Future generations will find the phrase “cancel culture” baffling. It is a phrase so thoroughly co-opted by the American political right that it barely has meaning, and to the extent that it does, that meaning is divorced from the notion of the literal cancellation of anything.
The first time I heard the phrase “cancel culture” was in 2014, though this is also coming from a very white man—the term, not unlike “woke”, originated primarily within the African-American community before it was co-opted pejoratively by those opposed to it. And in 2014, it was referencing a literal cancellation—the proposed banishment of Cosby Show reruns from television airwaves. Bill Cosby as a public figure was already a bit complicated—he was simultaneously an iconic African-American trailblazer and criticized for an often paternalistic attitude towards the African-American community—but once his *gestures wildly at everything that became more well-known about Cosby over the last decade* became a defining part of his legacy, there was little-to-no effort to rehabilitate Cosby. There were those so offended by Bill Cosby that they didn’t want him, even as a very old man who was for all intents and purposes retired from public life, to make a cent of residuals, and there were those who wished to separate art from artist: there was never much effort to defend him.
In a literal sense, there has never been any attempt to cancel Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker: the most recent game in which he played was the most watched event in American television history, and his teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce are arguably the two biggest draws in the league. Following his commencement address last Saturday at Benedictine College, Butker faced heavy criticism for his comments, which addressed the role of women in society (namely that their role is primarily as a homemaker). The criticism was nothing new for Butker, who has a long and vocal history of expressing his extremely conservative views, citing his strident Catholicism for why he opposes abortion and the COVID-19 vaccine for some reason.
My own personal worldviews have virtually nothing in common with those of Butker, though I do admire his willingness to express them. He was able to express his views to a captive audience, and the vitality of the video allowed an even wider reach. That’s the upside to speaking on controversial issues. The downside is a lot of people like me were going to make fun of him. I was already familiar with Butker’s views, but for some who weren’t, they were suddenly alienated. Harrison Butker has a right to free speech; the same goes for those who mocked him.
The official Twitter account for the city of Kansas City joined in on what had essentially become a meme of mocking Butker—the Los Angeles Chargers made a point of putting Butker in the kitchen in a Sims-inspired schedule release video—and noted that Harrison Butker lives in Lee’s Summit, a suburb of Kansas City. The bit was too obvious to be genuinely funny—“he’s not OUR problem”, essentially. Not too long after, the tweet was deleted and the account apologized.
In the moment, the tweet made literally no impression on me. I don’t follow Kansas City on Twitter, I don’t follow any Chiefs-related accounts aside from a few fans without formal affiliation with the team, and I was watching Thunder-Mavericks Game 5 like a normal person. I became aware of the post this morning, via Missouri Secretary State and gubernatorial candidate Jay Ashcroft, who posted a screenshot of the since-deleted tweet, referring to the event, as did Missouri attorney general Andrew Bailey, as “doxxing”.
Lee’s Summit, it should be noted, is a city with over 100,000 people—it would be nearly impossible to specifically find Harrison Butker there. But legitimate concern for Butker’s safety was clearly not what fueled the rage from Ashcroft and Bailey. Instead, it greatly expanded the audience for the information. The Streisand Effect at play here is extraordinary: a minor story became a major one by virtue of protest. The problem is that Barbra Streisand probably didn’t want pictures of her house disseminated online. Jay Ashcroft wanted to go viral. By extension, he wanted everyone to see the post that revealed Harrison Butker is from Lee’s Summit.
Again, I cannot stress enough just how little danger the original post, which I don’t even particularly enjoy as it just throws a nearby place under the bus for no good reason, endangered Butker. Every suburb in America has a guy as aggressively pro-life as Harrison Butker. It is a matter of public record where many American conservatives far more impactful than Butker live. The idea that anyone who is publicly conservative is in imminent danger of violence fits neatly into justifications for an imminent need for gun ownership.
The idea that Republicans, who have spent weeks arguing that anti-Israeli government protestors should not be legally permitted to wear face masks as a means of publicly exposing them, have a deeply held and ideologically consistent commitment to absolute personal privacy is absurd. The commitment is instead to generic conservative grievances, a belief that facing any level of criticism is beyond the pale. Harrison Butker, a legitimate candidate for being the best kicker in the NFL, is under no threat of losing his job. As a player at a notoriously unmarketed position, it’s not as though he is even being subjected to a financial boycott of any real magnitude. Harrison Butker is admittedly better at his job than Colin Kaepernick, a fine but mostly unexceptional quarterback, was at his, but those critiquing the cancelation of Butker, who has not and almost certainly will not, lose a cent from the actions of this week, were silent when Kaepernick, post-protests of police brutality, could not garner even a backup position in the NFL.
24 hours ago, I had no idea that Harrison Butker lived in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. I now know, and granted I don’t really care, and it’s not because of a snarky anti-Butker tweet, but because of a purportedly pro-Butker one, as posted by an opportunity who does not actually care about anything that does not concern him. And when a Missouri Republican, free for the time being from ever facing any real electoral consequences for their actions, has the opportunity to make themselves the story, they are always going to jump on that opportunity.
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