When “cancel culture” is fake news

Tired of hearing about “cancel culture”? Me, too.

This phrase is the latest cudgel or baseball bat being used by conservatives to whack progressives and fight back against what they perceive to be an all-out attack on tradition and good old-fashioned American values. It seems to have been picked up by almost everyone of a more conservative bent, from Fox News pundits to the former President to our own esteemed columnist of the Wakefield Daily Item (“Cancel culture on the ballot,” April 22).  

But upon closer examination, this use of “cancel culture” turns out to be fake news. Remember “fake news”? As I noted in an earlier piece, the term first emerged back before the 2016 election, when a handful of actual fake news sites began to appear, spreading shocking and completely false headlines in pursuit of clicks. The number of these sites grew until the former President cleverly coopted the term and began calling legitimate media channels “fake news.”

Similarly, the idea of “cancelling” someone first became a pop culture phenomenon years ago, mostly in reference to media (especially social media) reaction to bad behavior by celebrities, from the harsh condemnation of sex criminals like Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein to frothy fan outrage over a conversation between Taylor Swift and Kanye West. The idea grew and, once again, in a deft move of communication judo, media-savvy conservatives saw a political opportunity and began applying the term to progressive protest movements such as Black Lives Matter, or indeed to any criticism of the former Administration or conservative members of Congress. In a dark irony, the former President, in a 2020 address at Mt. Rushmore, said protesters had made cancel culture a “political weapon” when, in fact, it was the President’s own use of the term in that context which weaponized it.

This weaponization goes on and, in his most recent column, Mark Sardella turned his sites on Wakefield readers and opened fire. In an urgent tone, he declares that Tuesday’s ballot question on whether to keep or retire the Native American Wakefield Warrior mascot “is also a referendum on cancel culture…a chance for the normal people of Wakefield to push back against those who are tearing down our traditions left and right.” He repeatedly, and somewhat frantically, urges people to get out and vote, or else…cancel culture!

Actually, no, cancel culture is not on the ballot. Contrary to Sardella’s belief, Wakefield and the country are not going to hell in a hand basket. The world is not ending. But it is changing. We are making progress.

What we see with time and change and learning is that the past had a lot of problems built into it. And the ways of that earlier world allowed the problems to remain, in a sense, invisible or unheard to a certain extent. Now, because of events, because of technology and the transparency that it facilitates, and because of people’s response to events and their changing attitudes, deep problems that have always been with us are becoming more visible and audible. Think race in America and George Floyd. Think climate change and Greta Thunberg. Also, think Wakefield Warrior mascot and Wakefield plastic bag ban.

There will always be those who refuse to recognize change or deal with it and who fight it tooth and nail, as well as those who play on people’s fear and anger at the change. No doubt there was a similar, strong reactionary response to FDR’s New Deal, and to Voting Rights and Civil Rights progress and legislation in the 1960s. This response is predictable and human – people see change as threatening a way of life they’ve become comfortable with.

So one can see how the idea of “cancel culture” might have appeal for those who fear change. It’s a defense mechanism: “Don’t cancel me!” Sardella illustrates this on a personal level by writing about how he himself felt “cancelled” when his Facebook account was suspiciously suspended after, he alleges, “a group of people filed multiple phony reports against [him].” He cites as Exhibit A of cancel culture all of his many “detractors” who are “constantly trying…to get me silenced because they don’t like my opinion columns.” He calls it ironic that these folks think cancel culture is a myth.

Well, the really profound irony resides in Sardella and other pro-logo people calling those who want to move away from a Native American mascot “cancel culture.” I mean, seriously, look at our country’s history. Who in this picture has been truly cancelled? (Hint: it is no white Wakefield resident.) Also, given his years of writing columns filled with sarcasm and ridicule directed at progressive people and groups and causes, it is not so surprising that there are many people in town who are angry at Sardella and who want to silence him. That seems to me not so much cancel culture as it is chickens coming home to roost.

(For the record, I’ve never tried to silence Mark. I’ve said countless times in the Item that I appreciate his reporting. Also, I value our dialogue, such as it is, on various town issues. Interestingly, we’ve been on the same side of a few issues over the years and we used to be connected on Facebook. I noticed recently, though, that he had defriended me. Or should I say, he cancelled me?)

Change can be hard, and we can’t prevent ourselves from fearing it sometimes – it’s human. But no one is being cancelled here; nobody is erasing history. Fortunately, we can overcome our fear and learn to keep our minds open, to come to terms with change, to engage with it and help others deal with it, and move on, all the wiser for it. That’s leadership, and any one of us can be a leader in this way.

I urge you to vote No on the ballot question. It’s time to move forward.

© Jeff Kehoe