Insert buster Scruggs “first time” meme. I love how people think all this is some new fad. I live the old folks complaining it wasn’t this way in their day. Yeah Susan, yeah Bill. It was. You can go find throughout history so called “cancel culture.” And this meme speaks to a major point about the comedians lamenting “cancel culture” so often. Those who invoke serious speakers and edgy comedians of the past who risked prison time and threats of serious harm or death to make poignant statements on society and issues. Comedians like George Carlin have routines that people know by heart or have become art of popular consciousness 40+ years later still and have their names known still because they said things worth remembering.
Most people couldn’t even remember the jokes from DC’s infamous specials right after it ended, just that it was funny (or to some not) and that some of it was seen as anti trans. These comedians and media talking heads bemoaning cancellation aren’t saying anything that society at large will remember in 10 years let alone 40. They aren’t risking anything except a 5th mansion if they have to retire with only the millions they’ve made up until now.
They aren’t slogans and jokes that most people can use in every day life and that resonate and leave a generation contemplating why it is such a big deal to say “those words” or examining corruption. They’re topical “fart jokes.” Some more clever than others but there is no deeper truth or wisdom- just people trying to make their fart jokes seem poignant by associating them with some concept that accountability is the death of “freedom.”
They aren’t slogans and jokes that most people can use in every day life and that resonate and leave a generation contemplating why it is such a big deal to say “those words” or examining corruption. They’re topical “fart jokes.” Some more clever than others but there is no deeper truth or wisdom- just people trying to make their fart jokes seem poignant by associating them with some concept that accountability is the death of “freedom.”