McDonald: Cancel the cancellers

I cancelled my subscription to the LA Daily News today. After eight years of reading that paper every day, I decided I could no longer support the publication. The LA Daily News, along with 200 other newspapers throughout the US, dropped the Dilbert comic from its pages earlier this week. It cancelled Dilbert, so I cancelled it.

The Dilbert cartoonist, Scott Adams, published a video blog where he cited a 2023 Rasmussen poll showing that only 42% of black Americans think it is “okay to be white.” He then said that if we apply the definition of hate group to this way of thinking, it would put a large percentage of the black population in that category. “The best advice I would give to white people is to get the hell away from black people. There’s no fixing this.” Adams was immediately called racist by every mainstream news organization, and his comic strip was punished.

Larry Elder, a black conservative talk show host here in LA who ran unsuccessfully to unseat Gavin Newsom for Governor in the last election (and who was called the black face of white supremacy for doing so), pointed out the obvious on his show this week: Adams simply said out loud what many Americans, blacks included, have been feeling for quite a long time. There is a rising anti-white sentiment among many blacks that is being given a pass by liberal institutions, including media, politics, and education. In pointing this out, he was cancelled.

When I moved back to LA in 2012 after completing my fellowship training, I decided not to subscribe to the LA Times, a paper I had read growing up. It had long sunk into an ideological leftist pit of garbage ideas and dangerous ideological indoctrination. It took me some time to discover a competitor published in the valley that dared to include thoughtful, rational opinion columns among the usual syndicated Associated Press left-wing fake news articles. So, I subscribed to the LA Daily News to read the opinion pieces written by Susan Shelley, John Philips, and others who dared speak the truth about real problems in Los Angeles and California. 

And, of course, there was Dilbert, the first comic strip to satirize the absurdity of corporate office culture. Scott Adams broadened his scope over the years, bringing in all aspects of American culture that deserved mockery, most recently pandemic hysteria, lockdowns, masking, and the fake vaccine. I admired him for speaking the truth and using humor to pierce the smugness of the credentialed class that pretends to know more than the rest of America. Famously, the smartest character in the Dilbert comic strip is the garbageman, a mysterious and philosophical figure who brings wisdom with every appearance. For years, I had enjoyed reading Dilbert because it had been the most consistently honest comic strip covering real problems in contemporary America.

Dennis Prager has said repeatedly that when you find it difficult to know who’s telling the truth, all you need to do is ask which side is preventing the other from speaking. The voice that is being silenced is in nearly every case the voice that is speaking the truth. Today, speaking the truth is sufficient to having you removed from public discourse. Expressing a view that opposes the mainstream narrative makes you a dissident. Want to know where to find the truth? Look no further than the targets of censorship.

I believe the best way to respond to cancel culture is to cut all ties with those who cancel. By continuing to support institutions that promote harmful ideology—censorship, transgenderism, disarming the American citizen—we encourage more damage to the foundation of this country. Parents should not take their kids to Disneyland or pay for them to watch Disney movies. Coffee drinkers should not visit Starbucks. Newspaper readers should not subscribe to publications that silence dissenting voices. We need to start cancelling them.

At the same time, we all need to begin supporting those individuals and businesses who display the necessary courage to stand up to the tide of leftist evil sweeping the nation. I sponsor Dennis Prager, the Babylon Bee, and Alex Berenson. I shop at stores that encourage concealed carry. Just as liberals seek out “organic” foods and “environmentally friendly” cleaning products, so should conservatives and anyone who values freedom direct their dollars toward the producers of products that promote freedom rather than tyranny. If you are a free subscriber to Dissident MD, consider upgrading to a paid membership. When something is rewarded, you get more of it.

Now that I’ve cancelled my LA Daily News subscription, I have $350 to reallocate to publications that are fighting alongside me to win this war against the left and return our nation to a state of health and prosperity for all Americans. I’ve already begun making a list of deserving candidates.
 

Mark McDonald, M.D.
Psychiatrist and author of United States of Fear: How America Fell Victim to a Mass Delusional Psychosis and Freedom From Fear: A 12 Step Guide to Personal and National Recovery