For years, the Left told us that "cancel culture" didn't exist. Instead, they called it "accountability culture" or "consequence culture," and they argued freedom of speech did not mean freedom from consequences for that speech.
That's how Emmanuel Cafferty ended up getting fired from his job as a lineman with San Diego Gas & Electric. Cafferty had his arm hanging out the window of his truck and he cracked his knuckles. A fellow commuter with a camera snapped a picture, accused Cafferty -- who is Mexican -- of flashing a "White power symbol" and sent the pic to his employer. Cafferty was fired.
Now that quite a few Leftists -- from pilots to teachers to Office Depot workers -- are getting fired for celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk (and, in some cases, calling for more bloodshed), the Left realized they don't like living by their rules.
They are suddenly opposed to the cancel culture -- sorry, consequence culture -- they forced on the rest of us for years. As they always do, they're playing the victim, pretending the mean ol' conservatives used to support free speech before embracing consequence culture.
They're correct. We did.
We repeatedly warned the Left not to go down the consequence culture path. They didn't listen.
Instead, here's just some of the people the Left had investigated or fired in 2020:
I actively cataloged some of the worst behavior during 2020's cultural revolution.
— Jeremy Kauffman 🦔🌲🌕 (@jeremykauffman) September 15, 2025
Here's a round-up of 25 egregious firings, investigations, and excesses from 2020, so you can remember just how bad things got. pic.twitter.com/xQClShMUgZ
In June, UCLA Professor Gordon Klein asked a perfectly reasonable question, namely why he should give Black students special treatment in his online class. Klein asked the student who emailed him, "Do you know the names of the classmates that are black? How can I identify them since we've been having online classes only?"
1 - Gordon Klein
— Jeremy Kauffman 🦔🌲🌕 (@jeremykauffman) September 15, 2025
Klein, a UCLA professor, was suspended from his job for politely asking why it made sense to give black students special treatments on exams.
Klein lost his ability to teach for this incredibly timid letter. pic.twitter.com/fWvir75gwy
Klein was suspended for this and filed a $22 million lawsuit, claiming UCLA's suspension "destroyed his lucrative litigation expert practice" a business that earned Klein over $1 million per year, according to TheCollegeFix. The trial began on July 1 and closing arguments were heard at the beginning of September. The outcome of the suit is still pending.
Political scientist David Shor worked for Democratic consulting firm Civic Analytics during the riot-filled summer of 2020. He saw the George Floyd-inspired "fiery but mostly peaceful" protests erupt across the country and warned the Democrats such blatant violence and destruction could harm them electorally.
Shor was fired.
9 - David Shor
— Jeremy Kauffman 🦔🌲🌕 (@jeremykauffman) September 15, 2025
Shor, a Democratic researcher, lost his job for sharing data that said riots would hurt the ability for Democrats to win elections
His employer said that sharing such data was "tone deaf" pic.twitter.com/hnwfuqeAND
Shor, rightly, pointed out the riots that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. “reduced Democratic vote share in surrounding counties by 2%, which was enough to tip the 1968 election to Nixon.”
At the University of Southern California (USC), business Professor Greg Patton was suspended after using the Chinese word "nega" (which means "that") and Black students took offense.
11 - Greg Patton
— Jeremy Kauffman 🦔🌲🌕 (@jeremykauffman) September 15, 2025
Greg Patton was suspended from his job for teaching his students Chinese, because Chinese contains sounds that approximate taboo English words.
Literally, that was it. pic.twitter.com/XV5EiLLOgv
CNN reported that the Black China Caucus was appalled by the decision to suspend Patton, writing on X, "The BCC is shocked by how USC mishandled this situation. Not only would a quick Mandarin lesson reveal that “nèi ge” is a common pronoun, but USC’s reaction cheapens and degrades substantive conversations surrounding real (diversity, equity and inclusion) challenges on college campuses!"
Patton, sadly, apologized for the incident.
Compare those three stories -- and what happened to Emmanuel Cafferty -- with some of the stories coming out in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination. We have the New Jersey surgeon who resigned from Englewood Health after telling colleagues, “I hate Charlie Kirk. He had it coming. He deserved it."
A teacher in Toronto also said Kirk "deserved it" while showing junior high students a disturbing video of Kirk's students.
Pilots for American Airlines were grounded for celebrating the death, with the airline posting a statement on X that read, "American Airlines condemns violence of any kind. A Delta pilot was also suspended, with Delta saying the posts "went beyond healthy, respectful debate."
Therein lies the rub: for five years, the Left created a hostile cancel culture that targeted people for asking questions, daring to point out the fact that riots don't sit well with the general public, and for using a common Chinese word. Those were not offenses worthy of firing or even suspension. Meanwhile, Leftists from all walks of life gleefully celebrated the assassination of man with whom they disagreed with politically.
But the Left believes, genuinely, that the rules they force on the rest of us can never -- should never -- apply to them. No matter what they do. Which is why Rolling Stone (which believed cancel culture was once good for democracy) and the rest of the media are stunned -- stunned -- they're finally facing consequences.
