A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.
— Edward R Murrow, American journalist
America, reportedly, is being attacked by the cancel culture destroying reputations and careers, censoring and banning patriotic and contrary viewpoints on social media. Academic freedom and intellectual interchange in higher education has not been spared, warns Mark R. Levin in his new book ‘American Marxism’.
The cancer of the cancel culture is painfully evident where responsible government entrenches its inalienable right to govern. Its ruses never fail to stretch the nerves and emotions of the voters. Control of the media is now matched by social media’s cyber-troopers.
Orthodox religious values are being fed and misled by deviant teachings for indoctrination and assimilation. The Covid-19 pandemic has influenced religious cult leaders into proclaiming that the Almighty Designer and Creator is chagrined at the world with the unmistakable revelation of kifarah, theodicy and karma.
Educational systems are systemically destroyed because vitriolic protests hardly happen. Political science, law, politics, government and economics is not taught in secondary schools until students reach tertiary educational levels. Zero intellectual grooming and nurturing. Teacher knows best. Keep your mental windows and intellectual doors shut.
Legal systems are being bent over backwards to accommodate Executive intercession. The “independence of the judiciary” is a good idea that is yet to sprout roots. Its shoots look luscious and brilliant, though, mostly admired while pedantic pundits parade precedents as consecrated principles of law. The hackneyed doctrine of the separation of powers between the organs of state substitutes the ubiquitous desperation for power.
The lethal aspect of the cancel culture emerges in the guise of much needed reforms (read: cancel ISA, rejuvenate Sosma).
The voters, in the meantime, as is their pastime, salivate over the next general elections while the cancel culture unleashes the American politician Elbridge Gerry’s strategies and tactics.
Plato’s timeless observation about the cancel culture is well documented when he declared that “mankind will never see an end of trouble until lovers of wisdom come to hold power, or the holders of power become lovers of wisdom.” Either way, you are skewered evenly over the coals.
The cancel culture portrayed in party hopping was sardonically defined by Winston Churchill when he quipped that “some men change their party for the sake of principles; others their principles for the sake of their party.” The constitutional thorn of Article 10(1)(c) Federal Constitution (FC) (right to form associations) can be surgically removed by judges willing to sharpen the scalpel of Article 162(6) FC.
The dominant political philosophy in any government is carefully nurtured to diminish and dismantle the high hopes for fundamental liberties. Lee Kuan Yew, in a speech on November 8 1965 remarked that “many politicians in this part of the world can be aptly compared to the fly-by-night medicine mendicant.” The cancel culture never takes a vacation.
During the Cold War, the cancel culture was relentless in breaking down democracies in Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand, Turkey and Uruguay. In 2013 and 2014, military coups toppled Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and Thailand’s Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawarta, respectively. Try cancelling the military!
What can the voters do to cancel the cancel culture? The ‘Nihon Keizai Shimbun’ newspaper reported Lee Kuan Yew, on February 4 1991, remarking that “a leader should not be swayed by the opinion polls and do only what the public wants even when he knows that it is wrong.” Lee went on to say, among other things that “asking the people for their views is childish rubbish,” (‘Lee Kuan Yew: The Man and His Ideas’).
In Malaysia, most successful business people and professionals are content with their lot. They seldom frown at Executive overreach, excess or largesse. They are unfazed as long as they are creating wealth for themselves. Significant numbers are reportedly emigrating or have emigrated to seek greener pastures elsewhere because they could not, or did not know how to cancel the cancel culture.
Green or greener pastures abound where economic power determines and defines politics. China keeps everyone wealthy so that busybodies don’t dabble in politics. There a lesson here: “leave well alone.” Many are not equipped to be agents of change and reform.
“A man with conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point,” observed Stanford University psychologist Leon Festinger over 60 years ago. They have newfound relevance today.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the New Sarawak Tribune.
