Not too long ago, American conservatives were the sworn enemies of “cancel culture.” According to the right, deranged liberals were trying to ruin the lives of well-meaning people, all because of past mistakes or politically incorrect statements. The GOP felt that historical figures, politicians, celebrities, and regular people shouldn’t be canceled, simply because they made a racist comment.
It didn’t matter that many of the left were simply trying to hold people accountable for saying disrespectful — and sometimes racist or misogynistic — statements.
Of course, now, in 2025, cancel culture has taken a new turn. The liberals are no longer the ones wielding this so-called power. Instead, the conservatives have adopted the cancel culture for themselves, and they’re using it rather viciously to threaten all those who disagree with them.
How New York University Caved to Conservative Cancel Culture
For what it’s worth, during the brief years when Republicans were outraged over the left’s cancel culture war, Democrats in power never once used it to truly go after those they politically disagreed with. Sure, liberals were always quick to publicly denounce those who said or did wrong.
However, a strongly worded statement is nothing near what the conservatives are currently doing. Take New York University’s outrageous decision to withhold graduating senior Logan Rozos’ diploma. During his commencement speech, Logon Rozos spoke out against the Palestinian genocide at the hands of Israel.
That was simply unacceptable to the university’s ideology, and now they’re withholding his diploma as a result. Conservatives have cheered on this move by NYU. However, if this were a conservative speaker this had happened to, Republicans would have been the first ones crying “cancel culture” and yelling about one’s right to free speech.
The Republicans’ Dangerous Turn Against Free Speech
Regardless of what they may like to say, Republicans aren’t for free speech in America. They seem to only be for free speech that they agree with. They’ve taken cancel culture under their wing and are going after anyone who speaks out of line, especially if said person is on a university campus.
Across the country, college protestors are being rounded up by police and ICE in unprecedented moves. Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia student who protested for Palestine, was shockingly arrested by ICE agents in March. Khalil, who is a green card holder, remains detained in a detention center in Louisiana.
The right has cheered his detention on, even though he hasn’t been accused of doing anything illegal, other than organizing pro-Palestinian rallies. Instead of going after real criminals, the Trump administration wants to deport Khalil because of his beliefs and his speech.
It’s also a prime example of how conservatives are using the cancel culture they once detested to go after those they disagree with. This isn’t just the public shaming that the left perfected a few years ago. This is the right-wing finding a way to crack down on their opponents in the real world. That should frighten everybody, left and right.
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