Scorched Earth: Putin's Bid to Weaponize 'Cancel Culture'
Last Friday Mr. Putin took some time out from his scorched-earth campaign in Ukraine to bitterly complain about Western "cancel culture". The West, he insisted, is out to cancel Russia.
Seriously? Is Mr. Putin's sense of cultural grievance genuine? Maybe so. What it refers to, however, is unclear. Certainly, in light of ongoing Russian atrocities in Ukraine, there is bound to be some reactionary antagonism, even fury, throughout the free world. By and large, though, as the NYTimes points out, there's been remarkably little Russophobic canceling taking place. Just scattered examples, far less than one might expect in the wake of Putin's invasion. As the Times notes, "the vast majority of arts organizations in the West continue to prominently feature Russian culture."
Moreover, is it not odd—phenomenal hypocrisy, in fact—for Mr. Putin to identify on behalf of Russia as culturally aggrieved precisely while his armies strive not only to cancel but utterly erase Ukraine—and Ukrainians—from the map? Of course, Putin claims the goal is not to erase Ukraine-only to de-Nazify it. Which, quite apart from absurdity—much like curing a cold by gunshots to the head—also does not pass the pH—phenomenal hypocrisy—test.
Due to freedom of expression there is bound to be some left and right winged extremism in any relatively democratic society. Whether left or right makes little difference—ideological extremists of all stripes are equally dedicated to undermining Western cultural values and institutions. They damage relatively democratic Western nations rather equally. Which isn't all that terribly much. They secretly hope for Putin to succeed—as foremost enemy to the West Putin cannot help becoming their best friend. So what? Democratic societies are not nearly as vulnerable to coups as more totalitarian ones. It hasn't been so long since Donald Trump, for instance, leveraged some extremism in the U.S. Not for profit—just for fun and chuckles. His "insurrection" was far less toxic to democracy than a president who seemed more dedicated not to anything democratic but rather to becoming one of Putin's oligarchs. Without much hope for success, let's point out—Putin’s top oligarchs do not count their billions in single digits.
Sure there once was some ideological extremism in Ukraine's Azov regiment. So what? Putin now ranks favourably among bloodiest tyrants of the past hundred years. How can he complain about such minuscule trivia? It is nothing like Justin Trudeau complaining about some ideological extremism in the Freedom Convoy. Not in the least. For who has done more than Putin to foster extremism in the West? Who has unleashed more paid Russian trolls to poison democratic public spheres with absurdly ideological, divisive conspiracy theories? Who has most vigorously strained to both Bolshevize and Nazify Western discourse?
Expressive freedom in the West is far more fraught now than it once was. We've taken some damage, we haven't enjoyed the process—but we're still standing. Freedom and democracy are alive and well, Mr. Putin—thanks for asking. Please understand, however: having done far more than anyone to foster extremism in free and democratic societies, you don't then get to complain about our extremism and, using that false plaint for pretext, invade to destroy our democracies. Not even as a joke—or the plot of some twisted KGB melodrama.