If You Are Going To Have Cancel Culture, Choose The Right Cancelee

Dave Chappelle or Donald Trump

I spent last week and Saturday night binge watching earlier seasons of Yellowstone in anticipation of being caught up for season 5. As such I missed Saturday Night Live. I asked my wife how David Chappelle was, and she said, “Don’t watch the monologue, you will hate it and it will make you angry”. Of course, that just meant that I had to watch it asap. My Google feed made it easy serving up the entire monologue in one freestanding video.

As anticipated Chappelle talked mostly about antisemitism, and the anti-Semitic remarks or actions of Kanye West, oops I mean Ye, and Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets.

Also as anticipated there was an immediate negative Jewish reaction. As the Variety headline read, “David Chappelle ‘SNL’ Monologue Draws Criticism From Anti-Defamation League Leadership: ‘Why Are Jewish Sensitivities Denied?’”

But here is where the expression; “who ya gonna believe, me or your lying eyes, might have some relevance.

Shocking my wife, I had no problem with the monologue. First, we must understand the role of the comedian, especially the comedian of politics and social commentary, who uses jokes, satire, exaggeration, and parody, to expose us through laughter to many of the darker sides of our culture.

Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Mrs. Maisel,( alright she is fictional but you get the type) were arrested or condemned in their time, because cancel culture was not yet invented. Their job was to show us the hypocrisy, the corruption, and the abuse of power that was present in government and in the culture. They would pick away at the foibles of leaders and the inconsistencies of policies that helped the entrenched powers, governmental or corporate hold sway over most of the country. Sometimes the jabs hurt. Sometimes they were offensive or missed their mark, but the comics often served the role of the Biblical prophets who wailed against the authorities and the upper classes who were corrupt and exploitative of the population. They spoke in accusations and threats and some like Jeremiah were incarcerated for it. These comedians speak in jokes and satire for the same purpose and like the Biblical prophets, are subject to being arrested or in today’s world, cancelled.

Chappelle was making fun of the antisemites, but he was also making fun of how Jews can be oversensitive as well. That is a legitimate opinion and he has his right to make it, and he makes it in a way that gives understanding to the various antisemitic tropes that he is satirizing.

We know that Hollywood is very Jewish. We know that most of the major studios were founded by Jews who were sensitive to being Jewish while shaping American culture, so they hid their Jewishness.

When in the late 40’s a movie about antisemitism based on a runaway best seller, Gentleman’s Agreement was to be made, every Jewish run studio wanted no part of it even though the book sold 1.6 million copies. 20th Century Fox decided to make it. Daryl Zanuck, a non-Jew, produced it because he was once refused membership at the Los Angeles Country Club when they assumed he like the other moguls was Jewish.

So Chappelle said, “I’ve been to Hollywood and this is just what I saw: It’s a lot of Jews, like a lot.(This is where we cringe, as he seems to be spreading an anti-Semitic trope, and then he says) But that doesn’t mean anything. There’s a lot of Black People in Ferguson, Missouri, but that doesn’t mean we run the place.”

So no, David Chappelle did not bother me in the least but if you want to hear what does and is worthy of the dreaded, “Cancel” label it was a gathering the next night in New York at the Chelsea Piers. Former President Trump was awarded the Theodor Herzl Medal by the Zionist Organization of America for his contributions on behalf of Israel. He was given multiple standing ovations and seemed to be the consensus choice for the Republican nomination to run for President.

To be fair, while there is little that Trump did that I agree with, his 2 biggest accomplishments that mattered and made a change for the good was pulling out of the Iran deal, and shepherding the Abraham Accords, that were in every way a breakthrough in Israel and Arab relations. (While moving the embassy to Jerusalem was a feel-good moment it was more symbolic than substantive).

While I love Israel and have just returned from 2 weeks there, a good accomplishment on Israel does not change the fact that he has challenged the very foundation of our democracy. He has freed the lane for antisemites and racists to crawl out from their rock and descend on the nonwhite population. (In this context, Jews are not white, though ironically the extreme left considers us to be the epitome of white privilege. It reminds me of the 1930’s when fascists called Jews Communists and Communists called Jews fascists and everyone agreed that the Jews ran the world).

He has sucked out anything resembling polite respectful disagreement from our political discourse and has turned telling the truth into a lost art.

He holds the world record for simultaneous investigations by attorney generals, and as we will soon see documented if we haven’t seen it already; he led a coup to take over the country. Yet the Zionist Organization of America sees fit to honor him.

I believe when the award was given, seismic shifts were detected on Mount Herzel, where Herzl was turning in his grave.

Trump even found fit last month to accuse American Jews of being insufficiently grateful to him for his support of Israel. He warned that, “U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel- before it is too late!”.

I’m glad this paragon of virtue, this great intellectual and student of history, is lecturing me and many of you on what is good for Israel.

As Andrew Silow-Carrol the editor of the New York Jewish Week wrote, “I don’t know if Trump is antisemitic, but he has certainly been good for antisemitism”.

Mort Klein the head of the ZOA informs that the organization’s only concern is a candidate’s support for Israel. He said in his speech, “The Torah promises that Israel is the Jewish Homeland and will always be the Jewish Homeland. Unlike politicians, except President Trump, God keeps His promises”. (Please see above re Trump lying)

If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas.

To Mort Klein, I leave you scripture. God’s promises are conditional on Israelite behavior. Israel is a gift that we need to constantly earn, not an absolute unconditional birthright.

“If you fail to observe faithfully all the terms of this teaching that are written in this book to reverence this honored and awesome Name the Lord your God, the Lord will inflict extraordinary plagues upon you and your offspring (Deut 28:58)…….. the Lord will scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, whom neither you nor your ancestors have experienced. (Deut 28 :64)

Even God agrees that there are times to cancel.

Please share with family and friends, and invite them to join. Have them send me an email, ravpp1@gmail.com with their full name and email address.

I am happy to announce that my new book, Wisdom Grows In My Garden will be coming out in the spring. More information to follow.