Cancel Culture

Greg Gutfeld: Share the risk – How to end cancel culture, for good

After spending a segment on “The Five” debunking the “fine people” hoax perpetrated by Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in his acceptance speech at the convention last week, some nobody on Twitter (Tim Miller, who works for Bulwark, which I believe is a knitting circle for failed consultants), claimed that I had a “racist mentor.” So in one tweet, he was able to falsely incriminate me as part of a racist cabal, while smearing any number of people I’ve worked with (I’ve had a few great mentors in my life, luckily – none of them racist). Now, at this point, you (or I) can go two ways. We can ignore a troll, and assume such accusations will fade. Which can happen. But in this era, you can’t rely on that anymore. When someone calls you racist, you need to fight back. So, I did. I demanded he retract the slander. (You can find my tweets here.) When I confronted the smear merchant, he desperately and lamely tried to defend himself, without assuming culpability. I wouldn’t have it. I kept the pressure on and I enlisted others to help me. I asked that my friends and fans “share the risk.” Because that’s the only way to defeat cancel culture. As the cowardly writer started to experience the overwhelming wrath of decent-minded people calling him out, he deleted the inflammatory attack – but not without claiming he did so, only because it became a hassle. Which is the point. To get cowards like him to stop wielding loaded terms and inflammatory smears that incite violence, you must make it a hassle. That is the point. It’s applying the logic of MAD, or mutually assured destruction, to the clowns behind cancel culture. The only reason the troll came after me in the first place, is because there was no hassle involved – in fact, there’s a low barrier to entry in the cancellation Olympics. He thought he could call me racist, and get away with it – and if I ignored it, he would have been right. Instead, I came with guns blazing – thereby raising the stakes for his smears – so that he realized that, yes, it should truly become a hassle once you falsely accuse someone of racism! Duh! MAD worked! There has never been a more important time to share the risk than right now. When a friend or even a foe, comes under fire – it’s up to all of us to step up and defend each other. In short, we all must share the risk, so the Bulwark ghouls and others like them learn quickly that they’re about to make a huge investment when they wrongly smear people. Making them pay (literally or metaphorically) is the only way to teach them a lesson. THAT is the solution to cancel culture. Fact is, those who accuse you of non-criminal acts in public, do so to ruin you in the public square. And they do this to scare you into compliance – painting targets on your back, and the backs of your family. Without a challenge, they will continue to harass, smear and cancel you – as they not-so-subtly encourage violence to head in your direction. If we do not join together and turn our collective power toward the smear gremlins (again, sharing that risk), the gremlins win. When someone you know, or even don’t know, is falsely smeared, you must defend them. Raising the possibility of swift and brutal punishment in the public square will likely cause all canceling cowards (who initiate this fight) to scamper away (like the Bulwark one did with me). It’s a way to silence the silencer – to instill fear in those who wish to instill fear in you. If you don’t understand this yet, trust me, one day soon, you will.e

Indeed..  Well said, Greg.  As usual, Greg Gutfeld nails it with his dry wit and sarcasm.  The so-called “cancel culture” is a plague and a cancer in our society.  Glad to see him fight back and not take it.  Thanks Greg!!    🙂

Ricky Gervais Blasts Cancel Culture — Getting People Fired Is ‘Not Cool’

