Where Does Cancel Culture End?

By Will Tanner '21,

Recently, W&L has seen an unprecedented level of attacks on its namesakes. Faculty, students, and even some reporters are demanding that our beloved institution change its name because it's named after people who, like everyone else to have ever lived, other than Jesus, were flawed. Generally, the attacks are confined to wanting to remove Lee’s name. However, some members of our community would also rid the university of its connection to Washington. These attacks on Lee’s name are, in my opinion, an extension of toxic cancel culture to historical figures. 

In the distant past (a few years ago), it was possible to recognize that some figures were flawed but still well-worth honoring. George Washington had flaws. Thomas Jefferson had flaws. Robert E Lee had flaws. In fact, everyone has flaws. Nonetheless, some of us are able to do great things while alive. Washington led the country in war and peace, shepherding our infant republic through those dangerous early years. Thomas Jefferson, in addition to writing the Declaration of Independence, used statecraft to double the size of the United States and enshrined the idea of religious liberty. Robert E. Lee graciously surrendered when he realized the Civil War was lost, was the exemplification of the Southern gentleman, and did his utmost to reunite the country after the war. Thanks to him, the Army of Northern Virginia didn’t turn into a roving band of guerillas similar to Jesse James. Yes, all three of these great men owned slaves. But do their accomplishments not outweigh their shortcomings? 

What used to be common sense is now fading rapidly in this era of cancel culture. Americans used to recognize our greatest men and women as heroes, even if those heroes were flawed. Now, however, any great patriot with even a shred of compromising history has to be removed from any public recognition. Washington and Lee has to be renamed. The radicals want to tear down the Jefferson memorial, tear down the Washington monument, and rewrite Christopher Columbus as an unambiguously terrible person. In reality, he was flawed, like everyone, but also braver than anyone that criticizes him. He is the reason this continent was settled and able to become the beacon of civilization that it is.

But is that where cancel culture will stop? The Romans and Greeks had slaves. So, should we purge any positive references of them from campus? Perhaps our motto should be changed from Latin to…well what civilization hasn’t had slaves? But we celebrate them all the same. We use Latin and celebrate Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, Cato, Alexander the Great, the Spartans at Thermopylae, and countless other ancients that were deeply flawed but drove civilization onward. We celebrate James Monroe for the Monroe Doctrine, Napoleon for his military genius, von Bismarck for his unification of Germany, and Vanderbilt for his building of the railroads that made America a modern state. All of those great men of history had their flaws and some committed odious acts. Even so, they all are still worth honoring and celebrating for their respective geniuses and many accomplishments. But, of course, our neo-Jacobin friends that are tearing down statues care little for such historical intricacies. They’d prefer to judge all men of the past by the standards of the present. Perhaps when the cancel culture mob discovers that Julius Caesar brought slaves back from Gaul, they’ll erase his name from history and smash to dust the remaining statues we have of him.

Similarly, if our namesakes are to be canceled, what other schools should change their names? Will Yale be canceled and renamed? How about Williams, President Dudley's alma mater and former employer? Both Elihu Yale and Ephraim Williams owned slaves. Even worse, Williams was a proponent of selling blankets infected with smallpox to local Indian tribes. Should those schools be renamed, and their once-valued benefactors hidden by the cancel culture mob? If President Dudley wants to engage in a “frank discussion” about W&L’s namesakes and institutional history, why did he not do so while at Williams? Lee was certainly flawed, but he never engaged in biological warfare against civilians.

Any reasonable person would respond that those schools, like Washington and Lee, should not be forced by the cancel culture mob to change our name. Lee, Washington, Yale, Williams, and countless other historical figures that towns and institutions are named after were all flawed. But the good they did while alive is what matters and what we celebrate. It is possible to both recognize that someone had faults while simultaneously honoring their accomplishments and contributions. Our students, administrators, and faculty should relearn that once universally accepted truth and defend our name and institution rather than work like Jacobins to erase every vestige of the past with which they disagree.

I recently saw a social media post praising Virginia’s Governor, Ralph Northam, from one of the same groups that is pushing for renaming our university. Why is he, the same man posing in either blackface or a Ku Klux Klan outfit, not being attacked by the cancel culture mob? Why are Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden not under attack for effusively praising Robert Byrd, a Democratic Senator and former Grand Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan? Is it because that group of students understands intricacies in those cases, but is somehow otherwise unable to get the concept that every historical figure was complex and, in some way, flawed? Why are American heroes like George Washington under attack from these students, but Governor Blackface can get off scot free? Selective cancel culture is, in my opinion, just as much of a problem as everything else related to cancel culture and must be fought back against just as vociferously.

In any case, if the Board does back down, which I do not for a moment believe it will, then I have one extra name change suggestion; rename the politics department the Neville Chamberlain School of Politics because at that point his policies of appeasement will have been co-opted by our University’s leadership. The only way to defeat the mob is to stand up to it. Now is that time.