The automatic impulse to erase people completely from public life over real or perceived transgressions is absurd, and it does little to protect anyone from bigotry or anything else. That applies to Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, as well as it does to anyone else.
Ye has been dropped from various endorsement deals after he peddled several antisemitic tropes in yet another bid for attention. There is nothing wrong with companies deciding to cut ties with someone that would hurt their brand, particularly someone as volatile as Ye. But now, activists are trying to get his music removed from streaming platforms as well.
Spotify still allows convicted pedophile R. Kelly to remain on their platform so we’re not exactly shocked their CEO Daniel Ek is permitting Kanye West’s music to stay on.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 26, 2022
Should Kanye West’s Music Be Banned? https://t.co/zdIhynLE4o
— Variety (@Variety) October 25, 2022
KANYE WEST LOSES ADIDAS YEEZY PARTNERSHIP AFTER RAPPER’S ANTISEMITIC TWEETS AND REMARKS
Spotify has fortunately held its ground and declined to erase Ye from its platform. Netflix has also resisted calls to remove a documentary about Ye (not created or produced by him) from its streaming service. But you can expect a small group of activists to continue to demand censorship because tech companies in particular have emboldened these calls time and again by caving in to the mob.
The demand for censorship is entirely punitive, as it would not do anything to stop the spread of antisemitism. Ye’s music is not antisemitic, nor will it create antisemitism. Just as Spotify and Apple Music censoring YG’s album didn’t magically solve violence against Asian Americans, censoring “Gold Digger” or “Heartless” won’t solve antisemitism.
In fact, if anything, banning his music from the platform (and others) would only serve to reinforce the idea among his fans and others that there is some grand Jewish conspiracy targeting him.
Not only would the move punish consumers who simply want to listen to music they like and have no personal investment in the artist behind the art (just as people do listening to Michael Jackson, R. Kelly, and Tupac, among others), but it would actually fuel conspiracy theories, not quell them.
We have already seen this impulse in another case, when Jon Gruden was fired from the Las Vegas Raiders over leaked offensive emails. The Raiders’ desire to cut ties with Gruden was understandable, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ removal of him from their Ring of Honor for his coaching success was less so. And the EA Sports’s Madden franchise’s decision to erase him from the game was an egregious overreaction.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Censorship and erasure should always be the last resort, and it shouldn’t even be considered in most cases when someone says or does something offensive. Instead, our liberal culture has turned it into the first response for any controversy, with activists gleefully demanding immediate censorship in any and all instances. Censorship fixes nothing and, in most cases, it makes things worse. We would all be better off if we acknowledged that.