Comedian and former Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais is speaking out about the dangers of cancel culture once again. The often controversial comedian and creator of the U.K. version of “The Office,” is often outspoken about cancel culture’s impact on the world of comedy and constantly lambastes fellow celebrities for engaging in it. Speaking in an interview with Metro, he explained that the meaning of cancel culture is different depending on who you ask, but he personally boils the definition down to simple dollars and cents. “Everyone’s got a different definition of cancel culture,” the 59-year-old explained. “If it is choosing not to watch a comedian because you don’t like them, that’s everyone’s right. But when people are trying to get someone fired because they don’t like their opinion about something that’s nothing to do with their job, that’s what I call cancel culture and that’s not cool.” He added: “You turning off your own TV isn’t censorship. You trying to get other people to turn off their TV because you don’t like something they’re watching, that’s different.” Gervais explained that everyone has a right to essentially vote with their dollar by not supporting people who publicly hold an opinion or stance that they personally disagree with. However, he believes the danger comes when people demand everyone else to fall in line behind how they feel about someone. He went on to share a story about a negative reaction he got to a recent tweet in which he quoted Winston Churchill that he says demonstrates exactly what he’s talking about. “I did a tweet a month ago about freedom of speech, quoting Winston Churchill. Someone came back with, ‘You know he was a white supremacist?’ And I wrote back, ‘Not in that tweet he isn’t.’ It’s like if someone did something once that’s wrong, everything they did was wrong,” he said. “You are allowed to have things in common with bad people as long it’s not the bad things. I’m a vegetarian and I love dogs, like Hitler. But the only thing I have in common with Hitler are the good bits!” This is far from the first time that Gervais has commented on the proliferation of cancel culture. He previously sat down for an interview on talkRadio in the U.K. and explained that he feels his beloved sitcom “The Office” could never be made today because it wouldn’t stand up to the “new weird sort of fascism” that all content is now subjected to.

Again, Ricky nails it.  We love how he takes on the self-righteous, entitlement-minded, extreme liberals in HollyWEIRD over their brazen hypocrisy. And, to be clear..  Ricky is a self-described “snowflake” liberal himself.  We appreciate and respect his integrity.  Thanks Ricky!!      🙂

Michigan inn removes Norwegian flag as residents falsely believe it’s the Confederate flag

A case of mistaken identity has caused the owners of a Michigan bed and breakfast to remove a Norwegian flag from the front of the inn after dozens of people confused the flag with a Confederate flag, a report said. When Greg and Kjersten Offbecker moved into the historic mansion in St. Johns years ago and turned it into a bed and breakfast called Nordic Pineapple, they installed the flag as a decoration and hung an American flag next to it, WLIX reported. However, dozens of guests and people driving by the inn have wrongly accused the couple of flying a Confederate flag. “They are the same color, but there are no stars on the Norwegian flag, and the Confederate flag is a big ‘x’ and the Norwegian flag is part of the Nordic countries, they’re all crosses,” Kjersten Offbecker said. Last week, the couple decided to remove the flag as part of a new marketing campaign, the report said. “We started to have this concern that it was deterring people away from coming to our bed and breakfast,” Offbecker said. “That they would see it and make this judgment.” Offbecker said the flag was hung as a way for her to represent her heritage, but with the confusion, she took it down because it was not worth the frustration, the television station reported. She said they have received cruel emails and phone calls over the confusion of the flag. “What we’re getting is so much more negative now,” she said. “It’s not just, ‘hey you’re flying the Confederate flag.’ It’s, ‘you should be ashamed to fly the Confederate flag. You’re a bigot because you fly the Confederate flag.’” Some people are even convinced the home was built by Confederate leaders, the report said. In fact, it was built by union workers for the daughter of the Saint Johns founder. The couple still wants to fly the Norwegian flag and is trying to find a new way to accomplish that without getting complaints.

Some people are so incredibly stupid!  And, just think…many of them are registered to vote.  Be afraid.  These poor people!!  If you’re Michigan and looking for a place to stay, look this Bed and Breakfast up and consider giving them your business.  For more on this story, click on the text above.

