrage for outrage sake… even though it would just be among we happy few.
I’m proud of that article and I meant what I wrote… and I think it was original and different from what others are saying. But to follow that up by parroting Ben Shapiro would be dishonest, even if it was popular. (Oh no! The Rock is mad too! But he made fun of Chinese people!)
I’d rather just say what I think. I’m a Joe Rogan fan. I think he is an important cultural figure. The attacks on him are unfair and dishonest. But I also think he’s going to be just fine.
Joy Reid is a bigot
Joy Ried is a racist, homophobic scumbag. She’s also incredibly dumb. Over the years she has taken part in as much indefensible behavior as anyone in public life.
She wrote terrible things about gay people. She constantly trades on complicated and painful race relations to sew discord among the American people… and she does it for a profit. In my opinion, she is one of the most despicable human beings to have ever been given a microphone.
I am not for cancelling her either. I don’t think she should be thrown off the airwaves for her disgusting opinions. I don’t think she should be dragged in front of some group of power gays, and be made to grovel. I don’t think she should have to give money to causes she doesn’t believe in just so the lavender mafia doesn’t show up at her house and play Lady Gaga real loud or whatever they do.
This is America. We don’t all have to agree. She has her platform for one reason, because MSNBC believes that she is the best avenue for profit in her time slot. She isn’t there because she is right, moral, or honest… she is there because the stockholders of her company make money with her there.
The moment they don’t, Joy Reid will be sitting in a basement making unhinged YouTube videos right next to Keith Olbermann. Do I think she is a hideous homophobic racist? Yes… But her show isn’t for 42 year old, white, conservative, gay, libertarians. We’ve got Rogan.
I’m fine with Joy Reid and her show. I reserve the right to call her a bigot and not watch it, but I’m not about to take part in some mass boycott of her advertisers or write letters to MSNBC or anything else. It’s a free country. Say whatever you want. It really is that simple.
Never apologize
The one caveat here is that we must stop taking part in cancel culture. We all have a moral responsibility to support our fellow countrymen’s right to speak… even when we don’t like what they say… especially when we don’t like what they say.
We need to have a little faith that the vast majority of our fellow citizens are smart enough not to let some pied piper lead us into racism or away from medical treatments that work. Keep in mind, with all the racist nonsense out there, there are very few actual racists. For all the talk about COVID “misinformation”, something like 75% of adults in America are vaccinated… including something like 95% of people in vulnerable classes. We don’t have to shut people up, we just have to live our own lives and make our own decisions.
And finally, when the mob comes for you… never explain yourself. Never backpedal. Never apologize. Don’t give them an inch because they cannot be satiated.
We are raised to believe that when we make someone mad or say something wrong, we should apologize. That seems right to most people. But it only works if the other side is acting in good faith. The moment you backpedal or apologize to someone not acting in good faith, all you have done is admit your transgression. Among those for whom every transgression is a capital offense… the only punishment they will accept is death.
So give not one inch.
Non Sequitur
First, just a quick note to the new Line of Fire subscribers… Welcome and thank you so much for signing up! I love writing these articles and it’s no fun if people don’t read them, so please share with a friend or on your social media page. And thanks again for being here.
Second, I watched a great interview with Jay Leno on Howie Mandel’s podcast. I have to tell you, I really do like Jay. He’s a real class act. He talks pretty openly about the late night wars, which I found very interesting. Check it out if you’re interested.
Happy Sunday all!
—V