Another counter-example to the “Left has a monopoly on cancel culture” or “cancel culture targets the poor, hapless Right” narrative.

I had trouble believing this one at first, but the story checks out: if you look at the Wooden Ships page on Facebook, the scary, subversive “Vote” sweaters are all gone. I mean, I could have understood if the sweaters had said, “Vote Wrongfully.”  Or, “Voting: Character > Policy.” But “Vote”? I guess this is what happens when Mark Zuckerberg reads Against Democracy.

Unsurprisingly, sweaters that have an American flag on them are not considered “dangerously political.” Because what’s political (or dangerous) about a symbol of nationalism? Neither are the ones with “Thankful,” “Blessed,” or “Gratitude” on them; that’s not politics, it’s theologically-inflected positive psychology. Facebook even turned a blind eye to the sweaters with Halloween skulls on them, which might easily have been interpreted as expressing problematic support for the undead or for pirates. But no, Nosferatu and pirates are OK; the subversive thought du jour in this demented universe is “voting.”

Plausible, I guess. Think how offensive it is to see people openly sporting apparel with the message that each of us should make a 1/n contribution to some political outcome, where n is in the tens of millions. Yes, “free speech” and all that, but there’s a limit. Imagine the hell that would break loose if people took this message seriously: we might get insubstantial, counterfactually unstable political change at the margins. Let’s not play with that fire.

Last hypothesis: maybe Paola Buendia is that rarest of rare birds, a right-wing designer in the fashion industry, being canceled by leftist cancel culture warriors for her outspokenly pro-Trump convictions? Maybe, but I’m inclined to think not.

Still believe that “cancel culture” is a monopoly of the Left? Tell me in the comments, so that I’ll know to keep posting counter-examples until you give up.