{"id":1598353,"date":"2022-08-10T07:34:30","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T11:34:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1598353"},"modified":"2022-08-10T07:35:01","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T11:35:01","slug":"cancel-culture-is-just-maoism-with-less-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cancel-culture-is-just-maoism-with-less-killing\/","title":{"rendered":"Cancel Culture Is Just Maoism With Less Killing"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcancel-culture-is-just-maoism-with-less-killing%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1598353&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In July, soul singer Macy Gray appeared on Piers Morgan\u2019s show \u201cUncensored\u201d to explain why she believes having gender reassignment doesn\u2019t actually change someone\u2019s sex.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBeing a little girl is a whole epic book,\u201d Gray <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PiersUncensored\/status\/1544039013631270912\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> Morgan. \u201cYou can\u2019t have that just because you want to be a woman.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When the Uncensored host pointed out that celebrities such as J.K. Rowling had been \u201cattacked and abused\u201d for sharing such sentiments and acknowledged that she might experience similar backlash for this statement, Gray didn\u2019t flinch.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it\u2019s the truth,\u201d the 54-year-old R&#038;B singer replied.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Less than 72 hours later, amid the very public backlash Morgan had predicted, Gray was singing a different tune.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnyone who is in the LGBTQ community is a hero,\u201d Gray told Today host Hoda Kotb. \u201cI said some things that didn\u2019t go over well, but my intention was never to hurt anybody. I feel bad that I did hurt some people, and I think it\u2019s about education, conversation, and us getting to a place where we understand each other.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She went on to explain, \u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot through this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gray\u2019s sudden and complete reversal on an issue most Americans take for granted \u2014 that men are men and women are women \u2014 may have surprised many of her fans, but it\u2019s a familiar dance to those familiar with cancel culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Gray is hardly the first celebrity to publicly apologize to the LGBTQ community over intense public pressure. In the last few months, actor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.complex.com\/pop-culture\/sam-elliott-apologizes-power-of-the-dog-comments\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sam Elliott<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xT7PqdBdtuE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">NASCAR<\/a>, and performer<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buzzfeed.com\/alexgurley\/bette-midler-transphobic-tweet-apology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Bette Midler<\/a> are among those who\u2019ve issued apologies for allegedly supporting \u201cphobia\u201d in one form or another.<\/p>\n<p>Oftentimes, the pressure stems simply from failing to toe the line on trans ideology, but it can also come from violating other social justice dogmas. In 2020, NFL quarterback Drew Brees <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/drew-brees-new-struggle-sessions-opinion-1509097\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stated<\/a> he could \u201cnever agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America,\u201d citing his grandfathers\u2019 military service.<\/p>\n<p>Less than 24 hours later, Brees issued an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CBA1P3gHpT_\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">apology<\/a> on Instagram. He soon followed up with another apology. Then his wife <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/2020\/06\/08\/drew-brees-wife-apologizes-for-husbands-comments-on-flag\/111919690\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">apologized<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Whether one supports standing for the US flag or one\u2019s right to not stand for the flag is hardly the point here. Nor is it about whether one supports Lia Thomas, a biological male, from competing against female swimmers in athletic competitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s alarming is that various shades of Maoist-style \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/drew-brees-new-struggle-sessions-opinion-1509097\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">struggle sessions<\/a>,\u201d also known as denunciation rallies, are becoming increasingly common in America. These public spectacles, hallmarks of China\u2019s Cultural Revolution, were used to shame and humiliate \u201cclass enemies\u201d who deviated from the political and ideological dogmas of the time.<\/p>\n<p>There are some notable differences between cancel culture and Maoism, of course. For starters, China\u2019s Cultural Revolution was started by Mao himself, a dictator with the full power of the state behind him.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In Mao\u2019s Last Revolution, historians Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoenhals explain how in 1966, Mao moved against Peng Zhen, a staunch revolutionary who had been a member of the Chinese Communist Party for four decades and at the time served as mayor of Beijing. The sum total of Zhen\u2019s sins was that he continued to support a play written by his vice-mayor even after a Mao-supported critique of the play alleged that it was heretical.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>For the sin of supporting a play that Mao turned against, Peng Zhen was stripped from office and spent 12 years in internal <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1997\/04\/28\/world\/peng-zhen-of-china-95-dies-was-a-leading-hard-liner.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">exile<\/a>. There\u2019s a clear difference here from cancel culture \u2014 Mao himself was doing the \u201ccanceling.\u201d However, there\u2019s also an important similarity: a disproportionate response to an alleged sin.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fee.org\/resources\/what-is-cancel-culture-getting-beyond-the-partisan-talking-points\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Proponents<\/a> of cancel culture claim that it\u2019s really just a \u201dconsequence culture\u201d in which powerful people are held accountable for their sins. But this ignores the fact that now, as under Mao, people suffer disproportionate consequences for small ideological heresies.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, law professor Ilya Shapiro was hired by Georgetown Law School as Executive Director of the Center for the Constitution. When President Biden announced that he would only nominate a black woman to be the next Supreme Court justice, Shapiro tweeted dismay at this form of blatant affirmative action.<\/p>\n<p>In spite of the fact that Shapiro was echoing a sentiment expressed by most Americans, as well as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/social-trends\/2019\/05\/08\/americans-see-advantages-and-challenges-in-countrys-growing-racial-and-ethnic-diversity\/?utm_source=link_newsv9&#038;utm_campaign=item_317006&#038;utm_medium=copy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">majority<\/a> of African- and Hispanic-Americans, Georgetown Law placed him on0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theevolvingman.com\/blog\/america-has-dismantled-our-freedom-of-speech\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> administrative leave<\/a> and launched an investigation into his conduct which dragged on for months. The school ultimately didn\u2019t fire him on the technicality that he wasn\u2019t an employee when he wrote the Tweets but warned that similar tweets in the future could get him fired Shapiro subsequently resigned after this episode rather than saying and spending his days at Georgetown walking on eggshells.