They learned they can come after you and make it very public that they’re doing so.

Ben Shapiro, Liz Wheeler, and yours truly have been threatened with cancellation many a time and we naturally laugh it off. If I write or say something that SJW mob finds outrageous, and the left judge me guilty of wrong-think, the worst they can do is hatred at me on social media. Reporting to my boss about what I said isn’t likely going to do anything except get me some brownie points. I’m paid to express my opinion and if my opinion is generating buzz, well that’s just dandy.

You, on the other hand, might not be so lucky. You may express your appreciation for something I made, or wear a t-shirt emblazoned with the RedState logo and have your picture taken in it. In its efforts to punish both myself and anyone who may think like, or agree with me, they may generate a mob to come against you in particular. They’ll find out where you live, where you work and do whatever it takes to make your life a living hell. The pressure put on your place of work may be so intense that it may terminate your employment…all because you expressed approval for a RedState writer, video, or article.

What’s more, they’ll parade your figurative scalp around in public. They want to be seen doing this, not just because they believe they conquered a terrible foe, but because they want to send a message, and it’s a simple one: get caught supporting the wrong kind of people and thinking the wrong kind of thing, and you will be punished.

This happened to OSU football coach Mike Gundy who got caught wearing an OANN shirt and was promptly roasted by the mob until he apologized in a video. It happened to the stepmother of Atlanta PD officer Garrett Rolfe simply because of her connection to him.

The goal is a simple one. Make it clear that anyone who expresses agreement with an unapproved media figure will result in having your life ruined. Do not be seen showing support for any organization that doesn’t conform to the left’s narratives. Step out of the approved ideological guidelines and you’re done.

Will this stop people from watching or supporting these people or news outlets? To a degree. It will definitely hamper public support for it as you will see many people afraid to even speak of someone like Steven Crowder or Dana Loesch with any kind of positive tone. This silencing will act as a way to limit the free-flow of information. People will become more and more unwilling to listen to these thought leaders as nothing but bad news and one-sided narratives are created around them.

It’s a very sinister way to control the narrative. No longer is the left going after the people who make the points, now they’re going after the people who listen to them. Destroying innocent lives is just collateral in this cultural war.

As I have made clear before, the best way to combat this is to, for one, be brave enough to speak out anyway. It’s hard to cancel an overwhelming tide of people. Secondly, and most importantly, businesses who decide to participate in cancel culture by firing those whom the mob comes after should be held responsible. Not only should you express your disagreement with them, but you should vote with your wallet and find yourself a different place to shop at or do business with.

The entire reason the business or corporation fired the employee in the first place was to keep as much goodwill with the people as possible, but it needs to understand that the people is was trying to generate goodwill with a small group of very loud people. The business should learn, and learn very quickly, that they just made a grave error by allowing those who would intimidate and ruin the lives of innocent people to have victory.

Canceling cancel culture cannot happen until the businesses across the world begin to understand that they can be canceled too and for very legitimate reasons.