Jack Bernard: Democrats and Republicans both practice cancel culture
“The decision to withhold tenure from Hannah-Jones was a warning shot to other journalists and scholars — not just Black women, but especially Black women. The power structures of many states will not tolerate freedom of thought or too much success from some kinds of people.” — Siva Vaidhyanathan, writing in The Guardian
The term “cancel culture” has been used more and more in our political and social discourse, but much like Critical Race Theory (CRT), there is no commonly accepted definition. Was UNC-Chapel Hill withholding tenure from Nikole Hannah-Jones an example? Her 1619 Project, a reexamination of America's slave-holding past, earned her a Pulitzer Prize but has became a target of conservatives.
Pew Research did a poll asking Americans about cancel culture, and its findings were interesting. Nearly half of Americans had heard of the phrase, with 64% of those under 30 familiar with it. Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans were the most familiar with the term. But they defined it differently.
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The majority of Democrats tended to see it as meaning “actions taken to hold others accountable” whereas only 36% of Republican conservatives believed that was accurate. And, more than a quarter of GOP respondents saw it negatively as “censorship of speech or history.” Relatively large percentages of Republicans also believed that it meant “canceling anyone they disagreed with,” “mean-spirited actions meant to cause others harm” and “an attack on traditional American society.”
Conservatives have tried to say that only progressives employ cancel culture. However, specific examples of “cancel culture” abound in both the liberal and conservative spheres. A good example is the major GOP effort to stop Critical Race Theory, a college-level theory that examines racism's systemic impacts.
Unfortunately, many school districts are defining CRT as any mention of slavery and the harm that it has brought to our nation and its minority citizens. Harm that continues to this day in the form of poor educational status, health and economic well-being for African Americans. Ironically, these school districts in primarily red states want our teachers to ignore historical facts, i.e., engage in “censorship of speech or history.”
But the best example on the right is the censoring of history regarding the 1-6-21 insurrection that took place at the Capitol and was meant to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump. Trump and his followers have successfully convinced the majority of Republicans that the riot, which injured 140 law enforcement officers, was simply a peaceful protest.
On the left, there have also been cancel culture initiatives. Comedian Dave Chappelle was heavily criticized when he made some intemperate remarks about transsexuals in a 2021 Netflix special. A few years ago, comedian Kevin Hart homophobic tweets got him into trouble.
Whoopi Goldberg was suspended for two weeks from The View after making ignorant remarks about Jews and the Holocaust. Spotify talk show star Joe Rogan was caught repeatedly using the “n-word” on past shows. Many liberals called for his removal.
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And then there was the tempest in a teapot about Senator Al Franken’s sophomoric photo ogling a woman. Although he did nothing illegal, he was driven out of office by feminists in the Senate and elsewhere.
Each “cancel culture” instance is different and unique. Sometimes “cancel culture” actions are warranted. Other times they are not.
We must remember that we are all people. And people are fallible. Some transgressions are minor and forgivable. Others, like the assaults on teaching race relations and democracy, not so much. The key is distinguishing one from the other.
Jack Bernard is the former director of Health Planning for Georgia and a retired high-level executive with a healthcare corporation. He was one of the founders of Premier, Inc. in Charlotte. He is a widely published health reform columnist.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Opinion: Both Democrats and Republicans practice cancel culture
