It’s not just conservatives who are sick of cancel culture and woke extremism. Even former President Barack Obama is speaking out against the far Left’s toxic attempts to shut down debate and “cancel” people for (increasingly minor) offenses.
“Sometimes Democrats are [buzzkills],” he said on a recent episode of Pod Save America. “Sometimes people just want to not feel as if they are walking on eggshells, and they want some acknowledgment that life is messy and that all of us, at any given moment, can say things the wrong way, make mistakes.”
“I think where we get into trouble sometimes is where we try to suggest that some groups are more … because they historically have been victimized more … that somehow they have a status that’s different than other people and we’re going around scolding folks if they don’t use exactly the right phrase,” Obama added.
CANCEL CULTURE IS A PROBLEM EVEN IF ITS VICTIM IS IN THE WRONG
The former president went on to offer up the example of his mother-in-law, whom he described as “an extraordinary woman.”
“But, as Michelle points out, she’s 86,” Obama explained. “Sometimes, trying to get the right phraseology when we’re talking about issues … that’s like her trying to learn Spanish. It doesn’t mean she shouldn’t try to learn Spanish. It means sometimes she’s not going to get the words right — and that’s OK.”
Whatever else they think of Obama, people across the political spectrum can likely appreciate a lot of what he had to say here.
A whopping 77% of people are concerned about cancel culture, polling shows, and many for the same reason as Obama. It’s a vindictive and intolerant phenomenon that doesn’t just affect celebrities but increasingly punishes everyday folks for simply saying the wrong thing in a way that happens to get noticed by internet mobs.
Yascha Mounk documented examples of these kinds of cruel, commonplace cancellations in an important piece for the Atlantic.
One such example was a Hispanic truck driver fired for making a “white supremacist” hand gesture (it’s actually just the OK symbol) after his employer experienced targeted harassment from internet mobs. In another example, Democratic data analyst David Shor was allegedly fired simply for neutrally tweeting the results of an academic paper. In yet another, an immigrant’s bakery business was destroyed — his lease was literally canceled — after online activists got upset over his teenage daughter’s racially offensive social media posts.
There are too many examples like this to count. And that’s not even getting into the countless celebrity “cancellations,” from Gina Carano to Kevin Hart, in which similar deficits of grace and proportionality were displayed.
Still, there’s reason to be hopeful.
Cancel culture is largely, but not exclusively, a left-wing phenomenon. As a result, the people perpetuating it aren’t ever going to be swayed by right-wing commentators. But the cancel culture crowd might just listen to folks on their side, such as Obama. More pushback from within the Left could finally help navigate us out of this mess.
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Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is a co-founder of Based-Politics.com, a co-host of the Based Politics podcast, and a Washington Examiner contributor.
