And we are not powerless ...

Last night I learned that late night comic Jimmy Kimmel had been fired by Disney/ABC when I saw a friend's social media post: "we are canceling our subscription to Disney tonight!" WTF???

Apparently Kimmel had committed "wrong speech" about the Charlie Kirk assassination. Trump wanted the critical comedian gone and his hatchet man at the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, put the screws to the cooperative media conglomerate.

Our household doesn't have a Disney subscription, so we can't cancel that. 

But tireless Jay Kuo, lawyer and human rights activist, pointed to Christopher Armitage's useful prescription for letting the corporate big boys know that people are outraged.

Here's Kuo's abbreviated summary:

... corporations only understand when their money is at risk.

That means we aren’t powerless. We can do at least four things to hurt them where it matters:

1. Cancel Disney+ and tell them why.
2. Call/email/mail those companies to complain.
3. Screenshot and tag advertisers asking why they support censorship.
4. Share this playbook with others.

There often comes a point where those in power become cocky and badly overreach, misreading the room and handing the opposition an opportunity. When voices from all sides of the political spectrum come together in condemnation, we know we have hit such a point.

Wading into the culture wars with full-on censorship and cancellations will backfire. Comedians like Kimmel and Colbert are beloved figures who speak hard truths in entertaining, accessible ways to millions. The fascist right has nothing like their star power, and it has no sense of irony or comedy, which is why it is so threatened by such figures. 

... The right has managed to take a national conversation about Kirk’s murder and turn it into one about authoritarian censorship. That’s a huge unforced error, and we should exploit it. 

If we care about free speech and blunting fascism, we must keep speaking.