Cancel Culture, Gun Violence, and the Roots of Our Blindness

 Another day, another shooting. Five officers were shot in Pennsylvania today, three of them in grave condition. More blood spilled, more headlines, more collective numbness. America drowns in violence because it refuses to confront the real roots of violence.

Meanwhile, in another corner of our cultural circus, Jimmy Kimmel’s show has now been canceled over Charlie Kirk’s comments. First Stephen Colbert, now Kimmel—who will be next? The so-called “right” used to howl about the “left’s cancel culture.” Now they’re wielding the very same weapon. Their hypocrisy is epic. Today they cancel, tomorrow they will be canceled. It is a vicious circle, a merry-go-round of destruction. What goes around comes around.

Alice Miller captured this dynamic with uncanny clarity:

“Morality and performance of duty are artificial measures that become necessary when something essential is lacking. The more successfully a person was denied access to his or her feelings in childhood, the larger the arsenal of intellectual weapons and the supply of moral prostheses has to be, because morality and a sense of duty are not sources of strength or fruitful soil for genuine affection. Blood does not flow in artificial limbs; they are for sale and can serve many masters. What was considered good yesterday can—depending on the decree of government or party—be considered evil and corrupt today, and vice versa.”
(For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence, p. 83)

This is why today’s “heroes” are tomorrow’s “villains.” Why yesterday’s applause turns into today’s cancellation. These cycles have nothing to do with truth, justice, or healing. They are reenactments of unresolved childhood pain, endlessly projected onto public life.

When Donald Trump calls the media “fake news,” he’s right—but only because he himself is fake news too. The press and Trump are mirrors of one another, locked in a toxic dance. Neither side can tell the truth because both are trapped in denial.

Years ago, after another mass shooting, I wrote an open letter to Jimmy Kimmel. I asked him to use his platform not just for political commentary but to expose the true roots of violence: childhood repression, humiliation, and abuse. If voices like his had dared to break the silence back then, perhaps America would not have spiraled deeper into authoritarianism today.

But Kimmel, like so many, chose to stay within the safe walls of denial. And now his show has been canceled, a casualty of the very system he helped keep intact.

Until we face the cruelty hidden in child-rearing, the hypocrisy of “cancel culture,” the emptiness of political theater, and the blood of yet another shooting will continue to repeat. And repeat. And repeat.

The choice remains before us: stay blind and watch the cycle devour us—or open our eyes and finally break free.

Notice: Transcript is AI and human-generated