When the left decides it’s time to ‘cancel’ someone it’s just ‘demanding accountability. When the right decides to ‘cancel’ someone it’s cancel culture, according to the left.
That is hilarious considering the left has been trying to tell us for years now that there is no such thing as cancel culture.
Of course there is, and the progressive left invented it. Like every other bad idea the progressive left invents, they only realize it’s a bad idea when it affects their side of things.
By now we’re all well aware of the brewing Bud Light brouhaha. I shared a fascinating body language analysis of marketing VP Alissa Heinerscheid that shed a lot of light on her actions. Both Heinerscheid and her boss, Daniel Blake, were put on a leave of absence after the disastrous marketing campaign. Most likely they will return once the news cycle moves on, but only time will tell us if Bud Light sales will return as well.
Still, that didn’t stop one outraged leftist from bemoaning conservative cancel culture on the social media app every progressive loves to hate these days. Political commentator and former Obama staffer Tommy Vietor took to Twitter to scold conservatives for actually engaging in a cultural moment that was meant to be a cultural moment. When an immediate nosedive in stock prices led to the leave of absence for the marketing team, Vietor couldn’t help but snark.
“Bud Light fired their marketing team for sending a personalized beer can to one person who happens to be transgender. Congrats on fighting cancel culture, everyone!” @tvietor08
Bud Light fired their marketing team for sending a personalized beer can to one person who happens to be transgender. Congrats on fighting cancel culture, everyone! https://t.co/8nl2E0GFUd
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) April 23, 2023
Twitter’s very helpful ‘community context’ feature corrected Vietor in short order, pointing out that the VPs had not been canned, only put on ice for the time being.
It’s clear Vietor really thought he was getting in a salient dig, and I understand why. It’s obvious he’s not thinking too hard about any of this (surprise, surprise). The former White House staffer was pointing at the right, attempting to call out our ‘hypocrisy’ for spending so much time decrying cancel culture only to engage in it ourselves when we see something we don’t like.
If there were ever a place to use the progressive term of cancel culture denial – accountability culture – it is here. I’m not even sure I saw any real coordinated efforts to have Heinerscheid fired, but I do know a lot of people who feel that if you can’t do your job right you certainly deserve to be fired. This just seems like the natural consequences of failing at your job.
That being said, let’s give this one to the progressives, just for shucks and giggles. Let’s call it cancel culture. Let’s pretend conservatives have the cultural power to cancel anything these days. Sure, Tommy – conservative cancel culture canned the culprit (please leave my alliteration accolades in the comments).
At least progressives like our ticked tweeter are finally admitting there is such a thing as cancel culture.
Here’s the thing…call it cancel culture if you want. Fine. Be mad about it if you want. Double fine. But just know, none of this ends until the rules are applied equally. Maybe it is unfair for Heinerscheid to be punished in the court of public opinion (I don’t think that, but Devil’s advocate here). If the left wants to restore some sense of fair play, they’re going to have to live with their own rules.
We didn’t make up this game. We’ve been saying it’s stupid since its inception. We’ve been warning about its tentacles from the beginning. We have begged the progressive egotists who cheered the ‘cancellation’ of normal people for social media posts from years ago to take a wider view, to understand that what affects your enemy will soon be on your doorstep too. There is a growing slate of progressive comedians who chided conservatives for complaining about cancel culture, and then began walking that back as soon as their own comedy pasts were brought up. I’m looking at you, Sarah Silverman. Cancel culture hits different when you’re the target.
There are many liberal and progressive culture warriors who are beginning to timidly resist the philosophy of cancel culture. Unsurprisingly, their voices are drowned out by the progressive caterwaulers who have yet to be hit with their own rulebooks.
We tried to warn them. We could have avoided this entire ridiculous subculture if progressives were willing to embrace even a shred of common sense or common decency. They’ve made their choice.
We hate this game and we hate these rules, but since we’re not in charge, we’ll just have to go with it.
The progressive left is on notice. We’ll stand down when you do. Until then, everyone plays by your rules…even you.
Deal with it.
