[Peace-discuss] DiMaggio Again

[David Green]

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/14/canceling-the-cancel-culture-enriching-discourse-or-dumbing-it-down/


Anthony Dimaggio yesterday doubled down on the column that I criticized
this past weekend. He is not interested in seriously entertaining the
notion of cancel culture as Woke Left culture, woke culture as endemic in
academia, and woke culture as primarily a neoliberal
professional-managerial class (PMC) phenomenon, identified with the "left,"
which encompasses, for example BLM, me-too, and "pro-trans," as well as
"abolish police," etc., and which contributed to undermining Bernie
Sanders' campaign, although there's much more to it than that.

DiMaggio presents himself as a leftist who can look only "rightwards," or
"upwards" into the media power structure represented by the NYT and many of
the signatories of "the letter." But the left that he imaginatively
identifies himself with is no longer connected to the working class, or to
Marxism in any serious way. It is a phantom. DiMaggio's material class
interests are with neoliberalism.

His tactic in soft-pedalling the notion of cancel culture is to describe,
at length, 4 topics that he thinks should not be up for serious debate
among right-minded people, so as to exonerate the "left" (in my words, the
Woke) from charges of repression.

1. *Debating safety measures in a pandemic*. He spends many words stating
the obvious. Tellingly, he doesn't bother to consider that social
distancing and public gathering prohibitions were suspended during the
height of BLM protests, with the support of public health officials. This
is symptomatic of the complete lack of awareness that DiMaggio has about
the nature of the "left" and "right." Such blatant hypocrisy deserves at
least a mention, but DiMaggio is too hidebound to give it one. That's
because he is bound up with the hypocrisy itself, and blinded by it.

2. *Throwback transphobia and pedophilia propaganda*: No, this won't fly.
Those who want to rationally discuss the trans issue are being repressed,
by the Woke Left. See Robert Jensen's column
<https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/07/15/cancel-culture-cannot-erase-a-strong-argument/>
in
today's Counterpunch. Very good, and surprising to me, because at one time
I thought of Jensen as being Woke. Anyway, DiMaggio accuses J.K. Rowling of
relating trans to pedophilia in a way that is not supported either by
DiMaggio's narrative, or the by links he places in these paragraphs. At
this point, it's fair to say that DiMaggio is just blatantly dishonest and
slanderous.

3. *Death panels and the plot to kill "Granny":*
DiMaggio continues to score points against right-wing propaganda. I get
it, it's not hard. It's beating dead fish shot in a barrel. It has nothing
to do with understanding the relationship of the Woke Left to the power
structure. He's avoiding the topic, because he doesn't see the topic,
because if he had to take a good look at the Woke Left, he might have to
take a good look at the "academic Left" of which he is a part, which
functions perfectly well within the PMC power structure and has absolutely
nothing to do with the working class, socialism, Marxism, etc. DiMaggio
could at least offer a nod to the fact that the Democratic establishment is
opposed to Medicare for All, and promotes the mythology that "we can't
afford it."

4. *Climate Change Denialism*: Repeat above. DiMaggio thinks he can foist
all of our political pathologies onto right-wing populism, "white
nationalism.," etc.  But of course he never mentions Russiagate, etc.

DiMaggio concludes:

"Instead of embracing right-wing rhetoric about the perils of the “cancel
culture,” we should elevate the discourse to a higher level in which
individuals are expected to engage in reasoned arguments based on evidence
and data. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the severity of the threat when
anti-science flat-earthers are placed into prominent positions of political
power. The bankruptcy of the post-truth “one position is equal to another”
discourse has been laid bare. Whether we can move past such propagandistic
“debates,” however, remains to be seen."

I would suggest that he consider the equivalence embodied in "racism is a
virus," used to justify mass gatherings during a pandemic. Yes, that in my
book would be a "higher level." Again, DiMaggio states, the obvious, but
not considering the broad constitution of the power structure, from "right"
to "left," from "populist" to "woke." All of it down with neoliberalism,
with various shades of black and gray; none of it organically related in
any way to the conditions and needs of the working class.

DG
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