Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is urging the House Judiciary Committee to hold a hearing on “cancel culture,” which he says poses “long-term consequences to our democracy.”
In a letter to the committee’s chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Jordan wrote, “The wave of cancel culture spreading [in] the nation is a serious threat to fundamental free speech rights in the United States.”
He continued to claim that there is a “dangerous trend toward silencing and censoring certain political speech” in newsrooms and on college campuses and being carried out by social media companies.
The Ohio Congressman listed examples of college lectures being canceled “because students disagree with the speaker” and the “forced” resignation of The New York Times’ opinion page editor for publishing a controversial op-ed by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).
Jordan went on to note that Amazon has stopped selling books “reflecting certain political views” and social media companies have “censored and de-platformed prominent conservatives — including the sitting President of the United States.”
Additionally, he referenced a letter from two Democratic lawmakers to cable companies asking why they are carrying Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News Network.
Read the letter below:
#BREAKING: Ranking Member @Jim_Jordan calls on @RepJerryNadler to hold first full committee hearing on “cancel culture.” pic.twitter.com/FEI20b6qio
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) March 1, 2021
“As the committee entrusted with upholding the Constitution and our fundamental liberties, our first full hearing for the 117th Congress must examine this cancel culture sweeping America,” he added.
“Cancel culture is a dangerous phenomenon whether you agree or disagree with the views being censored. Our society must always promote the free exchange of ideas, not cancel the ideas with which we disagree. If cancel culture continues unchallenged, it is not just the unpopular or controversial viewpoints that are at risk. Every viewpoint and every idea — whether widely accepted now or not — runs the risks of eventually falling into disfavor with the ever-changing standards of cancel culture.”
Finally, he claimed that cancel culture has “long-term consequences to our democracy and our constitutional framework.”
“We must fight this trend before it is too late,” he added.
In recent years, conservatives have raised concerns about “cancel culture” and fears that free speech will be shut down by people with opposing views.
Yascha Mounk, the creator of the Persuasion newsletter, told NPR, “If people say, ‘Hey, I personally don’t like this person, so I’m not going to buy the products,’ that’s one thing.”
“But a lot of it is concerted efforts to force institutions to de-platform people. It’s firing people for imagined or very minor offenses because of sort of online media mobs and so on,” he added.
While conservatives have been speaking out about what they call “cancel culture,” NPR notes that others argue that mobilizing to de-platform someone is simply a way of holding them accountable for “offensive or harmful views.”
Highlighting how much of an issue the fight against “cancel culture” has become in some conservative circles, the 2021 Conservative Political Action Conference’s theme was “American Uncanceled.”