The latest person to weaponize “cancel culture” was none other than Vladimir Putin.  And surprisingly, his rant didn’t even include Ukraine.  He defined “cancel culture” as, “public ostracism, boycotting and even complete silencing” of people who “do not fit into modern templates, no matter how absurd they really are.”

Why is Putin focused on “cancel culture”?  Especially now, amidst his embarrassing stalemate in Ukraine?

Putin knows that if he is to survive and retain power, he needs western allies.  Instead of attacking the west with his unimpressive military or even his cyber capabilities, he has targeted a weakness that requires no bombs or tanks. 

“Cancel culture.”

From Europe to the United States and even Canada, large segments of the population decry the erosion of traditional values.  Many blame liberalism with its various extremes and flavors of socialism.  It strikes some as odd, for example, that a person who was biologically born as a man can compete against women in the Olympics.

I doubt Putin cared about the plight of JK Rowling, although she had a great message for him.  For Putin, she was a tool to build an international culture war that the likes of Tucker Carlson and company could buy into.  It was an invitation to the western far right.

He’s basically saying, “Look what’s happening to Russia.  We’re being canceled by the west.  We’re really the victims here.  Not the people I don’t mention, the Ukrainians.”   

While entirely misplaced, the scary thing is that this type of messaging will resonate with many in the west.  

The political left shares some of the blame.

How the political left chills speech

The political left is supposed to champion civil liberties.  They are supposed to be staunch supporters of all free speech.  Yet all it takes is for someone like Milo Yiannopoulos to plan a visit to a liberal college like Berkeley for all hell to break loose.  So-called “liberals” silenced his dissenting opinions (at least in Berkeley) and caused thousands of dollars in property damage from their protests.

The American Civil Liberties Union used to defend Nazis.  While they claim not to have lost their way (that’s questionable), the same cannot be said for the political left as a whole.

I am no advocate for the current Republican party, especially when it comes to the rhetoric and fantasies of January 6th.  Many of the debates we have today trend too far into “the sky is blue” territory, meaning we can’t even agree on basic undisputed facts.

But that does not mean we should force the other side to stop talking.  That only creates martyrs out of them.  If anything, Trump and his cronies have become even more emboldened since he was banned from Twitter and other social media.       

Despite the inevitable martyrdom of their opponents, many on the political left insist on completely shutting down certain people, ideas, and thoughts.  They are viewed as “too dangerous” or “untrue.”

Whatever happened to the marketplace of ideas?  

The political left’s aversion to protecting all forms of free speech has allowed Putin to weaponize it against them. 

The political right and hypocrisy 

In one part of Putin’s recent rant, he compared the current book banning in the west to Nazi Germany.  Perhaps he forgot that his most ardent western supporters are the same people doing the bulk of the book banning today.  

The Toni Morrison classic, Beloved, was one of many to find itself in the conservative “critical race theory” crosshairs.  Yet the political right is the first to complain of “cancel culture” or wokeism.  Canceling a book by a Nobel Laureate is probably not the best way to support any complaints.

Putin could care less though about the political right’s hypocrisy.  All he cares about is the tinder box that the words “cancel culture” create amongst its base.  If he can even get a few people to see him and Russia as victims of it, he has made inroads that he can continue to build upon.  

Defending attempts to weaponize cancel culture

In his war with Ukraine, Putin is in a battle for ideas as much as he’s in one for territory.  He knows he needs to win over the hearts and minds of his own domestic population and those of the political right in the west.  He is using the west’s divisive rhetoric against itself.

And unsurprisingly, many on the far right had already accepted his invitation.  

To defeat Putin’s attempts, not only to attack Ukraine, but to disrupt liberal democracy, the political left and right need to return to an open marketplace of ideas.  Caveats and exceptions exist, such as flagging COVID-19 disinformation, but those instances should be extremely rare.

Canceling critics only emboldens them, while polarizing everyone.  Let the marketplace of ideas decide what is right or wrong, good or bad, beautiful or ugly. 

The more we cancel each other, the more we allow despots to use it as ammunition to damage democracy.