Today, there's a growing frustration bubbling beneath the surface—a sense that something essential has been lost. We hear the complaints of those who decry "cancel culture," who claim that they can no longer speak their minds or create freely without fear of being shut down. "You could never make that movie today," they say, lamenting the supposed loss of artistic freedom. But is this really the case? Or is it, as some of us suspect, a bullshit idea masking a deeper truth?
In reality, we’ve never had more freedom to say whatever we want. The fight for free speech and freedom itself has always been raging, and the notion that it’s somehow under greater threat now than it was in the past is laughable. Just look back at the 60s and 70s—Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce. These comedians weren’t just controversial; they were arrested for their jokes. The struggle for freedom of expression isn’t new, and it’s certainly not over, but to suggest that it’s been curtailed by today's so-called "cancel culture" is to ignore history.
The real issue lies not with cancel culture, but with the expectations placed on those who claim to be rebels. The problem is the illusion that these figures—these supposed titans of counter-culture—actually stand outside the system they critique. In reality, many of them want the best of both worlds. They want to be the edgy, boundary-pushing voices that challenge the status quo, but they also want to be embraced by mainstream institutions. They want to be George Carlin, but they also want to host the Oscars.
This is where the illusion becomes clear. The rebels of today aren’t fighting from the margins; they’re playing their role within a controlled system. It’s the idea of controlled chaos, where protests are relegated to designated areas, with the volume carefully regulated. You can’t be both inside and outside the system at the same time. Even the so-called rebels—like Neo in The Matrix—are part of the control mechanisms. If they’re the ones leading the fight for freedom, then who’s really fighting? The truth is, these performers are feeding us the illusion of resistance while ensuring that we stay right where we are, comfortably numb, watching the world through a screen.
These entertainers—the most sold on platforms like Netflix and Youtube — are not the champions of free speech they claim to be. They’re actors in a world of illusion, performing not to enlighten, but to distract. They keep us in our seats, blind to what the world really is—a series of distractions designed to keep us from seeing the truth. As the saying goes, all the world’s a stage, but today, that stage is carefully constructed to keep us docile, entertained, and ultimately, controlled.
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