Cancel Culture & Conspiracy Theory: Sociological Phenomenon First, Political Second
A political essay that is a companion to John Eisenhauer's online novel
Cancel culture and conspiracy theory are real and are really misunderstood. While defined by politics, they are sociological phenomenon and both the product of the internet age.
This is an idea that is being developed by my free online novel Brandon Gets His Big Break. I’m posting it chapter by chapter. I’m working on ‘15’ right now (7/15/24). I anticipate that the final product will be twenty.
‘Brandon’ is a philosophical novel and is about ideas. It is contemporary. It deals with topics like LGBTQ rights, feminism and the difference between religion and Spirituality (and – in my philosophy – that doesn’t have s*** to do with belief in a deity or any metaphysical beliefs). I consider the novel to be ‘politically progressive’.
Some minor spoilers ahead.
The protagonist gets a job as a staff writer on a bold reimagining of the 90’s sitcom Friends. The showrunner & creator of the dramedy is Ilana Glazer (in the real world, she is best known for Broad City). I incorporate fictional versions of real people (that I like) into the story: both minor & major characters. People that I hate – like Alex Jones – are not characters but are discussed or their fictional broadcasts observed by the characters. I don’t give the crappy people personalities. That is a gift from God (that would me, sunshine). Glazer is definitely a major. By Chapter 15, she and Josie Totah (another real person) become unvarnished heroes.
Brandon has been in an emotionally committed polygamous relationship for over three years with another guy and two gals. On the first page, we learn one of the women is raped and murdered in a homophobic assault. I won’t say which one (a MAJOR spoiler). The crime happens in Chapter 13. The narrative is non-linear. It is broken into three primary fragments( one starts in ’08, another ’19 and the third in ’23). The victim is alive in the two older fragments and dead in the third. This creates some interesting narrative potential.
After the murder, Brandon quickly realizes that he cannot continue as a staff writer. In Chapter 13 of ‘Brandon’, a few days after the grisly murder of his life partner, Josie Totah calls him.
“Ilana tells me that you don’t think can work in the writer’s room.”
“Yeah…I might be able to function. I just don’t know. Creative writing is…”, [Brandon is silent for a moment and then continued] “It’s coming out…our polyam. You know how this s*** goes down. This is a salacious story. Perfect for keeping us from talking about how the environment is going to s***. Perfect for the Newsmax creeps. A dyke in a perverted tryst? Perfect! It’s coming out.”
“Jesus…don’t worry about that, Brandon.”
“We’re adults for Christ’s sake. Serious people. This project is controversial enough what with…well, you. I can just imagine what the smarmy talking heads are going to be saying…the snakes. If I’m a writer on this…you know that the ‘Jesse Watters’ types will be blathering about how I’m furthering the Gay Agenda. Then the writer’s room would be plunged into chaos. I honestly believe that we couldn’t even deliver scripts if I’m there. Are you calling to let me go?”
“No…we’re family. You are part of us. I respect your position and…honestly…think your analysis is spot on. Unfortunately. But we are family. We will get you something…something good. I’m here for you: we all are.”
Totah offers Brandon an interview for her assistant position. She explains that she is reopening the interview process for him. She tells him that she has two strong candidates.
A few paragraphs later, Totah says:
“[…} if I end up going with one of the other people, I personally promise to get you something. With the Friends reboot if humanly possible, I’ll go outside to another project if needed. Not just me, Ilana has your back also.”
In Chapter 14, Brandon is temporarily working as Ilana’s assistant while waiting for his interview with Josie. Totah comes into Glazer’s office to play a clip of Alex Jones’ Info Wars. He is showing a doctored video of the killing that has the victim provoking the attack. Brandon ends up saying:
“That clip is so obviously doctored. The real one has been out for a while. She said ‘Oh…f***’ in a quiet voice. You can only hear it because the patio was dead quiet. Then those psychos go after her.”
“Did you noticed how he said that he had not ‘vetted’ the clip?”, Ilana asked. “He’s learned from Sandy Hook. He’s going to either say that he was honestly mistaken or question which clip is real. It doesn’t matter. His viewers don’t care about facts…except to resent them.”
Alex Jones’ totally bogus conspiracy theory regarding the Sandy Hook school shooting is a powerful example of how an amoral huckster can get a lot of people – um, idiots – to believe toxic idiocy. And – in so doing – cause a lot of suffering.