GOP reps push resolution to ban Democratic Party over past slavery ties

A group of Republican House members, led by Rep. Louis Gohmert of Texas, introduced a resolution Thursday that would effectively ban the Democratic Party from the House or force a party name change over past slavery ties — a response to the recent efforts to remove tributes to past members of the Confederacy from the halls of Congress. It specifically cites the Democratic Party platform’s support for slavery between 1840 and 1856, and other racist actions by party members through the early-to-mid 1900s, before calling on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to “remove any items that names, symbolizes or mentions any political organization or party that has ever held a public position that supported slavery or the Confederacy” from the House and its properties. The resolution also says such a party “shall either change its name or be barred from participation in the House of Representatives.” Gohmert, in a statement accompanying the bill, told Democrats they should rebrand to “avoid triggering” anyone. “As outlined in the resolution, a great portion of the history of the Democratic Party is filled with racism and hatred,” Gohmert said. “Since people are demanding we rid ourselves of the entities, symbols, and reminders of the repugnant aspects of our past, then the time has come for Democrats to acknowledge their party’s loathsome and bigoted past, and consider changing their party name to something that isn’t so blatantly and offensively tied to slavery, Jim Crow, discrimination, and the Ku Klux Klan.” He added: “To avoid triggering innocent bystanders by the racist past of the Democratic Party, I would suggest they change their name. That is the standard to which they are holding everyone else, so the name change needs to occur.” The resolution’s co-sponsors are Reps. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., Jody Hice, R-Ga., Randy Weber, R-Texas, and Andy Harris, R-Md. It is unlikely to pass, but appears to be meant more as a criticism of allegedly “blatant hypocrisy” around the House’s approval of a measure removing Confederate busts in the Capitol this week. Weber, speaking on the House floor after Gohmert introduced his resolution, criticized “cancel culture.” “The cancel culture train, H.R. 7573, that passed yesterday, was wrong on a deep level. I’m not going to get on that cancel culture train that says we have to do away with any mention or remembrance of everybody or everything that we don’t agree with, or that might have said something we don’t like, didn’t like, or that might have stood for something that we don’t stand for,” Weber said. Because the resolution is privileged, it takes priority over other business on the House floor. And assuming it isn’t dispensed with via voice vote, lawmakers would likely be forced to go on the record on the resolution, even if that’s through a motion to table it or refer it to a committee.

HAHAHA!!!  FINALLY!!  Finally someone is calling out the Dems caving to the cancel culture of their mob constituency on their spectacular hypocrisy!  Of course, this will go nowhere.  But, hopefully it’ll get to a point where these self-serving, grandstanding, Democrat hypocrites are forced to vote on such a measure…and go on the record.  MAJOR kudos to Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) and the other GOP legislators who sponsored this resolution, and for calling these nauseating Democrats out.  Outstanding!!!     🙂

Ricky Gervais Slams Cancel Culture as a ‘Weird Sort of Fascism’

British actor Ricky Gervais raged against the rising tide of political correctness and cancel culture in the wake of the Black Lives Matter uprising, describing it as a “weird sort of fascism” fueled by trendy myths. “There’s this new, weird sort of fascism of people thinking they know what you can say and what you can’t,” Gervais said in an interview with talkRADIO. “There’s this new trendy myth that people who want free speech want to say awful things all the time. This just isn’t true. It protects everyone.” Gervais also bemoaned the growing level of exaggeration across the political divide, a trend he says is worsened by social media.”If you’re mildly left-wing on Twitter, you’re suddenly Trotsky, right?” he said. “If you’re mildly conservative, you’re Hitler and if your centrist and you look at both arguments, you’re a coward.” The 59-year-old recently said in an interview with Times Radio that his breakthrough comedy show The Office would struggle to find success or even be allowed on television today. “I think now it would suffer because people take things literally,” he said of the British mockumentary series, in which he starred as David Brent, the hapless and cringeworthy manager of a paper company Wernham Hogg. The show was so successful it was adapted into a U.S. version featuring Steve Carell that ran for nine seasons and won multiple awards. Last week, Gervais admitted that cancel culture at places such as the BBC, which is funded by British taxpayers, had made people fearful of losing their jobs and livelihood. “People want to keep their jobs, so would worry about some of the subjects and jokes, even though they were clearly ironic and we were laughing at this buffoon being uncomfortable around difference,” he explained. “I think if this was put out now, some people have lost their sense of irony and context.”

