by Michael Deacon, Telegraph
Following the murder of Charlie Kirk, it’s now Left-wingers who are getting fired for social media posts. Will this finally wake them up?
How the tables have turned. In 2023, Rolling Stone – an American magazine devoted to pop culture and progressive politics – ran an article headlined, “Why Cancel Culture is Good for Democracy.” And, in support of this improbable-sounding claim, its author made the following arguments.
Cancel culture, he explained, had been “misconstrued” as a threat to free speech. Right-wingers might tell us that nowadays “we can’t say or do anything without an angry mob… preparing to end our careers”. But they were wrong, because actually cancel culture was a perfectly healthy way to deal with “bigots” who use “disgusting rhetoric”. Those who deplore cancel culture, he went on, “may claim they fear suppression of speech, but it’s accountability they want to avoid.”
Two years on, however, at least one writer at Rolling Stone seems to have realised that cancel culture may have its downsides. After the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk last week, a staggering number of Left-wing social media users openly celebrated the news, or depicted the victim as an evil fascist who had it coming. In disgust, his admirers decided to complain to those Left-wingers’ employers – and, as a result, many have since been fired.