The political divide in America could not be any deeper, especially on issues of identity.
Vestiges of this country’s brush with fascism during Trump’s presidency seem to have accelerated the production of a heightened “anti-woke” conservative agenda. Whether it is voter suppression in Georgia or anti-critical race theory legislation in Texas or right here in Wisconsin, Republican think tanks across the country are pushing out cookie cutter legislation attacking underrepresented demographics. And the right has entered the conversations about the place of identity in American politics by bemoaning the purported “cancel culture” of the left.
“We will not be silent in the face of Cancel Culture!” homophobe and former Vice President Mike Pence tweeted a few days ago. Never mind he’s tried to cancel LGBTQ workplace protections and gay marriage multiple times during his political career.
Tweets like this are part of a new trend among conservatives. In claiming themselves as victims, they skirt accountability for discriminatory policies or actions. By alleging the degeneration of civil discourse, they attempt to halt discussion they don’t agree with.
Some even take it as far as claiming that cancel culture is an infringement on their right to free speech and expression by the left.
“The biggest issue we’re dealing with when it comes to college campuses is cancel culture,” Scott Walker said in an interview with the National Review. Walker, while governor of Wisconsin, cancelled public school funding and collective bargaining so hard, he faced a recall election.
Now he makes his money by heading the Young America Foundation and played a huge part in the formation of the new Campus Free Speech Caucus launched by House Republicans — created specifically to “combat speech restrictions.”
“Unless you’re aligned with the radical Left, even moderates, let alone conservative voices, are not allowed to be heard,” Walker told the National Review.
Sorry Scotty, this is simply not true. Case in point, American history.
This new conservative boogeyman just doesn’t exist. What they call cancel culture is what people not in power call accountability. When there is an imbalance of power, calling out discrimination or abuse is sometimes the only tool working class people — especially minorities — have. The act of publicly shaming politicians and their policies, within reasonable parameters and contexts, is justice. Punching upwards is an attempt at equalization in a system that just makes the rich and powerful more rich and powerful.
The apprehension towards cancel culture comes not just from the right; it exists across the political spectrum.
“This idea of purity, and you’re never compromised, and you’re always politically woke and all that stuff, you should get over that quickly,” former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, said while talking with actor and activist Yara Shahidi at the third annual Obama Foundation Summit in 2019.
“The world is messy,” he added. “There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.”
In some ways, he is correct. People’s politics are deeply personal and subjective and political “purity” is perhaps not a very useful standard of measurement. But that does not mean that those who are intentionally hurting, discriminating, or targeting individuals on the basis of race, gender, age, religion, sexual orientation, or any other identifier get to hide from the consequences of their actions.
Yes, I am not always going to be right or educated about everything, but I never get to be an unchecked transphobe or a racist either.
Obama’s criticism plays into the idea that questioning, criticizing or debating in any context is toxic. But canceling cancel culture, as many interpreted Obama’s statement to advise, is suppression of dissent, plain and simple.
This isn’t to say that cancel culture can’t ever be incorrect, misinformed or misaligned. It absolutely will not be pure either. But checks on speech and human confrontation already exist. You have libel laws, standards of proof and common sense as buffers.
It is not a free-for-all.
The fixation of the right on cancel culture is nothing but a real-time response of powerful men coming to terms with a world that is rejecting their politics of divisiveness — a world that is asking for better representation, and representation that is diverse.
We as a society, though, have to deal with the guilt that accountability also brings. I understand that topics that are as touchy as identity are going to be absolutely new territory for many. And missteps are bound to happen — I am not always politically correct either. However, if my actions hurt another person and they tell me to do better, I listen. Their feelings far outweigh any shame I feel at being incorrect.
It is okay to be scared of being wrong.
However, growth and empathy are born of uncomfortability. And if we remember that, cancel culture will never be our problem.
Nada Elmikashfi is a former candidate for state Senate and chief of staff to state Rep. Francesca Hong.
