A somewhat well-known progressive commentator sent out a tweet last week that started a firestorm. David Pakman of the David Pakman show sent out a tweet that has since been taken down. Of course, the tweet will live on forever as the far right has receipts. In the meantime, the whole incident is a nice focal point for any number of issues/lines of battle. The tweet and the response are tremendous examples of the lack of nuance in our modern politics as well as the overwhelming effect that social media has on the political debate. Finally, we get to the great hypocrisy machine that is cancel culture. The controversial tweet is below.

I’ve discussed religion and politics before. So, depending on your point of view I am either the perfect guy for this message or the last guy for this message. I have also received slings and arrows for being longwinded. I could throw out excuses for all of that, but this tweet is an example of why. Pakman is attempting to use 280 characters or less to throw out a nuanced argument and fails miserably. Naturally, the failure is not all on him. We can control our intention and we can control our execution, but we cannot control how anything is received. At any rate, I could launch a whole critique of what is wrong or not wrong with this tweet, but that’s really not the point.

As someone that enjoys sarcasm, I can certainly appreciate that here. Pakman certainly isn’t denying the existence of God or the power that God possesses. At least he isn’t doing it in this tweet. He simply is pointing out that thoughts and prayers haven’t done a damn thing to prevent school shootings and that Godlessness had little to no impact on a Christian school becoming the latest in a long line of schools that have suffered this fate.

Perhaps, the overarching point of the whole exercise was the right wing response to this tweet. Fox News and several other television, radio, and online media sources descended on Pakman like a plague of locusts. They pressured advertisers. They made him a household name in conservative circles for all of the worst reasons. In short, they attempted to cancel him. Naturally, they proved a point I have been making repeatedly in this place and others: free speech and expression is a powerful thing and it encompasses far more than simply a back and forth on ideas. Pakman is not the first progressive to suffer the slings and arrows of right wing outrage. In point of fact, one could very credibly claim that the right wing created cancel culture in the first place.

We can certainly go as far back as the Dixie Chicks or even John Lennon when firing up our examples. People have destroyed albums, burned clothes, and smashed televisions in the name of cancel culture. If you want to buy stuff only to destroy it be my guest. That’s your money you’re flushing down the toilet. If you want to try to cancel someone you are free to try. What you cannot do is decry cancel culture and then turn around and use it for your own benefit. Pakman certainly could have worded this better, but he is not wrong. It’s just a message that a lot of people are not ready to hear.