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A version of this article was first published in the Right to the Point newsletter.<\/i> Sign up<\/i><\/a> to receive the newsletter in your inbox every Wednesday morning.<\/i><\/p>\n Every time you think reality shows have sunk as low as they can go, Hollywood triumphantly lowers the bar. This time, it\u2019s with a show reportedly in development for E! that puts \u201ccanceled\u201d celebrities in a house together while they try to redeem themselves.<\/p>\n Credit Tony Maglio of The Hollywood Reporter for reporting on this honestly, saying<\/a>, \u201cThere\u2019s no way this blows up in anyone\u2019s face. None whatsoever.\u201d<\/p>\n The problem is twofold: who the show would feature and what it would actually accomplish.<\/p>\n No names have been publicly floated for \u201cBecoming Uncanceled,\u201d but Versant\u2019s Val Boreland told The Ankler, \u201cYou can think about the kind of people we\u2019re talking about \u2014 not criminals \u2014 who might need to redeem themselves in front of America.\u201d<\/p>\n You can think about them, sure, but not without betraying a political persuasion, since the definition of cancel culture most often involves an online mob going after someone who expressed an unpopular \u2014 and often political\u2014 position.<\/p>\n Think, for example, J.K. Rowling, who has been the subject of repeated, attempted cancellation events for speaking out<\/a> about gender issues.<\/p>\n But cancellation has come for ordinary people (not celebrities) who did things, too \u2014 such as Amy Cooper, the woman who called the police on the Central Park birdwatcher who asked her to leash her dog, and the Minnesota dentist who shot Cecil the lion in 2015. In fact, a writer for The Telegraph recently identified<\/a> Walter Palmer as basically Patient Zero of cancel culture.<\/p>\n Is there a huge market of people who want to see people like Amy Cooper and Walter Palmer vying for Americans\u2019 forgiveness while living in the same house with, say, Chris Pratt<\/a> and Gina Carano<\/a>, and some people who turned up a time or two in the Epstein files? Let\u2019s hope not.<\/p>\n Reporting on this for the website Brit + Co, Bre Avery said<\/a> she was enthusiastic about the show\u2019s premise, adding, \u201cI personally do not want to live in a world where redemption isn\u2019t an option, because where does that leave the people who are disgraced by society?\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s a tricky word, disgraced<\/i>, as a couple of publications found out<\/a> when writing about the death of \u201cDilbert\u201d creator Scott Adams while using that word last month. The creation of a show like this is also tricky because, as Avery put it, \u201cIn some cases, celebs have entered the point-of-no-return zone when it comes to their crimes and cancellations, where redemption seems pretty much impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCrimes and cancellations\u201d \u2014 one of these things is not like the other. And true redemption, people of faith believe, is a holy thing not to be sought or delivered on TV.<\/p>\n Amy Cooper, the Central Park dog walker, tried to get the public to see her side in a Newsweek essay<\/a> a few years ago. In that piece she said she was still in hiding and that she\u2019s not sure she \u201cwill ever be OK.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no such thing as a \u2018Karen.\u2019 We are all just people. Each of us deserving grace and forgiveness,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIn the end, silencing the truth, the full story, hurts all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s a place for that sort of thoughtful reflection when someone has been canceled, rightly or wrongly. But to package it as entertainment in the genre called reality TV? Whatever that is, it\u2019s not redemptive. Hard pass.<\/p>\n There\u2019s been more than a little hype about Bruce Springsteen\u2019s upcoming tour<\/a>, which looks to be something of a massive, indoor \u201cNo Kings\u201d protest with music.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not hyperbole; the promotional material for the tour has \u201cNo Kings,\u201d an anti-Trump mantra, parading across the bottom of the graphic, and Springsteen recently released a song about the recent tragic events in Minneapolis, which he described as the result of \u201cstate terror.\u201d<\/p>\n Springsteen is one of those stars who is reliably political, so it\u2019s to be expected that his \u201cLand of Hope & Dreams\u201d tour will feature lots of talk about \u201cAmerican democracy, American freedom, our American Constitution and our sacred American dream \u2014 all of which are under attack by our wannabe king and his rogue government in Washington D.C.\u201d \u2014 words attributed to Springsteen on his website.<\/p>\n What\u2019s surprising is that Springsteen seems to think that Trump supporters will show up for this. On his website, he says, \u201cEveryone, regardless of where you stand or what you believe in, is welcome,\u201d which would be great if he would put on a show without divisive rhetoric, which seems unlikely to happen.<\/p>\n Last year, at a show in the U.K., Springsteen made global headlines for calling the Trump administration \u201ccorrupt, incompetent and treasonous.\u201d (Trump responded<\/a> on social media, calling Springsteen \u201cdumb as a rock\u201d and a jerk.)<\/p>\n Moreover, he\u2019s opening the show in Minneapolis and closing in Washington, D.C., which is about as politically charged as you could make the schedule.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s just say it\u2019s a tough time to be a Trump-supporting Springsteen fan \u2014 particularly if your budget doesn\u2019t allow for the $2,957 \u201cplatinum\u201d ticket<\/a> that has some people enraged.<\/p>\n To some, Bruce Springsteen is quintessential \u201cAmerican music.\u201d Stephen Jones<\/b> offers a different take.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the early 20th century, an important group of American composers was intently focused on creating a \u201cnational music\u201d \u2014 a sound that would uniquely represent the temperament and individuality of America while rivaling the masterpieces of their European counterparts.”<\/p>\n The ever-changing definition of \u2018American\u2019 music<\/a><\/p>\n Religious \u201cnones\u201d make up more than a quarter of Americans, and their number is growing. But it\u2019s a mistake to think that these people aren\u2019t open to faith, say William C. Duncan<\/b>, Samuel J. Abrams<\/b> and Dee Allsop<\/b>.<\/p>\n \u201cResearch from Sutherland Institute suggests that secularization has produced far more ambivalence than antagonism. Many Americans who claim no religious identity are skeptical of religion in the abstract, yet are noticeably more open to its role in public life when they encounter concrete evidence of what religious institutions actually do. The distance between abstraction and experience turns out to matter a great deal.\u201d<\/p>\n Why many religious \u2018nones\u2019 are more open than they appear<\/a><\/p>\n Dennis Romboy <\/b>examined the results of a new national Deseret News\/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll and found Utah in line with the rest of America in one area with regard to gambling.<\/p>\n \u201cOverall, 28% of Americans say they\u2019ve placed a bet on a sporting event using a sportsbook, online platform or mobile app, while 70% say they have not. Men were twice as likely to bet on sports than women.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s who\u2019s driving the sports betting boom in America<\/a><\/p>\n The Huff Post came under fire this week for publishing an essay<\/a> about the \u201ccognitive dissonance\u201d required to root for Team USA in the Winter Olympics if you are at odds with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n The writer said some people feel \u201cguilt and shame\u201d about cheering for their fellow Americans \u201cwhile hating the U.S. government.\u201d<\/p>\nThe land of hope and politics<\/h3>\n
Recommended reading<\/h3>\n
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