Our culture wars have added a new front: crowdfunding.
Aggrieved people are putting their hard-earned money behind poorly behaved folks and even alleged murderers. All because these shameless offenders somehow represent their cause du jour or twisted tribal mentality.
Whether these suckers believe they’re fighting against cancel culture, for racial justice or railing against the decadence of the CEO class, they’re making a pretty pathetic financial pledge.
It’s as if we’re living in a late-night commercial for ambulance chasers: Did you do something odious or antisocial that has terrible real-world consequences? You may be entitled to compensation from your fellow believers.
And hey, maybe civilized folks who don’t believe in randomly murdering powerful folks on the street had a right to be disgusted by the glorification of Luigi Mangione, who allegedly gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson back in December.
Even more jarring was the financial support he received. His online fundraising has accumulated more than a million bucks.
But these last two months, this trend has reached troubling new heights.
Last month, Texas teenager Karmelo Anthony allegedly stabbed 17-year-old Austin Metcalf in the heart at a track meet when Metcalf asked the teen to leave a tent. Metcalf died at the scene. Anthony was arrested, admitted he stabbed him — and yet many rushed to his defense. Sides were drawn along racial lines and supporters have happily dumped over $526,000 into his family’s fundraiser while villainizing the victim in the comments.
Then last week, a video went viral of a Minnesota woman named Shiloh Hendrix unloading some “N” bombs on a man, who confronted her over using the same slur on a black toddler. She claimed the boy had rifled through her diaper bag. Hendrix, who was doxxed, has raised over $750,000 from folks using a grim “white lives matter” campaign.
Is it any wonder that a dim-witted Temple student would use this same method after it was revealed that he and his friends visited a Barstool Sports-owned joint and added a “F–k the Jews” sign to their bottle service? The student, Mohammed Khan, uploaded the video of the sign to his own account.
Barstool honcho Dave Portnoy, a proud Jew, rightfully flipped out over the situation.
Then, with all eyes on Portnoy, he did something different: He offered grace. He explicitly said he didn’t want to ruin the kids’ lives. He threw them a lifeline and offered them a free trip to Poland to visit Auschwitz. According to Portnoy, Khan was crying on the phone and agreed to go.
But suddenly, Khan changed his tune — defiantly so. He started a GiveSendGo, asking people to “help defend me against Dave Portnoy attacks.”
If getting a free trip to Poland is an attack, sign me up! He then listed how he had been suspended by his school, doxxed and fired from his job.
He had the unmitigated gall to claim he was a “citizen journalist,” merely capturing what was going on. But in his fundraiser, he said, “they have no right to destroy my life over free speech and what is ultimately just an edgy joke,” he wrote, puzzlingly adding that Portnoy owes him restitution.
He’d better wisely invest that $15,000 he’s raised because it might be a while ‘til he finds a job.
By proclaiming himself the victim, he’s made it impossible for him to be employable. No company would put up with someone who lacks the ability and inclination to be accountable or to tell the truth.
Never mind expressing some terrible antisemitic sentiments.
To plead his case, Temple University’s finest did an interview with proud Jew-hater Stew Peters, whom I had never heard of before this week.
And now that Khan has brought Peters into my world, I will be starting an online fundraiser to help me wash my brain of the cretin.
Cancel culture was bad when it targeted people like artists, thinkers, comedians — and yes, everyday people — over opinions or jokes that were verboten because our Overton window had become so narrow. Now that the window has been blasted open, one can make edgy jokes, but “F the Jews” or calling a toddler the N word is just gratuitous hate. Never mind the whole murder thing.
I’m still anti-cancel culture and I’m against making these clowns out to be heroes.
To lionize these people is dangerous and only incentivizes and encourages anti-social behavior.
We all know how slippery this slope is.