No kidding…pun intended.   Ricky is back at it, and we love it!  Remember when he roasted everyone present at the Oscars?  It was awesome!  Google it, if ya missed it.   🙂

Conservatives rally around Goya amid calls for boycott over CEO’s pro-Trump remarks

A number of prominent conservatives have offered their support for Goya Foods as it faces mass calls for boycott over its CEO’s decision to praise President Trump. On Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, tweeted: “Goya is a staple of Cuban food. My grandparents ate Goya black beans twice a day for nearly 90 years. And now the Left is trying to cancel Hispanic culture and silence free speech. #BuyGoya” President Trump similarly tweeted “I LOVE @GoyaFoods!” amid the backlash. Figures such as former model Chrissie Teigen had advanced the boycott as a way to retaliate against CEO Robert Unanue, who appeared beside Trump at a White House event this week. “We’re all truly blessed at the same time to have a leader like President Trump, who is a builder,” he said. Trump was promoting the White House Hispanic Prosperity Initiative, which is designed to expand educational and economic opportunities for Hispanic-Americans. While criticizing the boycott, “The View” co-host Meghan McCain warned that it might result in job loss during the difficult economic problems begot by the coronavirus pandemic. “It seems weird & callous to boycott a company who supplies food to the masses and employs 4,000 people during a pandemic,” she said in a post retweeted by conservative author Ben Shapiro. “No matter what your politics, who wants more people out of work? Almost every CEO, boss, & person I interact with and consume products from disagrees with me.” Conservative commentator Charlie Kirk also ripped the boycott, suggesting it would harm minorities. “Imagine boycotting one of America’s largest minority-owned businesses and thinking that you’re doing something to end racism,” he tweeted on Friday. “That’s the current mindset of the leaders of the Democrat party.” Meanwhile, the boycott has received support from figures like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. “Oh look, it’s the sound of me Googling ‘how to make your own Adobo,'” she tweeted alongside a call for the boycott. Teigen pushed back on the idea that she was hurting Goya’s workers, and vowed to financially help the farms affected. “The next step republicans [sic] will do (mark my words, they did this with my equinox tweets as well) is say you aren’t supporting the workers if you boycott,” Teigen tweeted. “You ARE. They should never feel they have to work for someone who agrees Mexicans are ‘vile’ ‘rapists,'” she wrote, a reference to remarks by Trump at the very start of his presidential campaign in 2015. Unanue has refused to back down and called the pushback against him visiting the White House “suppression of speech.”

Good for Mr. Unanue for standing his ground and not letting the cancel-culture mob win.  Excellent!!     🙂

Gutfeld on the open letter against cancel culture

One hundred liberal writers signed an open letter in Harper’s Magazine condemning cancel culture as an attack on free thought. To which I say: better late than never. A wise man once said that every good deed could’ve been done sooner. So I applaud them for joining the fight – finally. Even though some of them didn’t seem to mind cancel culture when it takes aim at people like you or me. In fact, some of them did take aim at me. And maybe you! But now it’s targeting them. They could lose a book deal! Hence, the letter. It’s the old adage that liberals should have learned: you can be nice to a crocodile, but he’ll still eat you, albeit last. So the open letter is cute. But why not actively defend people who are being canceled who aren’t part of this elite group? Why not help those who’ve lost their jobs – not just speaking engagements? Instead, they say they want to end cancel culture because its existence helps President Trump. No, you should want to end it because you helped create it – it rose from the toxic mud of academia, energized by the cowardice of liberals in the media, politics and business. The cancelers can smell their fear. So if you say something they don’t like they’ll contact your workplace and hound your bosses online until you’re fired. The First Amendment matters little if they can still ruin your career and life. Tuesday I asked: Where is the silent majority? The answer: in hiding from an unstable and angry mob. The open-letter warriors should fight for them, not just themselves. The people who make a stupid mistake and lose their jobs and don’t have rich friends. I mean, we could win if we fight this thing together. Do it alone and you lose.

As usual, Greg Gutfeld nails it.  What’s good for the goose, is good for the gander.  To see the open letter he’s referring to, click on the text above.  This was adapted from Greg Gutfeld’s monologue (also known as a “Gregologue”) on “The Five” on July 8, 2020.  Excellent!

