Rep. Ken Buck: The real goal of cancel culture – first you're canceled, then you're replaced
'Replacement culture' is the ultimate objective of cancel culture and is even more dangerous
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cancel culture’s damaging consequences are becoming apparent to anyone paying attention. A recent Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey found that 64 percent of Americans now believe Cancel Culture is a "threat to freedom."
Americans are right to be alarmed by cancel culture’s sweeping effects. But "replacement culture" is the ultimate objective of cancel culture and is even more dangerous. Cancellation is the first part of the progressives’ agenda; replacement is the second.
The examples of progressives’ intentional replacement in our culture are numerous – and conservatives should not be surprised that the real aim here is not simply purging our culture, but actually, a full-scale shift that comports to progressives’ radical worldview.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Take history education in this country, as just one example. For years, the political left has attempted to erase parts of our American history, especially our founding.
The left has attacked the true story of 1776 and our nation’s commitment to the protection of individual liberty. That attack on our history has manifested itself in many ways, including attempts by progressives to remove the monuments and statues in Washington, D.C.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Last summer, the city of Washington put forth a radical proposal to "remove, relocate, or contextualize" the Benjamin Franklin statue, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and the Washington Monument.
In place of America’s true history, the progressives seek to install their revisionist history curriculum, known at the 1619 Project. This false narrative presents students with a picture of an America founded not on the principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence, but instead on a racist pursuit of expanding slavery. With its rejection of facts, the 1619 Project has met widespread objections, from liberals and conservatives alike.
Canceling 1776 was only the necessary precursor to replacing our true history with a curriculum that views every event in history through the lens of race and racism.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CANCEL CULTURE GIVES PASS TO LIBERALS WHO LAUNCHED RACIAL ATTACKS AT SEN. TIM SCOTT
Another insidious example of cancel culture in education appears with the canceling of traditional standards and curricula, with the goal of replacing those lessons with a race-based curriculum.
The Biden administration announced last week that it will use taxpayer funds to push not only the racist 1619 narrative but also "critical race theory" in public schools across the nation. Critical race theory is the backdoor way to teach Marxism to students and adults in this country, under the guise of pushing "equity."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BILLY CRYSTAL BLASTS CANCEL CULTURE 'MINEFIELD': 'I DON'T LIKE IT'
Outside of the education sphere, cancel culture has also set its sights on one of the most important industries in my state of Colorado: the oil-and-gas industry.
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The goal of canceling fracking and the vital oil-and-gas industry is to replace it with Green New Deal objectives, including increasing our dependence on unreliable energy sources such as wind.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Perhaps the biggest example of cancel culture on Americans’ minds is the recent shakedown in Georgia. As soon as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed an election integrity bill into law, progressives leapt into action, canceling the Major League Baseball All-Star game planned for Atlanta this summer.
Companies across the country engaged in a coordinated corporate virtual signaling, denouncing the election integrity law. The intent here was not simply a retaliatory cancellation of Atlanta’s hosting of the All-Star Game, but actually a cancellation of all similar voter integrity laws, with the goal, of course, of keeping less secure laws in place.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}We see the cancel culture playbook on display everywhere from toy stores to universities. Mr. Potato Head’s cancellation was followed by the transgender movement’s preference for a gender-fluid toy.
Schools named after our founders must be renamed after liberal icons. Professors and journalists who will not kowtow to the progressive agenda find themselves replaced in their jobs. The list of examples could go on.
In response to the damage of cancel culture, I am organizing a Special Order on the House Floor – an opportunity for my colleagues to speak out against this movement of cancellations.
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As Americans listen to our thoughts on specific aspects of cancel culture, I would ask that they also consider replacement culture and true aims of the cancellations of certain aspects of culture.
Cancel culture has many tools in its toolbox. We often focus on this movement’s figurative use of scissors and erasers as it eliminates parts of our culture. But we should be equally alarmed about its use of two other tools – glue and tape – as cancel culture advocates engage in replacement culture and paste in their own revisionist history and cultural priorities.
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