Following the tragic 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Jones propagated the false claim that the massacre was a staged event orchestrated by opponents of Second Amendment rights. He alleged that grieving parents were ‘crisis actors’ and that the shooting never occurred. This inflammatory narrative led to death threats and harassment against victims' families. In 2022, Jones was found guilty of defamation and ordered to pay $965 million to those affected by his harmful statements.
To understand how Jones did it, you have to understand how the internet has redefined how this society interacts and communicate. But – before understanding how conspiracy theory works – you have to understand how cancel culture works. And the first thing that you have to understand how neither one – at the most fundamental level – has anything to do with politics.
A good starting point is showing that activity on the internet is correlated to age. In the United States, 71% of Americans aged 18 to 29 use Instagram, while the usage decreases among older age groups: 48% for ages 30 to 49, 29% for ages 50 to 64, and only 13% for those 65 and older.
And internet sites are interrelated.
The microblog site Threads was created as competition to X (formerly Twitter). The competition attracted 100 million accounts in a five day period in 2023. To use Threads, an account holder must log in with an Instagram account. Threads is tightly tied to Instagram, and a person’s Instagram and Threads accounts are essentially the same. The age breakdown of Instagram – that was just cited – would also apply to the upstart as well.
The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education: its mission is to provide scientific evidence to inform education practice and policy.
In an IES report Use of Educational Technology for Instruction in Public Schools: 2019-20, it is reported that 45% of schools reported having a computer for each student. Furthermore, an extra 37% reported having a computer for each student in some grades or classrooms. 15% percent let students in all grades take school-provided computers home and another 8% let students in some grades take them home.
Computers are omnipresent among the youth of our nation. I’m going to date myself: I went to high school in the ‘70s. There was a single computer lab where courses on programming were taught.
A little over 70% of schools said that their teachers used computers for activities normally done in the classroom. Furthermore, about half said that their teachers used the technology for classroom work that would not be otherwise be possible.
This greater emphasis on computers is emphasizing independent thought and action.
According to the same IES report, 33% of schools said they strongly agreed that computers helped students to be more independent and self-directed. Similar percentages said that the technology helped students to learn at their own pace (35%) and to learn collaboratively with peers (30%). 41% said it helped students learn more actively, and 27% said it helped students think critically.
I believe that modern conservatism – that values conformity and fears individuality – should be more concerned about computers in classrooms than LGBTQ themed books in the library.
On July 15, 2023, Charlie Kirk – co-founder and CEO of ‘Turning Point USA’ – tweeted: ‘The next generation of conservatives cares about truth, faith, courage, and putting the American people first. We are not cowed by leftist name-calling. We don't take marching orders from uniparty hacks, race-hustlers, warmongers, groomers, and cowards.’
While this tweet doesn't explicitly state a fear that education fosters individuality and critical thought, it expresses an intense phobia of the young being exposed to different viewpoints and being encouraged to think on their own.
People – who are under thirty – are much savvier about computer technology than their older peers. This includes actively using social media much more than older people.
As I mentioned earlier, younger people use social media much more than their older counterparts. In the US, 71% of Americans aged 18 to 29 use Instagram, while the usage decreases among older age groups: 48% for ages 30 to 49, 29% for ages 50 to 64, and only 13% for those 65 and older.
Younger social media users tend to lean more Democratic, while older users show a more balanced distribution across political ideologies.
According to Pew, millennials – those born between 1966 to 1981 – have voted Democratic in every presidential election & midterm from ’02 to ’12 while Boomers (born between 1946 to 1964) vote overwhelmingly Republican as a block.
This translates into active and interactive engagement on Social Media by active political liberals. This is why there is a cancel culture. People on the political left will gang up on perceived slights. But this a sociological phenomenon.
Older people tend to be more passive in their internet use: watching conspiracy sites like Info Wars. Trump supporters – who tend to be less active and interactive on the internet than younger people – take marching orders but don’t gang up on people in the same way as their younger (and politically liberal) counterparts.
About two-thirds of voters ages 18 to 24 (66%) associate with the Democratic Party, compared with 34% who align with the GOP.
Earlier in this piece, I pointed that my free online novel Brandon Gets His Big Break discusses the idea that Trump voters passively embrace conspiracy theories posted on the internet.
Namaste & Shalom,