What Abdul-Jabbar Gets Completely Wrong About Cancel Culture
A basketball legend just dunked on Hollywood conservatives and, in the process, the First Amendment.
On Dec. 16, six-time NBA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar lambasted conservatives and others who don’t submit to woke-leftist ideology. Abdul-Jabbar proposed that social media ought to regulate speech that may “incite violence” in the far-left Hollywood Reporter.
As far as I’m concerned, the only thing that causes violence is violence.
From Giuliani to J.K. Rowling, Abdul-Jabbar goes on a jumbled tirade about why some people don’t live up to his idea of what the virtuous, 21st century individual ought to be like.
He uses ad-hominem attacks to blackball other thinkers, calling award-winning actor James Woods a “cranky geezer” and Oscar winner Jon Voight a “cultural dumpster diver.”
Meanwhile, he advocates for a Cancel Culture that only damages our cultural framework.
He writes:
“Social media companies have begun slapping warnings on some messages that are false, incite violence or cause harm to society. But this needs to be done with more consistency and vigilance. Studies indicate that when readers see these warnings, they are less likely to read or believe things. However, as another study showed, there can be a backfire effect in which content that isn’t flagged, even when inaccurate, is perceived as true.
“…The irresponsibility of tweeting irrational and harmful opinions to millions, regardless of the damaging consequences to their country or people’s lives, proves that those stars deserve the harsh backlash. Unfortunately, the long-term result may be that their professional legacies could become brief footnotes to the memory of their collection of mason jars filled with their excreted opinions.”
Firstly, Abdul-Jabbar makes no mention of those on the left side of the aisle who have or continue to tweet misleading, conspiratorial things.
Or, as if often the case, flat-out lies.
RELATED: Even More Proof Cancel Culture Is a Fraud
Remind me; which party and its celebrity minions spent close to four years claiming Trump “colluded” with Russia, only for it to be released that the only collusion was between the Obama Administration and the FBI — spying on the Trump campaign?
Still waiting on all those star-studded fact checks.
Discussing J.K. Rowling — whose legacy could not have been more pristine for the left prior to her questioning elements of the trans agenda — he says she will “only damage the Potter and Fantastic Beasts franchises,” and, “end up tainting her entire literary legacy” with her opinions on the trans community.
Apparently, because Rowling acknowledges some in the trans community regret their decisions her “Potter” series will fade into oblivion. This is the perverse, disturbing viewpoint of the NBA retiree.
It also smacks of something Rod Serling warned us about decades earlier.
Episode 65 of Serling’s “The Twilight Zone” — titled “The Obsolete Man,” follows a literary soul named Wordsworth (Burgess Meredith) who is sentenced to death in a collectivist society. His greatest sin? He didn’t submit to the values of the state. Plus, he’s an unabashed man of faith.
The chancellor finds him guilty and “obsolete,” all while Wordsworth reads a hidden copy of the Bible in his home.
Abdul-Jabbar speaks of people’s merits in connection with their political viewpoints. Apparently, Rowling is now “obsolete” for not agreeing with the leftist orthodoxy concerning gender and sexuality.
And she’s not alone, by the NBA legend’s standards.
This is what socialism, communism, or anything in the collectivist neighborhood does. It tries to whip people into submission, eliminating the inalienable right of the individual.
Look up “Struggle Sessions” for a chilling look at where the Left hopes to steer western culture.
Most ironically, Abdul-Jabbar assures us he is different than the “stars with political and social intelligence they just don’t have.” He claims, “I have been writing books and articles about history, culture, and politics for 30 years to establish my credibility.”
The notion that he has some sort of enshrined credibility, whereas conservatives or other Hollywood individuals not on the Left do not, is not only preposterous — but dangerous.
Forget credibility for a second; if Abdul-Jabbar considers speech he disagrees with to be violent — then hypothetically what happens when someone on the right claims his own, Leftist arguments are similarly explosive.
Those of us on the right don’t agree with a lot of the ideas coming from the other side. They often scare us, given the lessons of history. But whereas leftists like Abdul-Jabbar preach silence — and censorship — we preach freedom and discourse.
The post What Abdul-Jabbar Gets Completely Wrong About Cancel Culture appeared first on Hollywood in Toto.
