“Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson is sharing his “detest” for “cancel culture” and how Christians should be addressing it.
Robertson wrote in a Fox News op-ed that “intimidation and the fear of cancellation is a powerful strategy.”
“Cancel culture” is “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure,” according to Merriam-Webster.
Robertson continued to write, “Some people may believe they are directed by God to share their opinion. But cancel culture is really about emotional manipulation that is designed to force people into submission.”
“In the dangerous game of cancel culture, there are no winners.
[…] Today, I’m far more concerned about making sure I introduce God into my interaction with folks who practice cancel culture. Instead of political correctness, I’m all about biblical correctness.”
Robertson recognizes the dangers that “cancel culture” does to others, and there are numerous examples.
In 2020, Caroline Flack, English actress and radio and television presenter, took her own life after receiving relentless hate and online bullying. As Insider previously wrote, “Cancel culture can’t be blamed for every suicide, but there is no doubt it plays a part in destroying the mental health of vulnerable people who are already suffering.”
Robertson wrote, “Once we go down the road of calling others out in public, we are guilty of doing the same thing. Everyone winds up getting burned because everyone falls short — all of us are guilty of saying things we shouldn’t say or being insensitive to the feelings of others.”
“While I detest the practices of cancel culture, as a follower of Christ, I have to be careful that I am not guilty of doing what they do. I don’t want to treat them the same way they treat me. I want to do things the way God has instructed me to do them,” he added.
Robertson is choosing to take the high road by living according to Matthew 7:12, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” So how does he suggest Christians address “cancel culture”?
The “Duck Dynasty” star wrote, “Other people may wage war with the intention of destroying others, but not us. ‘The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ’ (2 Cor. 10:4–5).”
“Let’s fight using the weapons God has given, and fight with passion. Rather than killing people in the war that God has called us to fight, let’s be about freeing them from the lies that distort minds and destroy lives,” Robertson concluded his op-ed.