GOP cancel culture targets Georgia: Republicans want to silence critics of their war on voting
Donald Trump and Republicans tried to make the 2020 election all about "cancel culture." Free speech was under attack, they argued, not from government censorship, but something they regarded as much more powerful and oppressive: Liberal disapproval.
Many a tear has been shed over wealthy actors losing plum gigs for embarrassing movie studios with their bigoted tweets, or obscure books by famous authors being delisted voluntarily by their own publishing companies, or people making fun of a paranoid right-wing couple in St. Louis who pulled guns on peaceful protesters, or the librarian whose boss prevented her from humiliating herself by doing a rap presentation to onboard college freshmen. Free speech, they argue, is dependent not just on the absence of censorship, but the absence of any consequences whatsoever, including criticism from others who are using their free speech rights. It turns out there was one caveat to this right to speech unfettered by opposition, criticism, or consequences, however: It is a "right" enjoyed only by those on the right. For those who oppose bigotry, vote for Democrats, or express discomfort at overt racism, there is no limit to what can and should be done to silence them. This was always evident — see how Trump unleashed tear gas on peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square — and is only becoming more clear in the fight over voting rights in the state of Georgia.
If ever there was a legitimate case of "cancel culture," it really should be the anti-voting bill that was signed into law late last month by Georgia's Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. When it comes to the right to express yourself as a citizen, the right to vote is about as fundamental as it gets. Moreover, the entire process of signing the restrictive law was draped in signifiers of the GOP contempt for the right of people of color to the franchise, including the arrest of state Rep. Park Cannon for merely asking for the right to witness Kemp's signing of the bill.
But when major corporations started to use their own free speech rights to speak out in favor of the right to vote, the self-appointed warriors against "cancel culture" on the right suddenly discovered their limits of tolerance for unfettered speech. On the contrary, the folks on the right start strapping on their canceling boots, ready to cancel anti-racist speech with every tool they have at their disposal — including the use of government force.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/gop-cancel-culture-targets-georgia-republicans-want-to-silence-critics-of-their-war-on-voting/ar-BB1fkjPB
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