Muzzling Minorities

Identity politics is more about politics than identity

Comedian and dissident diversity trainer Karith Foster was punished for her heterodox views on DEI.

Recently, someone contacted me for advice about his predicament. 

This “Jon Doe” has achieved success within the field I cover most—entertainment and media—but fears he may soon lose his job for jokes he cracked many years ago.

His fear seems justified. 

A major media outlet has contacted him. The story could break tomorrow or in a month.

Until it actually happens, there is perhaps some chance it won’t break at all, but Doe tells me his boss nearly fired him as a preemptive move.

The motivation for cancelling Doe is political. He has heterodox beliefs and expresses them openly. 

Others have tried to cancel Doe before, also for political reasons. The prior attempt did not gain traction, but Doe fears the current attempt will. And if it doesn’t, the next one might. 

There’s another facet to this story. 

Jon Doe is, in todays’ parlance, a member of a historically marginalized community (although he would not describe himself that way). Our culture may be awash in identity-politics slogans, but we shouldn’t expect any of that to save Doe from the mob.

Myths abound when it comes to cancel culture. 

Some claim it doesn’t exist. Others say it simply enforces accountability. Still others claim it elevates minority voices that have long been suppressed by white culture. 

Let’s look at that last one. 

Cancel culture certainly elevates some minority voices—the ones that agree with the progressives who dominate entertainment, media, and academia. 

But the UK research organization More in Common notes that the “progressive activist” tribe comprises only eight percent of the population. The vast majority of minorities—like Americans in general—aren’t members of that tribe. 

Minorities often challenge progressive orthodoxy. And when that happens, the defenders of the monoculture typically set aside their concern for elevating minority voices and punish dissenters. 

In other words, cancel culture usually suppresses minority voices. 

It enforces conformity and creates an impression that minorities are less intellectually diverse than they really are. Sometimes the thought-policing gets splashed all over social media, but most of the time it unfolds behind the scenes. 

Most of the time it unfolds like Jon Doe’s saga. 

Or like these examples of cancel culture punishing minorities: