Canceling Dolly and Kohl’s
The conservative forces who have forced books out of libraries because they dare to address racism in history or dare to show people of different races interacting in healthy ways or dare to suggest that people who aren’t straight, cishet, and Christian have a right to exist and have representation...the forces that have stripped women of not only abortion rights but even the ability to get medically necessary abortions for their survival in many states...the forces that portray protests as terrorism...
...well, they have a thing against “cancel culture.”
Especially when it’s something like washed-up, third-rate, right-wing actors and musicians not getting work or losing work for posting vile, hateful comments and acting like fools. Especially when conservatives are being indicted and the right wing claims they are the only targets when there are several prominent Democrats currently under indictment too. Especially when...
...well, just when it’s them, really.
They complain about cancel culture undermining them but it hasn’t slowed their progress toward right-wing rule one bit. And they do far more of the canceling, frankly. Shutting down sources of support and funding for marginalized groups that don’t get mainstream support hardly at all. Boycotting companies like Budweiser not for anything actually heinous or criminal—the typical reason that folks on the left boycott companies—but for having a trans women in a few of their ads.
They are the ones who harass and intimidate and even threaten with physical harm or death people who stray from the “norm” that conservatives want everyone to stick to. They have a very narrow view of who is human and decent, and anyone who looks or acts differently—no matter how harmless they are to society or how private and consensual they are about it—is the enemy.
It’s the biggest difference about the left and the right wings. They both have their problems, sure, but the left is more about letting people be themselves in society instead of hiding just because they are a little off the “mainstream.” The right is about enforcing one singular way of being.
And now, for some reason, they are flailing around to target new cancellable folks for some reason. Are they bored? Are they just being cruel? Do they feel they need to distract from Trump’s trial and their own continuing misdeeds? Do they just need to fire up their base?
Who knows?
But right now, it’s the Kohl’s department store chain and America’s sweetheart, country singer and actor Dolly Parton.
In the case of Kohl’s, they are facing a potential boycott because—drum roll please!—the Milwaukee-based retailer declined to sponsor the 2024 Republican National Convention, which will take place in the city next month. Never mind that the retail chain also declined to sponsor the Democratic National Convention when it was planned for Milwaukee.
They just don’t want to be political. They aren’t playing favorites. They just want to stay out of it. But that’s not enough for the conservatives. The lack of support from Kohl’s is a betrayal in their eyes. And, interestingly, just last year around this time Kohl’s was also getting heat from conservatives and facing boycott threats for daring to—sell Pride Month-related merchandise. Oh, the horrors! Catering to a segment of the market during a time of year that segment is hyped up.
And Dolly? Well, in her case the conservative publication The Federalist bizarrely decided to target her for cancel culture in a story titled “There's Nothing Loving About Dolly Parton's False Gospel.” Why are they so mad? Near as I can tell, it’s not even about anything Dolly said or did recently. It’s because she has defended her support for LGBTQ+ people based on her love and her Christian faith.
You know, the faith (which I happen to practice) that is supposedly based on Jesus’ teachings—an individual who would hang out with everyone to talk to them and connect with them, including criminals and prostitutes, showing kindness and compassion. Dolly has a long history now of defending the rights of LGBTQ+ people to marry, to have autonomy and self-determination. Because she cares about people. She doesn’t get particularly political. When prompted to comment on Donald Trump recently, she declined. Why? Because she doesn’t like to get overtly political.
Now, look—I would love for Dolly to talk shit about Trump and Republicans. But I’m not in the business of demanding or expecting anyone, celebrity or not, to be outspoken politically. Not everyone wants to; not everyone needs to. Some people like to be private about personal beliefs. That’s fair.
Fans of Dolly Parton are rallying, and she is not a person I expect to be canceled even if a decent number of her right-wing fans bail on her. She’ll probably make up for it with new converts. This is a woman who is rich and puts her money to good use. She donated a nice sum to COVID research. She supports animal shelters, scholarships, and hospitals. She funds reading and library programs. In her home county in Tennessee, she even set up a fund to give $500 to every kid who graduated high school, for God’s sake—and it cut down failures and dropouts in a big way. By all appearances, she is a damn national treasure.
She’s just out there not trying to judge people and love humans, especially the ones in need. In fact, she’s doing exactly what Christians are supposed to do and what so many conservative Christians do not do—she puts her money and her actions where her mouth is. She shows her love and concern for people—tangibly. For that, she is apparently deserving of a major conservative media outlet to randomly target her because LGBTQ+ people and Black people and other people they don’t like are among those she loves and looks out for.
The left has its issues and its own tendencies to punish people for not speaking up enough or about the right things, and I don’t like that. But the right? The conservatives are just about being mean and exclusionary to large chunks of the population just for daring to exist. The real “cancel culture” that needs to end is coming mostly from the right wing—the people for whom money, power, control, and obedience to a narrow standard of “normal” are the only things that matter. How about we cancel them instead at the polls and wherever else we can so that the world is a kinder place instead of a crueler one?