The Left cannot attack “Right Wing” cancel culture because the Left practices it. In contrast, while one can list non-left cancellations, the people who might be inclined to disagree with it have bigger fish to fry. Our entire world operates on the notion of adversaries having the opportunity to contest each other. For the Left to disqualify itself from protesting cancellation and then excoriate the Right for not protesting cancellation is just plain silly. It’s not the Right’s job to contest the Right. It’s the Left’s job to do that, and they have disarmed by taking up residence in a glass house. That’s on them. When they stop cancelling, they can accuse the Right of not matching their commitment to open discourse.

Meanwhile, it’s hard to talk about “Right Wing” cancel culture when “Right Wing” doesn’t really mean anything. Trump isn’t “Right Wing.” Trump is an egocrat. Trump canceled Vindman because Trump is an awful person. Ideology had nothing to do with it. And Vindman was not “canceled.” He was officially persecuted, which is a very different thing, and even if he was publicly persecuted, it was for doing something brave, not for just expressing an idea.

Colin Kaepernick is also an interesting case. Standing for the National anthem is a ritual of unity, not unanimity. By kneeling, Kaepernick was not expressing disagreement; he was expressing defection. That is his privilege as a citizen, but it’s a bad move for someone who sells beer and trucks for a living. (No, his occupation is not “football player”; it’s seat-filler and ratings-booster.) He can claim after the fact that kneeling was not meant as an act of disrespect, but explaining public actions is like asking the price of a yacht. If you have to do it, you can’t afford it.

And Kaepernick was not canceled for one action. He had only to stop kneeling, apologize ritually for offending those who did not understand his intent, and then adopt some other, perhaps more explicit, anti-racist position. (Lots of football players protest racism aggressively.) Liberals get a great kick out of ‘Still she persisted,” but sometimes stubbornness has to be its own reward. And Kaepernick was stubborn.