GOP says people too easily 'offended' — while getting upset about 'Paw Patrol' jokes

Republican officials are offended that people are too easily offended. But many of the same people are also offended by protests against racism.

In recent days, several GOP lawmakers have criticized decisions by media outlets to stop showing programs that lionize police officers or are based on racist stereotypes.

“‘Live P.D.’ and ‘Cops’ have been cancelled [sic]. Even Nickelodeon’s cartoon ‘Paw Patrol’ isn’t safe, as Cancel Culture acolytes called to euthanize Chase, the show’s police dog, on social media,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) tweeted on Thursday.

“Canceling TV shows, movies, Disney rides, Paw Patrol, Washington, Jefferson… How many more examples do you need to demonstrate that liberalism has lost its way?” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) wrote on Saturday. “What will they cancel next?”

“Cancel culture has claimed @CopsTV. @OfficialLivePD. ‘Gone with the Wind.’ Christopher Columbus,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tweeted on Thursday. “Is @pawpatrol next??”

“HBO is pulling ‘Gone With the Wind’ from its streaming service because it glorifies slavery. The kids show ‘Paw Patrol’ is under attack because it glorifies cops. The reality show ‘Cops’ is being cancelled [sic] because of its depiction of police tactics. Where will these cancellations end?” Rep. Pete King (R-NY) lamented on Saturday.

Television networks have been rethinking programs with idealized depictions of law enforcement as concerns grow over systemic racism and police violence, but “Paw Patrol” has not been canceled. The fact-checking website Snopes wrote that the rumors about the cartoon series stemmed from “tongue-in-cheek social media posts.”

The complaints come at the same time that many in the Republican Party have been upset that people are just too sensitive.

“The woke mob never misses an opportunity to be offended,” Cotton wrote on Thursday.

King argued that offensive things should not be removed, recalling that his “Irish grandmother” was “offended by and railing against the classic film ‘The Quiet Man’ because she felt it focused on the Irish stereotypes of drinking and brawling.” (Days before, King had demanded Amazon remove anti-police shirts he deemed offensive).

“We’ve reached a point in our society where we dissect everything and try to ascribe some nefarious notion to it,” Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson told ABC News on Sunday. “We need to move away from being offended by everything, of going through history and looking at everything, you know, of renaming everything.”

Many Republican lawmakers have bucked protests against racism and police brutality, claiming they are anti-cop.

King wrote two weeks ago that protesters in New York “hijack the memory of George Floyd for their perverse causes. These anti-police riots attack the NYPD which has done more than anyone to save and protect African-Americans.”

“I’ll be on @LouDobbs to discuss the protests continuing across America, the left’s radical anti-police agenda, and more,” Gaetz tweeted last Monday.

Most Republicans infamously took offense to peaceful protests started in 2016 by NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other athletes. While those protests were about police brutality, they claimed players’ decision to take a knee was unpatriotic and hurtful.

“Here’s a peaceful protest: never buy another shoe, shirt, or jersey of rich spoiled athletes who dishonor our flag,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tweeted at the time.

“You know, it’s sad when you see rich, spoiled athletes that don’t recognize what an incredible blessing this country is,” he told TMZ. “You know, it’s very easy when you’re sitting there rolling in millions of dollars to disrespect this country.”

King tweeted in 2018 that the protests were “premised on lies [against] police” and comparable to “players giving Nazi salutes or spew [sic] racism.”

Just last week, Gaetz complained about the U.S. national soccer team participating in such a symbolic act. “I’d rather the US not have a soccer team than have a soccer team that won’t stand for the National Anthem,” he tweeted.

“You shouldn’t get to play under our flag as our national team if you won’t stand when it is raised,” he wrote on Thursday.

The same day, he said on his podcast: “Cancel Culture is in its ultimate zenith. We are living in the renaissance of cancel culture.”

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.