Cancel Culture is Toxic
It was early October of last year when a local Twitter operative for the NDP and the radical left Press Progress put out similar hit pieces on me regarding a couple of social media posts or likes that I had made. One was regarding the origins of the coronavirus which I posted on Facebook and the other was three simple innocuous likes on Twitter that I must have made but have maintained since the start that I do not recall tapping a like for them, I suppose because I was never fully immersed into what I was accused of. Nevertheless, it was enough to finish my political career at that time and cause me much grief.
I won’t go into details about the process that led to my resignation, you can listen to this podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-other-side-of-the-story-with-daryl-cooper/id1501991987?i=1000496640673 or watch this video https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r9G7oeK4g1Y . I am writing to talk about cancel culture, the twisting of the truth by the media and the absolute abandonment one feels when you find yourself in the eye of a runaway train that blasts you out of nowhere. Nothing could have prepared me for this experience, and I wish this on no one, especially those that are not guilty of the stories being told of them.
The absolute glee that the left and the media have with taking people down is astounding and a sad statement on our society today. I take umbrage with the reckless behaviour these scribes, television and radio people took without even knowing the story they trot out. They appear to do little in the way of due diligence or critical thinking. I actually don’t blame many of the local ones, they are young and doing as they are told, but I question their education and their mentors. In my situation it hurt my aunts and my mother more than me, but hey, they are just collateral damage, right?
My situation was complicated further because of my father, whom I was especially close with, had passed away only a month earlier. I was raw. As I look back, I realize that I was so busy and excited about the election that I had neglected to mourn. I was so overwhelmed and embarrassed for all the insane publicity that I accepted resignation without my normal fight for what is right. I resigned after having knocked doors for 19 months. I resigned knowing full well I was going to win the seat fairly handily. I had 5700 confirmed supporters, many of whom had always voted NDP in the past but knew me from my 15 years of involvement in the community, coaching and administering minor sports. The NDP ended up winning the seat with a mere 4,000 votes.They knew they had to take me down a notch but I doubt very much they thought it would have been enough to take me out.
There were so many false statements that some friends wonder if I should go the path of Caylan Ford, a candidate for the United Conservative Party in the 2019 Alberta election when a similar wrecking crew went after her with much more serious accusations, causing her to step aside. “To be the target of a cancel campaign is psychologically shattering and often financially and professionally ruinous”, Ford states on her website www.caylanford.com.
Ms. Ford filed a $7 million defamation lawsuit this past November against the left wing media, the NDP, Press Progress, the CBC, Toronto Star, the Broadbent Institute (named after Ed Broadbent, former leader of the Federal NDP) and numerous individuals. Her story is more damaging to her future and she was accused of much more serious allegations than the trite and twisted accusations made against me.
Danielle Smith has been a popular radio host and media personality in Calgary for 12 years and is a former Conservative politician and one time leader leader of the Wildrose Party. She announced this past week that she would be leaving Twitter and her radio show as she has had enough of the mob. Another victim of the angry left cancel culture that prefer crushing voices they don’t agree with rather than have civil discussion, most likely because they know they would lose most debates. As Ms. Smith points out, her mentors at the Calgary Herald taught her their guiding principles: “be fair, accurate and balanced.” Not much of that goes on today, “it’s not journalism, it’s mob rule”, states Smith. Smith.https://nationalpost.com/opinion/danielle-smith-im-leaving-twitter-and-radio-because-ive-had-enough-of-the-mob
The left and the media use emotion, not logic to whip people into a frenzy over any issue they wish to attack on. Those of us right of centre, who look at common-sense approaches have trouble figuring the left out as we use logic over emotion. We have gone so far down that civil discourse isn’t even possible between the two sides.
You don’t need to look to hard to see how fear is always the motivating driver with cancel culture, and that is like candy for the media who have known for ever that fear sells. Terrorism, Global Warming, COVID-19 are all examples of using a bogeyman to prey on our emotions and completely dominate the conversation by then shouting down any thought of rationale discussion on alternative opinions and solutions. Where does it stop? Will books and encyclopedias be burnt and replaced with the “progressive” definitions? It is a slippery slope ad the decline seems to be gaining traction.
Caylan Ford was accused by the mob for being a white supremacist through a social media discussion with a “friend.” The people she is suing were quick to jump on the cancel train and defame her character without any conscience whatsoever. One only need to look at the names of the publications that did the damage to know that, “ fair, accurate and balanced” was never a consideration, the agenda trumped the truth. Danielle Smith grew weary of the degradation of debate over her 12 years on Twitter. “It used to be fun and could be such a force for good, connecting people and allowing global conversations,” states Smith. “Instead it’s become a mechanism to deplatform, ridicule and punish.”
As for me? They wrote 19 articles and columns on little old me, not counting radio and television. I laugh now as history has a way of seeing how trite and unoriginal the reporting was. For me anyways, the hits will not age well for those that produced them, they already look banal. Danielle Smith moves on and will find her way. As for Caylan Ford, it is a record that must be set straight and I wish her the best.
Unless you have lived it, it is hard to explain the emotions you go through. Luckily I have lived much of the past 10 years by The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz.
- Be Impeccable with your word
- Don’ take anything personally
- Don’t make assumptions
- Always do your best
Following those agreements, having a faith in a higher being and that every experience is just that, an experience and not the end of the world, can get anyone through the muck. It was a tough experience but as the old saying goes, “fire hardens steel” and I am stronger for it.
Cancel culture is a pretentious form of bullying. Why the Sask Party caved to the bullies instead of standing up for their team mate may never be answered, but I have moved on.
“Cancel culture is ruining our understanding of the past and until someone is willing to stand up to it, we will see our history washed away in a tidal wave of “progressive” revisionism.” Leslyn Lewis, Conservative Candidate for the Leadership in 2020.
Because of my “cancellation” I have a whole new universe of like minded people, people with big hearts, a lot of passion for this province and a strong dose of common sense. I do not write this looking for sympathy. I simply feel that the time has come for me to set the record straight in paper and have it posted along with the video and the podcast. And I felt it important to share my experience so that we the people start standing up to the angry and self-righteous mob and ask .
Yours in love of this great Province we call Saskatchewan,
Daryl Cooper
