Culture | Politics & Morality

Canceled?

There’s little redemption in a rerun, but maybe some deserve a sequel.

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

I dislike censorship. I believe in the “marketplace of ideas.” And, in principle, I am opposed to “cancel culture.”

I am glad that John Wayne was never one of my “heroes.” The fact is, I’m not anyone’s superfan; I can’t think of anyone whose sins or feet of clay would “crush” me, should I learn of them, today. Bill Cosby’s convictions for sexual assault were probably the biggest shocker, in recent years, for me. I’ve grown up with celebrities behaving badly, but as we learn some of the more shocking moral failings of our favorite actors, musicians, and politicians, I’m just glad I don’t idolize any of them. As for John Wayne, I lived nearly 50 years without hearing the ill-kept secret that he was a rabid racist, and maybe a generally horrible human being.

'I believe in white supremacy': John Wayne's notorious 1971 Playboy interview goes viral on Twitter

I’m not a huge fan of Westerns. To each his own, when it comes to that. I liked “The Hellfighters,” but Wayne’s role in that wasn’t the one I found most memorable, even if…