Human nature makes it tempting to put others’ actions in the worst possible light. Social media has made it commonplace. Woke cancel culture has made it almost a virtue.
This is how we get what we got Tuesday and Wednesday in the aftermath of a police shooting in Columbus: Celebrities, journalists, and Democrats raced to be the first to get it the most wrong. Liberals signaled their virtue and won woke points by stripping as much context as possible out of these tragedies. The difficulty in fitting the facts into the narrative simply made these contortions that much more admirable.
Being uncharitable to the unworthy, favoring politically correct narratives over facts, and stirring up mobs whenever possible are the pillars of cancel culture. “Accountability” has long been a euphemism cancelers hide behind in order to claim there is no such thing as cancel culture. Digging up old tweets to get someone fired, objecting to allowing a conservative to write for a major publication’s op-ed page, demanding the ability to police private conversations — that’s not authoritarian, censorious behavior; it’s simply “accountability.”
NBA star LeBron James knows the lingo. He also clearly knows the game: Facts don’t matter, the narrative matters.
The narrative is that white cops, as a rule, supposedly hunt down and try to kill black people and that it’s up to the mob to get justice. That’s why LeBron tweeted out an image of a white police officer who shot a black girl in Columbus, Ohio.
Of course, LeBron knew at the time (or should have known) that the officer shot a girl who was literally in the process of trying to stab another black girl.
On video, the incident certainly looked like attempted murder. Are police officers not supposed to stop that anymore?
It turns out intent doesn’t matter in the woke moral teaching, as we’ve regularly been told. Cancel culture does not allow for judging intent.
James deleted his tweet but never apologized for it. Apologizing is also outré, given that there is no forgiveness possible in Wokeism.
If only James were the only one out there misrepresenting the Columbus shooting.
Ma’Khia Bryant was only 16 years old—killed by police yesterday. She deserves justice and accountability. We must reform this deeply broken system. My heart is with Ma’Khia’s loved ones.https://t.co/XQDLWzxFNU
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) April 21, 2021
Hours after video of the shooting was released and liberal news outlets such as NPR had corrected their early incendiary stories, Sen. Cory Booker on Wednesday tweeted about “accountability” for the Columbus police officer, implying that the shooting was clearly unjustified.
Again, because cancel culture is about being on “the right side,” it typically requires a steadfast and long-term dedication to being wrong.
That’s why the Biden White House had to ignore context, pretend what happened didn’t happen, and cast a story as part of a narrative into which it doesn’t fit.
“She was a child,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said. “We’re thinking of her friends and family in the communities that are hurting and grieving her loss. We know that police violence disproportionately impacts black and Latino people in communities and that black women and girls, like black men and boys, experience higher rates of police violence.”
This is truly shameful. Psaki and President Joe Biden should apologize for trying to turn a cop who was just saving the life of a black girl into the racist practitioner of “police violence.” But they won’t apologize because it is now considered praiseworthy to twist facts into the worst possible interpretation for partisan gain.
Hating cops to the degree you’re willing to lie about them is now a virtue. The White House, LeBron James, and many Democrats are eager to signal that virtue.
