A personal brush with the cancel culture

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I contend that the term “cancel culture” is far too mannerly and tame. It scarcely captures the degree of hatred the Left and its social media zealots unleash with any transgression from woke orthodoxy. Even doctrinaire liberals, tried and true “progressives” with a lifetime of fidelity, have felt the sting of leftist vengeance after betraying the cause on a single, isolated point. Individuals have been disgraced, careers ended, livelihoods wrecked and reputations trashed over minor infractions of the progressive canon. And that is how they treat former friends and allies. Conservative foes are drawn and quartered outright in broad daylight.

I recently found myself the target of leftist vitriol and experienced the full fury of “cancel culture.” The events and tactics are worth reviewing.

I produced a 50-second video in my backyard with my 25-year-old son. I placed two Trump-Pence signs in front of us, an American flag behind us. I spoke of my love of country, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, in particular our Second Amendment. I said that we were not looking for trouble but would not run from it, and I tossed out a challenge to BLM (Black Lives Matter, the organization). I closed by saying that I liked President Trump. Of note, my son and I were holding our respective AR-15s. Not pointing them, mind you, just holding them.

The context, of course, is a four-month siege on America’s cities, the violence, rioting and arson occurring since the George Floyd incident on May 25. Many of us seethe at this ongoing disorder and the unwillingness of Democrat politicians governing these cities and states to control it. Also, it is galling to find our dominant institutions supporting radical street thugs.

Into this maelstrom I threw my 50-second video, posting on Facebook and Twitter pages. The next morning, I was seeing patients in my medical practice when one of my employees who monitors my social media noticed tens of thousands of views and thousands of comments, reactions and shares. By the end of the day, it was going “viral,” with both supporters and detractors responding and sharing. The insults, hatred and threats, however, were extreme.

“I’d rather die from cancer than have you as a doctor,” one cheerful commentator mentioned, among many other choice statements far more appalling than that.

Then came the menacing comments and “doxing” of my home and office as detractors posted my name and address on Facebook and Twitter. Individuals I had never met called my office, disparaging my work as a physician. Some asked for the office manager, attempting to pressure my employer into firing me. As I am self-employed, that ploy did not work.

The attackers took to my Google business page and left nasty comments and one-star reviews to damage my reputation and practice. There were threatening and derogatory calls to my local hospital, which had to increase security. The hecklers contacted my State Medical Board, prodding them to revoke my medical license. There were also plans for a demonstration at my house that same week on Friday at six p.m.

On the first night of the video, my son, who appeared in the video, was concerned because of the threats and doxing. He worried about the safety of our home and family, but also the impact on his career. At his request, I deleted the video. It did not help him. The next day, he lost his job. Furthermore, it had already been “screen captured” and spread by others throughout the internet despite removing it from my page.

On Friday evening at six o’clock, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, four police cars were outside my house to provide protection. I met with the officers and thanked them. The protesters did not show.

And after all of that, my practice remains busy. I live my life as always, but with greater awareness of my surroundings. I have installed security cameras. And, yes, I carry.

There is a great divide in the country today. And our opponents have declared war. Consider that, in this case, there was my 50-second video. Patriotic, pro-American, pro-Second Amendment, and, perhaps, a bit provocative. But, merely a video.

On the other side, there have been four months of continuous burning, looting, assault and murder in our cities. There have been calls for defunding and abolishing the police. Democrat politicians, local, state and national, rather than condemn the mayhem and violence encourage it, as do their media allies. So, too, the academy, Hollywood, corporate America and professional athletes. BLM and Antifa, the Marxist perpetrators of the turmoil, with the open support of our principal institutions and the Democrat Party, call for “burning down the system.” They deface synagogues and churches and refer to Jesus as a “white supremacist.”

Yet, in this contest, hardly equivalent, my otherwise harmless little video was sufficient cause to denounce and threaten me in the vilest ways, including attacks against me personally, my home and family, reputation, career, and livelihood. This, even as the same malcontents say nothing about the radicals destroying our cities.

We are in the midst of an assault on our Republic, a Marxist Revolution under the guise of “racial justice.” Who knows what will come after the election in November? The passions today are no less extreme than they were in 1860. Both times, Democrats were attempting to dismantle the nation.

To summarize, we are well beyond cancel culture. The proper term is “crush and destroy culture.” But it is worse than that. It is an insurrection, and the enemy has taken over our leading institutions. Unwittingly, though, these forces of darkness have roused the sleeping giant. Patriots and citizens, modern-day Paul Reveres, have organized and pushed back. We have seen this in Kenosha, Oregon, Ohio, Colorado, Seattle, Staten Island and elsewhere, including outside Walter Reed Medical Center during President Trump’s brief hospitalization.Thousands whom I had never met, rose to defend me in the social media and telephone blitz against me. We outnumber them. We can and must defeat, these, the enemies of civilization.

Richard Moss, M.D., a surgeon practicing in Jasper, Indiana, was a candidate for Congress in 2016 and 2018. He has written “A Surgeon’s Odyssey” and “Matilda’s Triumph,” available on amazon.com. Contact him at richardmossmd.com or Richard Moss, M.D. on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send comments to awoods@ aimmediaindiana.com.

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