Joe McCarthy Weighs in on Cancel Culture
The Reason Interview
In a recent interview, comedian Jon Lovitz compared the scourge of cancel culture to the anti-communism crusade led by Joe McCarthy (R) in the 1950s. As America’s foremost publication for independent thinkers, Reason magazine decided to ask “Tail Gunner Joe” himself what he thinks of the issue. After trying and failing to contact the late Senator via Ouija board (because a certain editor wouldn’t stop moving the planchette), we enlisted a professional medium to help. This transcript has been edited for clarity and to remove the unholy shrieks of the damned.
REASON: Joe! How you been?
JOE MCCARTHY: Eh, not so great.
REASON: In Hell, huh?
JOE MCCARTHY: Yup.
REASON: That sucks. So, have you heard about cancel culture?
JOE MCCARTHY: Uh, no, actually. We don’t get much news down here.
REASON: Figures. Well, it’s a big thing. Lots of celebrities and politicians these days are complaining that liberals want to destroy free speech. They’re afraid that anything they say could be deemed “offensive” and “not politically correct” and used against them.
JOE MCCARTHY: Interesting.
REASON: Right. The comedian Jon Lovitz—
JOE MCCARTHY: Morgan Fairchild’s husband?
REASON: That’s the ticket. He compared cancel culture to McCarthyism, saying that innocent friends of his have lost their careers because of things that they said.
JOE MCCARTHY: Wait, “McCarthyism?” They actually named it after me?
REASON: Oh yeah. You’re in the history books.
JOE MCCARTHY: I knew I’d be vindicated!
REASON: Umm ... right. So, do you think it’s a fair comparison?
JOE MCCARTHY: Absolutely! This is America—communists should be cancelled! I’d be proud to be called the father of cancel culture.
REASON: Oh. But what about other people? It’s not really socialists being cancelled today; they’re actually kind of thriving. It’s regular Americans that are getting it.
JOE MCCARTHY: Wait, the commies are in charge now?
REASON: No, thank goodness. This is more of a social media thing. I guess you wouldn’t know much about that.
JOE MCCARTHY: Are you kidding? Where do you think that stuff was invented?
REASON: Oh. That explains a lot, actually. Well then, you know how big a deal it is. Liberals are digging up old tweets, facebook posts, YouTube videos, whatever, and claiming they’re offensive now. One old photo of you dressed as Michal Jackson can ruin your life completely. And no one is safe—Twitter even cancelled the former President!
JOE MCCARTHY: So, wait. You’re saying that regular citizens are taking it on their own initiative to cancel people? Not the government?
REASON: Well, uh ... yeah.
JOE MCCARTHY: My God, that’s brilliant!
REASON: It is?
JOE MCCARTHY: Of course it is! Don’t you see? They haven’t copied what I did—they’ve privatized it!
REASON: What?
JOE MCCARTHY: Listen—when I was hunting communists, I did it as a member of the U.S. government. But government is always inefficient, right?
REASON: Duh.
JOE MCCARTHY: So of course I didn’t do a good job! Free market solutions make America great; private citizens can respond to changing standards and demands more effectively than a bloated government bureaucracy. Having the government cancel people for their beliefs, well, that’s positively unamerican.
REASON: So ... does that mean that while you were hunting socialists, you were actually a socialist yourself?
JOE MCCARTHY: I guess. No wonder I got cancelled in the end. Isn’t that ironic?
REASON: Like rain on your wedding day.
JOE MCCARTHY: That’s not ironic at all.
