#cancel-culture

#cancel-culture

I am no stranger to cancel culture. I was cancelled after 9/11 simply for being Middle Eastern, as Arab terrorists were behind the attacks on the twin towers. This is despite the fact that I am not Arab, nor am I, contrary to popular opinion, a terrorist. In certain circles there have been calls to boycott my UK tour Namaste, a show in which I try to explore the nuances of the complex geopolitical landscape of the Middle East.

Rather than restoring academic freedom, the Trump administration has tried to force private universities into accepting commissars to oversee whom they admit and what they teach. President Donald Trump decried the many civil and criminal cases against him and his supporters. Instead of ending lawfare, the president is publicly jawboning his attorney general into prosecuting his political antagonists, such as former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James, even when the underlying evidence seems weak.

For the longest time, I've been imploring people to share the risk, defend people in trouble who are outgunned by the media. The point being, even though you incur risk defending them, it's being shared, and that's how you beat the woke. Well, these a**hats never did that, Gutfeld said after showing images of Stelter, Kimmel, and Hayes. They sided with the mob at every turn, and they even came after us over and over. And now they desperately fake a heroic stance, swarming around a celebrity already designated by their industry as a defender of democracy, an anti-Trump icon.

While the interview began on a calm note, things quickly became heated after Lemon was asked about his involuntary departure from CNN a few years ago. After Lemon remarked, I don't believe in canceling people, Morgan questioned, Do you feel you were a victim of cancel culture at CNN? Um, I probably, answered Lemon. Probably yes. I'm sure that I was a victim of cancel culture.

In the days since Charlie Kirk's shooting, a level of performative concern about limiting speech critical of the slain conservative has spread far and wide. It's led to normally critical liberal pundits, like Ezra Klein, celebrating Kirk's life and work, while others have been fired for merely bringing attention to things Kirk has said via direct quote. This hypervigilant policing of speech critical of Kirk reveals hypocrisy on all sides.

Christopher Rufo took six months to contradict his own advice. In February, the conservative activist wrote that social-media posts "should no longer be grounds for automatic social and professional annihilation." This view won't come as a surprise to anyone who has followed Rufo's long crusade against left-wing cancel culture. By August, however, he had emulated his enemies, arousing outrage over a journalist's old tweets. The episode demonstrates not just his own hypocrisy but also why campaigns against unwelcome speech should always be resisted.

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For autistic adults, whose lives are already marked by significant challenges in social communication and interpretation, this cultural phenomenon can be especially dangerous.

Whitney Cummings remarked that those who were canceled often became household names, turning adverse situations into public relations successes, illustrating the paradox of cancel culture.

I am the reason why I'm in this situation. I think a lot of people wanted me to focus on cancel culture and whether I was a victim or not.

Trapt is in Pittsburgh tonight, and we had a couple venues cave to cancel culture in the last few weeks, and it was going to be really hard to do the show.