FAUX CANCEL CULTURE OUTRAGE MASKS REAL CONCERNS

Not surprisingly, the 2020 Merriam-webster word or phrase of the year was “pandemic.” And now, just three months into 2021, we already have an odds-on favorite for this year: “cancel culture.”

There seems to be a lot of that going around, and it angers both liberals and conservatives depending on who or what gets canceled.

Cancel culture — and the idea of “canceling” someone or something — happens when a celebrity or other public figure does or says something that others consider offensive. It often results in the withdrawal of support — a public shaming fueled by social media that aims to be career ending.

Cancel culture expects perfection. There is the rub: Each of us is fallible, sometimes even more so than the person we’re canceling. Oftentimes, “canceling” someone accomplishes nothing more than making us feel good.

One person who probably isn’t feeling very good right now is embattled New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Facing a growing number of allegations of sexual harassment, and at least one that would qualify as sexual assault, Cuomo has jumped onboard the train of those who decry cancel culture.

With mounting pressure from members of his own party to resign, Cuomo expressed confidence that the citizens of New York would not want him to leave office before the end of his term.

“People know the difference between playing politics, bowing to cancel culture and the truth,” he said.

Frankly, if the allegations against Cuomo are proved, it’s hard to argue against his cancellation.

Then there’s another so-called victim of cancel culture: Dr. Seuss, whose beloved books have recently received a lot of attention on conservative media and by Republicans in Congress.

No, Dr. Seuss (aka the late Theodor Seuss Geisel, a longtime La Jolla resident) is not really being canceled. His estate voluntarily decided to stop printing six of his books because of racist imagery. There was no left-wing mob demanding their demise.

If he were alive today, Geisel himself may have decided to do the very same thing. During World War II, Geisel published antijapanese cartoons and supported concentration camps for Japanese Americans. But he later apologized for his actions. In fact, Geisel wrote a book that reflected his changed views, Horton Hears a Who! That book, and the rest of the Dr. Seuss catalogue, will remain untouched.

The outrage and controversy did nothing more than boost book sales.

Akin Olla is a strategist, political organizer and the host of the podcast “This is the Revolution.” The Nigerian American recently wrote in The Guardian about the real cancel culture era in the United States, recalling the Red Scares in the 1940s and 1950s where actors, directors and musicians were spied on and blacklisted by production companies and studios after they were accused of being communists. It was a wave of cancellation that ruined lives and damaged organizations like the NAACP that were involved in the civil rights movement.

Amid the cacophony around modern-day cancel culture, there is one place where concerns are legitimate: college campuses.

At the National Conflict Resolution Center, we have been working on the issue of freedom of expression at colleges and universities for nearly a decade.

The work began as an outgrowth of concerns expressed by school administrators. Often, students arriving on diverse campuses were ill-prepared to successfully interact with others who looked or thought differently. Their solution was to self-segregate, creating a culture that administrators considered unhealthy.

Of course, when diverse backgrounds and opinions do converge, conflict and polarization are inevitable. But armed with effective communication skills, students can build understanding and respect. What starts as conflict may become a catalyst for growth.

Still, free expression is complicated. And students will no doubt hear words and ideas that cause them discomfort. We are equally obliged to teach them how to live in a world full of offenses that they cannot control — aka the real world.

Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, co-authors of “The Coddling of the American Mind,” worry about the “intellectual homogeneity” on campuses where students are shielded from diverse viewpoints in overly safe spaces.

In the five years prior to the publication of their book, there were as many as 240 different campaigns to cancel commencement speakers because of something the speaker had said, written or done.

It’s that kind of narrow-minded thinking that needs to be canceled.

Dinkin is president of the National Conflict Resolution Center, a San Diego-based group working to create solutions to challenging issues, including intolerance and incivility. To learn about NCRC’S programming, visit ncrconline.com