Ted Cruz's Struggle Session

A public figure made a statement using language that offended his tribal in-group. As a consequence of that faux pas, he was expected to make an elaborate public apology and he did, both on television and on Twitter. However, the apology did not seem to please anyone. The person conducting the on-air apology seemed hell-bent on making his own crowd-pleasing point, to bolster his own reputation instead of allowing the public figure to explain himself. Twitter was not kind either – the apology thread was met with ridicule and disgust. Ultimately everybody involved moved on, but not until the public figure learned his lesson.

No, I’m not talking about some progressive figure, I’m talking about Ted Cruz.

Cruz made the mistake of referring to the 1/6 rioters as “terrorists” during a Congressional hearing, a word he has used to describe them since 1/2/2021. Unfortunately for Cruz, what was acceptable a year ago is no longer acceptable, so when he used that word recently to describe the riot attendees it was met with considerable backlash.

Cue Tucker Carlson

And the Twitter apology

If Cruz’s position is that he was only speaking of the rioters that attacked cops when he used the word “terrorist”, that’s an entirely defensible position to take. Hell, even if he wanted to take the stance that every person who participated in the 1/6 riot is a terrorist he could make a case for that if he wishes. There is nothing wrong with Cruz having an opinion about the people who engaged in storming the Capitol building to prevent an election from being certified, even if that opinion is at odds with his contemporaries. 

What struck me about the Carlson interview was his need to extract that pound of flesh from Cruz – even when he was trying to explain himself Carlson kept dwelling on the use of the word itself and insisting that there was no way Cruz could have used it in a less than deliberate way. The implication is, of course, that Cruz has been compromised somehow and is now taking orders from The Other Tribe. The interview has a distinct struggle session vibe to it that makes it very uncomfortable for me to watch. 

The broader point I want to make is that, as much as they may claim otherwise, conservatives have no issue employing the same tactics that progressives do when it comes to punishing wrongthink. The outrage, the ritual humiliation, the forced apology, the bad faith refusal to accept the apology, it’s all here. 

This is why I roll my eyes at every conservative who rails against cancel culture (or did, as it seems they dropped that culture war issue in favor of CRT). It’s not that they dislike the practice in general, they don’t like it when it’s used against them. As much as they rail against policing speech, that’s exactly what they did to Cruz.

All things to remember next time conservatives take up the cancel culture cause.