The left has some comparative advantages in its war against liberty and tolerance. Chief among these is their boundless imagination for making things up. Last weekend’s target was the American Conservative Union (ACU), which hosts CPAC, the largest gathering of conservatives in the world.
Thousands of conservative activists, hundreds of conservative entities, as well as conservative politicians, thought leaders and millions of viewers in the United States and around the world were together in person or virtually. If that wasn’t enough to trigger the haters, that President Trump delivered his first speech since leaving office was the final straw. CPAC was the perfect target for a smear campaign.
The first and predictable line of attack was against Hyatt Corporation for daring to contract with the ACU. The mob took to social media to bully, censor and cancel. Then they ramped up the attack. So desperately hell-bent are these people on hurting those with whom they disagree and similarly censoring every facet of society that a few “woke” gems cracked open a history book and unearthed an obscure shape, the Odal Rune, part of the runic alphabet predating the modern Roman alphabet. Later becoming a symbol of hatred and tied to antisemitism, the mob made the tenuous and absurd connection the CPAC stage resembled the shape. Voila, Twitter, et. al. went wild with accusations of antisemitism.
Never mind that the stage was designed by subcontractor Design Foundry, and the contract between ACU and Design Foundry clearly stated that Design Foundry owned all designs and specs related to the stage. Never mind, as well, that Design Foundry (stage designer for MSNBC and Google, among others) told Forward that it “had no idea that the design resembled any symbol, nor was there any intention to create something that did.” Instead, the design was “intended to provide the best use of space, given the constraints of the ballroom and social distancing requirements.”
Where was Twitter with its infamous warning on the mob’s tweets that their content “is disputed and may be misleading?” Doubtful Twitter missed the strongly-worded statement from ACU denouncing the lies or Design Foundry’s taking responsibility for the stage design. These social media propagandists and their mob don’t let truth get in the way of their own mission to cancel others and spread malicious falsehoods.
And then there’s the Hyatt cowardice. Quick to throw ACU under the proverbial bus, Hyatt issued an outrageously dishonest statement expressing concern about the stage shape. Yet, Hyatt hid that its own staff worked closely with ACU on the entire event space layout and knew the stage design well before it was built. Hyatt bent to the lies of the left, rather than have the decency and moral compass to stand with ACU and denounce the wicked accusations. How ironic that Hyatt hosted CPAC’S America UnCancelled and then did its own cancelling.
Enough is enough. It’s long past time that the millions who stand for liberty and freedom of expression do some of our own “cancelling.” No more Hyatt until Hyatt has the will to withstand the baseless onslaught by the mob. We’ll find another place to stay that welcomes true tolerance.