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Woke Beyond Repair: Where Cancel Culture Falls Short
In many ways, 2020 is the most woke era we’ve ever lived through. When celebrities or other individuals with platforms say or do something offensive, cancel culture comes for them with a vengeance. They get flooded with negative comments on social media, the mainstream media follows suit with admonishing articles, and the shamed perpetrator gives a public apology.
And in most cases, there’s nothing wrong with that. If someone uses their platform and influence to spread bigoted ideas, it is your First Amendment right to cancel the hell out of them.
The media loves to cancel people. It’s newsworthy stuff, and it sure generates a lot of ad revenue. But where I take issue is the blatant hypocrisy with which we cancel some bigots, but not others.
Religious intolerance is not culturally acceptable these days—think Islamophobia or anti-Semitism—except when it comes to Scientology. Certain newspapers and TV networks have tried to make it trendy to bash the religion.
How many more Scientologists have to be discriminated against, harassed or even murdered before this bigotry is socially unacceptable?
Leah Remini has used anti-Scientology hate speech to stay present in the tabloid media and prop up her long-dead career. She filed false police reports, freely admitted she never vets her sources, and paid criminals (whom she describes as “her people”) to be “witnesses” on her show. After the show incited hate crime and the murder of a Scientologist last year, it was finally cancelled.
Even as Scientologist parishioners selflessly volunteered during the pandemic, helping to sanitize local businesses and hand out informational booklets on how to stay well, certain media outlets criticized their efforts, as if helping people was somehow scandalous.
These “news” stories are thinly veiled attempts at boosting ad revenue by attempting to stir up controversy where there is none.
How many more Scientologists have to be discriminated against, harassed or even murdered before this bigotry is socially unacceptable?
People have a right to live their lives as Black, gay, trans, Jewish, Christian, female, old, young, or whatever—including Scientologist.
Scientology is a religion protected under the First Amendment. Its members are well-meaning, productive people. And they don’t deserve hate crime, death threats, or bigotry propped up by the tabloid media.
The media institutions that propagate this bigotry are hypocrites. They’ll happily cancel someone for a racist tweet or an insensitive comment, but write anti-Scientology hate speech without a second thought. Such “journalists” need to take a long, hard look in the mirror.
People who promote bigotry don’t deserve a platform. People have a right to live their lives as Black, gay, trans, Jewish, Christian, female, old, young, or whatever—including Scientologist.
I’ll say it louder for those in the back: If someone uses their platform and influence to spread bigoted ideas, it is your First Amendment right to cancel the hell out of them.
If you’re not okay with racism, you shouldn’t be okay with bigotry of any kind.
