Adios, Kanye

Kanye West Interrupts Another Awards Ceremony, by Studio Tides, CC BY 2.0

The question arises: Why do you take what Kanye West says seriously? He's an idiot.

This is a valid question. And in a perfect world, West would be screaming on a street corner. Sadly, like Donald Trump, West is an idiot with a megaphone, who has millions of idiot followers, and these followers can do much damage, as we saw with our former president. Ignoring them is not an option. We tried that in 2016, and we see what transpired because of it.

West has been going down a path of perdition for years. His mother was the only person in his life who could keep him balanced. Ever since her early death, West has descended into a dark pathology. Things kept adding up and piling up until the last straw cracked his life.

His antisemitic tirades over the past two weeks have finally undone him. How badly? This badly:

“Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness,” the company declared in a press release. “After a thorough review, the company has taken the decision to terminate the partnership with Ye immediately, end production of Yeezy branded products and stop all payments to Ye and his companies. Adidas will stop the Adidas Yeezy business with immediate effect.”

With that gone, Ye is no longer a billionaire.

Now, don't cry for him, Argentina. According to Forbes, he's still worth $400 million. But West is like Trump: a vulgarian who measures his worth in dollar signs. Being denied that will further puncture his galaxy-sized ego. 

And it's not likely he'll make up that money, while it is likely that it will fall further. The entertainment-industrial complex is in the process of condemning him to damnatio memoriae. His lawyer dropped him. His agent dropped him. His fashion partners have dropped him. Kim Kardashian dropped him. (Zing!)

This wholesale evisceration of his life is what needs to happen to everyone who traduces decency. This isn't "canceling". This isn't a "woke, liberal mob" coming for his children. This is a society which will no longer tolerate the kind of toxic sewage people like West and Trump spew out. It's a culture which accepts freedom of speech in the sense that it won't imprison you for your words. But it's a culture which doesn't embrace freedom from consequence. The idea that "free speech" allows you to go on homophobic, racist, antisemitic, misogynistic explosions and people should just accept that without pushing back is ludicrous. All societies have standards, and these standards have evolved to the point where things which went uncommented on even ten years ago are now beyond the pale. And this is a good thing. 

Social media has unleashed a wave of unhinged hate. Chopping off the heads of that hydra, and cauterizing the wound so that new heads don't spring out, is essential if we're going to have a world worth living in. The likes of West and Trump have made their beds. We must make sure the sleep in them.

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