Cancel culture isn’t going away. The brutal truth is that it’s an effective tool that can change the cultural and political landscape without having to go through a lengthy election process or petition a corporate board to change up some of their corporation’s policies.
Both the right and the left use cancel culture, but one with greater effect than the other. Despite the fact that the left is a lot louder about it, the right’s use of cancel culture is a lot more substantial and lasting. Bud Light is a solid example of this. Target even got shy about its annual LGBTQ displays during Pride Month. As I speak, Robby Starbuck is utilizing the mere threat of cancellation to get corporations to back off radical leftist-based policy positions and DEI agenda items.
(READ: Coors Announces It’s Ditching Everything DEI and Woke After Threatened With Exposure)
The right utilizes cancel culture on a micro level as well. As I’ve covered on various occasions, many people in the entertainment industry have been slammed on a personal level for taking incredibly racist, sexist, bigoted positions while calling it “social justice” or wokeness. The ballad of Sweet Baby Inc. is a perfect example of how the right can make politics and the culture war very personal.
(READ: Woke Company ‘Sweet Baby Inc.’ Is Lashing Out Like a Cornered Animal Thanks to Gamers)
To be clear, the left is a big fan of cancel culture as well; they’re just far more enthusiastic about using it. However, they don’t use it as effectively as the right does because, quite often, the left tries to cancel people, not for any wrongdoing, but because they simply disagree. They are very motivated and very loud, and it used to be that when the left engaged in cancel culture, they were often successful because people, and even corporations, weren’t used to that much attention being piled on that fast.
Then, society kind of got used to it, and after a while, they started laughing at the attempts. After a while, they stopped working, and even many of the corporations got wise.
On Thursday, I reported about an attempt to cancel YouTubers who are very successful and criticizing woke creations such as whatever Disney is limping to the barn with lately. A mass attempt to call for their demonetization and possible expulsion went up from every they/them on X, along with a fancy video pleading the case that these people were earning money to harass woke creators.
(READ: Your Failed Woke Creations Aren’t Victims of ‘Right Wing YouTubers,’ Your Shows Just Suck)
I can gladly say that this campaign by leftist woke scolds failed, as YouTube came back and told them these creators did nothing wrong.
thanks for reaching out. just heard back and confirmed that this content is not violative & will remain up. we totally understand you may not agree with this decision, but we reviewed this video very carefully against our policies
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) September 5, 2024
But my friend Ian K of Comix Division brought up a really good point in his recent video, and you should definitely watch it below.
Let’s say these people had succeeded. Let’s say that the left’s ability to get people canceled was still effective, and YouTube caved.
It wouldn’t change the fact that what these people are churning out is bad, and it wouldn’t stop people from simply not showing up to watch it.
Ultimately, the woke leftist’s problem isn’t people who openly disagree with them. It’s not people speaking out against them. The woke left’s issue is the woke left. They’re artistically handcuffed by their narrow ideology. They’re not allowed to break certain rules, they have to check boxes, and when you prioritize a socio-political message over actual character development, story, and inner-universal logic, your product just sucks.
Even if any of these YouTubers (or myself here on RedState) were to stop writing about these failures in totality, it wouldn’t make the product any better. People would still not show up to support it, and what’s more, they would still speak out against it. They don’t need these guys to know a movie sucks, but they do like finding a community with other like-minded people who are sick of watching their favorite franchises and fictional universes corrupted and abused for the whims of a small minority of people who are perpetually unhappy.
What woke people are selling isn’t marketable, so few people buy it, whether it’s a show, a candidate, a march, and more.
And if over the course of time, more and more people are abandoning the ideology and moving on, then maybe the problem isn’t everyone else. Maybe what you have to say isn’t as deep or profound as you think. Maybe for all your wokeness, you’re not very awake.