Opinion/Analysis: Biden Would Prefer You Obey the Law, But You Know, Whatever

What kinds of political vultures sit around bobbing their nasty little heads in search of rotten carrion after a human catastrophe? Well, Democrats, of course! (Joe Biden is the first vulture in history to get hair implants on his pale, beady little head. Which only makes him look even more unfit for civilized company.) Emerging from the worst economic collapse in U.S. history, the country last month posted the largest job expansion in U.S. history. But that was nothing according to Mr. Biden, who, along with President Barack Obama, presided over the slowest economic recovery in U.S. history. “There’s no victory to be celebrated,” complained Mr. Biden. “We are still down nearly 15 million jobs and the pandemic is getting worse, not better,” he said in a scripted, recorded video released by his campaign. Again, this from the guy who oversaw the slowest recovery in U.S. history talking about the fastest recovery. You start to see a pattern emerging here? In this titanic struggle between humans and the Wuhan Virus, these people are rooting for the pandemic. Anything for their own personal, political gain. In other words, more dead Americans mean more roadkill for them. And while they are at it, why not gin up some riots. After all, these are the very same people who think nothing of stoking racial discord for their own benefit. Loot some stores, firebomb some police stations and terrorize people in their homes. Just more dead people for them to pick through! The lawless governor of Virginia has conspired with the lawless mayor of Richmond to join the riots by pulling down statues on public property that hurt their feelings. Actually, these statues don’t hurt Gov. Ralph Northam’s feelings. He could not care less about anyone’s feelings. He just needs to get ahead of the nearest mob. Remember, this is the same guy who dresses up in blackface or wears a KKK hood just for fun. But he cannot remember which. Either way, the picture of him in blackface or a KKK hood is all he or his family will ever be remembered for. Which perhaps is why he has such lust in his heart to take down the statues of men who were loved and revered in their own time. It is a statue fixation he has. Compensating for something. His own inner demons. Neither Mr. Northam nor the Richmond mayor were on hand as the statues were removed by crane this week along Monument Avenue. City Councilman Mike Jones attended the removal of the statue of Stonewall Jackson. “It’s dope to see African Americans assist in taking them down but we didn’t have a voice in putting them up,” Mr. Jones told a blogger from a website called Courthouse News Service. “They came down because black, white, Latinx — we all came together to make it happen.” (Quick research on the Internet revealed “Latinx” is a newly invented “gender neutral” term for Latinos and Latinas. In addition to history and statues and freedom, our Virtue Czars are also determined to tear down gender.) Anyone hoping that Mr. Biden — once he is done picking through the carcasses of the cratered economy and pandemic — might stand up for the rule of law would be hopelessly mistaken. Asked about violent mobs tearing down statues, Mr. Biden said, “It’s always better to do it peacefully, but …” “But???” Peacefully? Or lawfully? Oh, never mind. There is a “distinction,” he said, between monuments to Thomas Jefferson and statues lawfully erected in the South to remember Confederate generals after the Civil War. “I think it’s better,” he said, if the monuments are taken down lawfully. “But I can understand the anger and anguish that people feel by having for years and years been under the statue of Robert E. Lee, if you’re an African American,” he said. “But don’t expect if you have sitting in front of you after all these years and we finally — finally — are going through another phase of maybe responding to the systemic racism in America and what we’ve seen happen, is don’t be surprised if someone pulls down the statue of [Confederate President] Jefferson Davis.” In other words, the man who wants to be commander-in-chief and oversee the Department of Justice — the highest executive in the land — would prefer that people obey the law and not tear down statues. But, you know, whatever. Joe Biden may be a lot of things, but one thing he ain’t is Atticus Finch. UPDATE: I would like to issue a formal apology to vultures. They provide a real service to humankind and do not deserve to be compared to Joe Biden or any other Democrat, regardless of whether they have hair plugs or not.

Ouch!  That brutal smack-down of Joe Biden, and company, was courtesy of veteran columnist Charles Hurt.  Charlie can be reached at churt@washingtontimes.com or @charleshurt on Twitter.    Excellent!!     🙂