You know, after 9/11 I remember thinking that while it was awesome to watch the military response and the amazing technologies that were deployed, I also realized that those same technologies could be focused inwards at anyone .gov didn’t like…and, in several ways, that happened as the surveillance state finally sprang forth.
Now I’m watching cancel culture go global. Financial services like Visa and Mastercard are refusing to do transactions in Russia. Various industries are cancelling contracts with Russia. Online service providers are cancelling services in Russia. And I wonder how many people realize that the only thing standing between you and getting that level of cancellation directed at you is how you are portrayed to the public.
We saw this a few years back with Operation Chokepoint where ‘unsavory’ businesses were frozen out of banking services….and gun shops (and related businesses) had accounts frozen and closed. Now imagine the day when you’re considered a ‘person of interest’ or ‘enemy of the state’ or ‘a racist nationalist’ or whatever the bad-guy-du-jour is.
Maybe you run a gun shop, or a right-wing blog, or you ran for a political office on an ‘unpopular platform’, or you were on some ‘right-wing radio show’, or you protested a school board policy, or any one of the many ways you can offend the left. The unblinking eye of the media turns it’s gaze on you and suddenly your bank no longer wants to process your credit card transactions, your credit cards get frozen, your cell carrier drops you because you’re ‘a hater’ or ‘a climate denier’ or ‘an anti-vaxxer’, your local dealership refuses to fix your vehicles, your doctors suddenly cant fit you in their schedule. Congratulations, you’ve become what Orwell called ‘an unperson’.
So, observe how these industries, businesses, agencies, governments, charities, concerns, firms, and groups are all backing away like the Russians were radioactive. But remember, what they do to punish or compel others can just as easily be directed at you or people like you.
It’s probably not a bad idea to keep track of who these players are in this global cancellation project and be ready for them, when the media suddenly announces your designation as an enemy to [whatever] and you find that you no longer have a bank, phone service, a business, etc.
Whether its military hardware, police tactics, political pressure, or the court of public opinion…whatever can be used against others can be used against you. Plan around it….either stay so grey that they never feel the need to shine the light on you, or be resilient enough that when they do it doesn’t make a dent in you. But, regardless, be aware that it can happen.