We are in the cancel culture part of the tragedy cycle

First, two children lost their father and a wife her husband. Then people lost their humanity. And now, a nation loses another piece of its soul. This part of the cycle is its own special kind of awful: the cancel culture machine.

It goes like this: A tragedy happens. Someone reacts by celebrating that tragedy for whatever reason. Then the social media mob comes to demand this person be fired, expelled, or otherwise punished for their views.

Time and time again, we resort to this mob mentality when tragedy strikes. When Barbara Bush died. When the Queen died. Rush Limbaugh. Otto Warmbier. George Floyd. After 9/11. After October 7. The attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

As free speech advocates, it places us in a painful position. Charlie Kirk’s assassination was an attack on free speech and open discourse. In a free society, we must not be afraid to express our views, no matter how strongly some might oppose them. That’s the point of free speech. But it is precisely for that reason why we must not respond to mockery of Kirk’s assassination by canceling everyone who offends us: because that too creates a society where people are afraid to express themselves.

Cancel culture ends when we decide that people can be horrifically wrong and still entitled to the grace that enables us all to grow from our worst moments. 

Among the people targeted in the aftermath of Kirk’s heinous murder include:

Businesses

• The Carolina Panthers have fired a PR staffer for social media posts.
• A DC comic book writer has had her series cancelled for her social media posts.
• PHNX Sports has fired a staff writer for his posts.
• The general manager of a burger restaurant in Quincy, Illinois, was fired for a post.
• A restaurant in Wayzata, Minnesota, said it would review security camera footage and fire any employee seen to have celebrated.
• Wausau River District has fired their executive director over her social media post.
• A political contributor to MSNBC was fired over his on-air comments; Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee, subsequently cancelled a scheduled speech.

Schools and universities

• The Florida Department of Education has said it would investigate every teacher who makes “disgusting comments” about the tragedy.
• An assistant dean of Middle Tennessee State University has been fired for a social media post.
• Naples (NY) Central School District has started a formal investigation of one staff member’s posts.
• A cheerleading coach from Meridian (ID) High School was fired over a video.
• A teacher at Ridgeview Elementary School in Lakeside, Florida, has been suspended for her posts.
• A teacher at Greenville (SC) County Schools was suspended and then terminated for his post after a member of congress called for his firing.
• A teacher at Lake Norman Charter School in Huntsville, North Carolina, has been placed on leave pending an investigation of his post.
• A teacher at Gaston County (NC) Schools is under investigation for their post.
• A teacher at the School District of Lancaster (PA) is facing some action, described as a “personnel matter,” for their posts.
• A teacher at Lee County (FL) School District is being investigated for their post.
• The University of Mississippi fired an executive assistant over her post, after a member of the state house said he would vote against continued university funding until her firing.
• Linden (NJ) Public Schools had to shelter in place after the school received threats because a post was erroneously claimed to have been written by an employee. In reality, the author never worked there.
• A teacher at Wachusett (MA) Regional School District has been suspended for her social media posts.
• A teacher at Framingham (MA) Public School District has been suspended for her social media video.
• A teacher at Vassar (MI) Public Schools has been suspended for her social media posts.
• A teacher at Oksaloosa (IA) High School has been suspended for his social media post after U.S. Rep. Marionette Miller-Meeks promised to contact the school.
• A teacher at the Cleveland Heights-University Heights (OH) School District has been suspended for alleged social media posts.
• A professor at East Tennessee State University has reportedly been suspended after state lawmakers complained about his posts.

Legislators and government officials

• The U.S. State Department has warned that it will review the legal status of immigrants who mock the tragedy.
• U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles have called for the firing of a Cumberland University professor over his post.
• U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert has called for the firing of a Colorado Department of Health staffer for a social media post.
• U.S. Rep. Riley Moore has called on West Virginia University to remove a state lawmaker from a gender equity council based on her posts.
• A Michigan state senator has demanded a University of Michigan professor be fired for his post.
• A Virginia state senator has demanded a dean at the Chesterfield School Board be fired for her posts.
• A Texas state senator has demanded a teacher be fired for liking someone else’s post.
• A city councilman in Jacksonville, Florida, called for the removal of a city appointee over a now-deleted post.
• A South Carolina state lawmaker called for the firing of a Clemson University professor over his posts.
• The Louisiana attorney general is calling for the firing of a New Orleans firefighter for a now-deleted post.
• The Toledo Fire Department is investigating one firefighter’s post. 

Have no doubt: There will be more. 

A website is actively soliciting reports of posts “celebrating Charlie’s death” to preserve them for, presumably, posterity. (Take my word for it or don’t. Linking the website would tend to undermine the larger goal here.)  And in a counter-cancellation remarkable for its willingness to victim-blame, a Tennessee lawmaker has called for all events by Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, to be cancelled “out of fear of violence and threat to public safety.” 

When state lawmakers and officials make demands to employers to fire people for their speech, those demands can violate the First Amendment. When private people and businesses do the same, it undermines the culture of free expression we all want to cultivate. To be clear, a business owner can fire employees for any lawful reason. At times, a misalignment of values or a need to retain customers will be those perfectly legitimate reasons. But performative firings are participation in a cancel culture that undermines American values.

None of us are immune to these instincts. Kirk’s organization, Turning Point USA, maintains a Professor Watchlist. As we noted back when it was launched in 2016, the watchlist is protected speech. But as we also noted and predicted, the watchlist has been used to call for sanctions on professors for their protected academic expression, contributing to the scourge of cancel culture. We have opposed those calls, too.

Governments and lawmakers must do better. The rest of us should do better, too. 

When someone indulges their worst impulses after a tragedy, we should use our own voices to challenge them. Or if we’re really courageous, we can be like Daryl Davis, a black musician and activist who through love, compassion, and constructive dialogue has convinced dozens of people to leave and denounce the Ku Klux Klan. We should remember we don’t win an argument by ruining someone’s life. We just ruin someone’s life. 

We are not so fortunate, in this imperfect world, that Charlie Kirk’s murder is the last tragedy we experience. Nor is it the last time that some of us take a moment that calls for compassion and fill it with vitriol. If we (as a society) were to wait for either of those things to stop being true before ending cancel culture, that’s the same as ceding freedom of speech to the assassins and the mobs. 

Cancel culture ends when we decide that people can be horrifically wrong and still entitled to the grace that enables us all to grow from our worst moments.