National Post (National Edition)
FIGHTING BACK
HOW TO OVERCOME HYPOCRISY OF THE LEFT? GO STRAIGHT TO THE `REAL BOSS'.
Conservatives and centrists need to take a lesson from Gina Carano and Dave Chappelle: stop whining and complaining about liberal hypocrisy and cancel culture. Get out there, build something of your own and remember who your real boss is: the people.
Big Tech is biased against centrists and conservatives. No denying that. Universities, multinational corporations and mainstream media are biased, too. It's unfair, and governments should hold elites accountable by protecting everyone's constitutional rights, free market competition and employment standards.
But anyone with the spine to challenge liberal orthodoxy ought to also recognize that powerful ideological biases are not a new problem. Challenging the powers that be has never been easy, and at some point, you have to move on from hostile institutions and look elsewhere for a chance to be heard and respected.
Mixed martial arts fighter-turned-actress Gina Carano, who starred in the Star Wars drama The Mandalorian, provides a case study in rejecting the complaining that has become a common response to cancel culture. Last week, Lucasfilm and Disney+ fired Carano for being a conservative.
The official line is that Carano was fired over her controversial Instagram post likening today's divisive political climate in the United States to Nazi Germany. But one of Carano's Mandalorian co-stars, Pedro Pascal, has posted very similar content on social media and he wasn't fired. The difference between Carano and Pascal's posts is that Carano was comparing leftists to Nazis, while Pascal was comparing former U.S. president Donald Trump to Nazis. Obviously, Disney finds one controversial comparison acceptable and the other not.
Carano could have spent weeks, months even, crying about Disney's double standard. Instead, she fought back against cancel culture by finding allies elsewhere. Just days after losing her job, Carano announced that she'll be starring in, and producing, a new movie project with the Daily Wire, a conservative media company co-founded by Ben Shapiro. In Shapiro, Carano has found a business partner who shares her conservative politics and is determined to offer conservative-friendly entertainment alternatives to the hyper-liberal content churned out by most of Hollywood.
When building new institutions, uncertainty is a given. These are entrepreneurial — and therefore risky — endeavours. Success is most likely to be realized by institution-builders whose dreams are fortified by popular support.
Comedian Dave Chappelle relied on popular support in his own battles with liberal hypocrisy. Last year, while ViacomCBS was boasting about its commitment to “amplify the voices of Black communities,” the media conglomerate sold the streaming rights to episodes of The Chappelle Show without paying Chappelle a dime.
Chappelle could have spent months whining about how ridiculous it is for a multinational corporation to pat itself on the back for caring about “social justice” and “inclusion,” while denying a Black comedian the chance to earn money from the licensing of his own work. But whine he did not. Instead, Chappelle pleaded with his fans to use their power as consumers to stop streaming his show, until he was shown the respect he deserved. And it worked.
The Chappelle Show is back on streaming platforms this month, and this time Chappelle is getting paid millions of dollars. He thanked his audience last week while performing in Austin.
“I never asked (ViacomCBS') Comedy Central for anything. If you remember, I said, `I'm going to my real boss,' and I came to you (the people), because I know where my power lies,” he said. “I asked you to stop watching the show and thank God almighty for you, you did.”
Escaping the spectre of liberal hypocrisy and cancel culture won't be easy, but it's significantly easier when the people have your back. Conservatives and centrists should be as entrepreneurial as Carano and as humble as Chappelle. Stand tall.