<\/p>\n<p>Destruction of people\u2019s livelihoods for deviations from leftist thought isn\u2019t uncommon. In 2020, a survey by the libertarian Cato Institute found that a full <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/sites\/cato.org\/files\/2020-07\/Political%20Expression%20Survey_2020_B_0.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">43 percent<\/a> of liberals and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/survey-reports\/poll-62-americans-say-they-have-political-views-theyre-afraid-share#downloads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">50 p<\/a>ercent of those who identified as \u201cvery liberal\u201d supported firing a business executive if it turned out that that executive had donated money to Donald Trump\u2019s re-election campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Maoism and cancel culture share another similarity: if you\u2019re accused of being insufficiently leftist, an apology will not necessarily save you.<\/p>\n<p>With Mao\u2019s blessing, hundreds of thousands of Red Guards swept China in the late 1960s, causing chaos in their quest to purge the country of anyone who was insufficiently leftist. These young men and women engaged in \u201cstruggle sessions\u201d with their victims in which they denounced and beat the offending parties, sometimes for hours. Victims offered public, and often humiliating, \u201cself-criticisms,\u201d but these rarely satisfied the mob.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The case of David Weigel provides a contemporary parallel. Weigel is a Washington Post reporter who was <a href=\"https:\/\/edition.cnn.com\/2022\/06\/06\/media\/dave-weigel-washington-post-suspended\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suspended<\/a> for a month without pay following the retweet of a sexist joke. He retweeted Cam Harless, who joked, \u201cEvery girl is bi. You just have to figure out if it\u2019s polar or sexual.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Importantly, Weigel quickly <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/daveweigel\/status\/1532771139323211776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1532771139323211776%7Ctwgr%5E38842874b3a12a0e98724521d3c3038fa8c527a0%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&#038;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yahoo.com%2Fentertainment%2Fwashington-post-writer-apologizes-retweet-171406359.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">apologized<\/a> and removed the retweet, saying he \u201cdid not mean to cause any harm.\u201d Neither action saved him. Like the Cultural Revolution, cancel culture isn\u2019t about encouraging people to be better; it\u2019s about punishing dissent.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mao\u2019s Cultural Revolution was abetted by cowardice at every step of the way. Some of his followers\u2013such as his wife, Jiang Qing, were true believers, but many other state leaders saw the Cultural Revolution for the circular firing squad that it was. People went along with it out of fear.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>MacFarquhar and Schoenhals document how the leaders were \u201ctransfixed\u201d by Mao, \u201clike rabbits in front of a cobra.\u201d Mao had a reputation for turning, suddenly and violently, on anyone who questioned him, and Chinese Communist Party leaders opted to go along with his insanity rather than risk his wrath.<\/p>\n<p>Cancel culture, too, is abetted by cowardice. Professors denounce colleagues who run afoul of the online mob in open letters while praising those same colleagues in private. Companies fire employees on the <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2022\/06\/30\/criticizing-lack-of-grocery-stores-in-the-south-bronx-means-twitter-mob-will-request-your-firing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">flimsiest of grounds<\/a> because the woke mob tells them to.<\/p>\n<p>The difference is that in the United States, some people are taking a stand. Utah Valley University <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/opinion\/2021\/8\/8\/22568732\/cancel-culture-at-universities-higher-education-courage-utah-valley-university\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hosted<\/a> a commencement talk by prominent Mormon family therapist Sister Wendy Nelson and allowed the speech to go forward even though activists on and off campus pressured the university to cancel it. The University of Chicago\u2019s free speech policy <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/tomlindsay\/2018\/02\/28\/35-universities-adopt-the-chicago-statement-on-free-speech-1590-to-go\/?sh=24be7929771b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">is serving as a model<\/a> for other universities.<\/p>\n<p>When one campus or organization stands up to the cancel culture mob, it makes a difference. Zachary Green of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, a pro-free-speech advocacy organization, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deseret.com\/opinion\/2021\/8\/8\/22568732\/cancel-culture-at-universities-higher-education-courage-utah-valley-university\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">notes<\/a> that \u201conce a school takes a strong stand against censorship and for free speech, it may deter attempts to persuade that school to disinvite speakers.\u201d We are social animals, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theevolvingman.com\/blog\/why-is-courage-important\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">courage is contagious<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Cultural Revolution lasted for ten years, so it\u2019s tempting to think that its bloodless parallel in the U.S. will have to get worse before it gets better. But we have a crucial advantage over Maoist China in that we are a free society. That means that where this trend goes \u2014 and how long it lasts \u2014 will ultimately be up to us, but it will require people like Macy Gray and Drew Brees to stand up for their convictions instead of caving before the online mobs.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Julian is a political analyst focused on free speech, economics, and healing our partisan divides. His work has been featured in The Federalist, National Review, Playboy, The Foundation For Economic Education, and other outlets.<\/p>\n<p>Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. His writing\/reporting has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, and the Star Tribune.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In July, soul singer Macy Gray appeared on Piers Morgan\u2019s show \u201cUncensored\u201d to explain why she believes having gender reassignment doesn\u2019t actually change someone\u2019s sex. \u201cBeing a little girl is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1235,"featured_media":1897918,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1598353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/08\/10\/cancel-culture-is-just-maoism-with-less-killing\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=cancel-culture-is-just-maoism-with-less-killing","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1235"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1598353"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1598353\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1598353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1598353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1598353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}