The yearly Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, ended Sunday with a speech by former President Donald Trump calling for Republican voters to elect more aggressive candidates, his hinting at a possible 2024 presidential comeback and, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis emerging as the fan-favorite when Trump was excluded as potential hopeful in three years.
But there was news on the Cancel Culture front. And The New York Times, for one, showed it learned nothing over the past five years.
In its wrap-up coverage of the conference on Sunday, the Times suggested, as it wrote in a sub-headline, “’ Cancel culture is the new ‘fake news.’”
“The crowd cheered as ‘cancel culture’ served throughout the weekend as shorthand for bashing the news media, railing against the tech industry (in particular, Twitter’s and Facebook’s decisions to bar Mr. Trump from their platforms), and spreading fear about the decline of conservative and religious values in American popular culture,” the Times noted.
Sure, that’s one way of looking at it.
But there is more to the story. Just as there was to the term “fake news.”
Framing its coverage in this way, the Times suggests that “cancel culture,” like “fake news,” is something that doesn’t exist, or is something that conservatives are overhyping, or is something that they simply don’t like.
The Times, like most of the national media, has never acknowledged its own role in sowing distrust of journalists that led Trump and other conservatives to proclaim “fake news.”
They have never admitted to overhyping trivial matters related to Trump or reporting things that weren’t true, or failing to hide their own anti-Trump bias.
For instance, the Times infamously won a Pulitzer Prize, journalism’s highest honor, for reports on something that didn’t happen: Trump’s supposed collusion with Russian operatives to steal the 2016 election.
Nonetheless, while the Times’ staff sniffs at CPACers over Cancel Culture, it was playing out right before them.
CPAC was relocated from Maryland to Orlando this year because Florida was less restrictive on COVID-19 regulations. It was held at the Hyatt Regency hotel.
As The Blaze reported on Sunday, “Democrats angry that Hyatt agreed to host the annual gathering of Republicans are calling for a boycott of Hyatt.” And #BoycottHyatt trended on social media over the weekend.
“(T)thousands of angry people (were) declaring to never give their business to Hyatt again. Many people even alleged that Hyatt was siding with Nazis and white supremacists by hosting CPAC at one of its properties,” The Blaze note.
For example, one critic on social media said, “Hey @Hyatt, we’re boycotting your hotels for supporting and allowing white supremacists to hold CPAC at your Orlando location. I travel a lot, and you just lost my business, and I’ll tell everyone I know to do the same. Shame on you.”
Here is where the target of Cancel Culture usually caves, and begins issuing apology after apology that is never acknowledged or accepted.
Hyatt, however, stood against the mob.
“Hyatt’s most fundamental responsibility is to provide a safe and inclusive environment for all of our colleagues, guests, and customers. Our commitment to this principle is informed by our purpose as a company to care for people so they can be their best,” Hyatt said on Twitter.
“We take pride in operating a highly inclusive environment and we believe that the facilitation of gatherings is a central element of what we do as a hospitality company. We believe in the right of individuals and organizations to peacefully express their views, independent of the degree to which the perspectives of those hosting meetings and events at our hotels align with ours,” Hyatt’s statement continued.
“Our own values support a culture that is characterized by empathy, respect, and diversity of opinions and backgrounds, and we strive to bring this to light through what we do and how we engage with those in our care.”
Hyatt may reverse course, but for the moment, it opted to reject cancellation by liberals.
The Times, more than anyone, ought to know better than to hint that Cancel Culture is a fictitious phenomenon. In the last few months, it’s forced its editorial page editor to resign and a Pulitzer-nominated science reporter because they got on the wrong side of the woke mob.
Check out the ‘Cancel Corner‘, a new section launched where we report on the latest Cancel Cases and stories from around the globe.