"Cancel culture [sic]"

The term “cancel culture” is the re-branding of what the right-wing used to call “political correctness,” their rebuttal to idea that there is certain speech and behavior that is sufficiently offensive that it deserves to be excluded from public discourse. “Cancel culture” is a somewhat more versatile epithet in that it also subsumes the disapprobation of historical acts and figures revered by the racist right as undeserving of taxpayer-supported respect, viz., monuments, statuary, buildings and military bases honoring people who committed treason against America to defend white supremacy. 

The whining about cancel culture is no more deserving of our attention and respect than the whining about political correctness. There aren’t two sides to the use of the N word. People who use it deserve to be shamed and called out. Likewise, there aren’t two sides to treason against America. The Constitution makes it clear that in America, treason is criminal behavior. Honoring traitors is honoring criminals, full stop.

No, statues, monuments and place names honoring Washington or Jefferson are not the same as statues, monuments and place names honoring Lee or Jefferson Davis just because all four owned slaves. We can and should have an honest discussion about American history, which has never come fully to grips with the original sin of slavery in which it was conceived. But attempts to whitewash the history of the Confederacy by slapping the term “cancel culture” over it are cheap, dishonest and unworthy of serious discussion by mature adults. We can and must do better.