You're aware of the cancel culture, right? It's the social media guillotine that comes crashing down when the morality mob determines it doesn't like someone or something it deems offensive.
Some cancel culture targets are easier to accept than others. Take the announcement this week that the reality TV show "Cops" was canceled.
When I heard that, my first thought was, "Dang, who knew 'Cops' was still on?" Which was immediately followed by two or three verses of "Bad Boys, Bad Boys ... whatcha gonna do?" from the show's theme song.
"Cops" was an obvious target, but somehow this decision also feels easy since it's unlikely that sponsors were lining up to be the official oven mitt of "Cops" these days.
Some cancel targets, though, are headscratchers. In the remake of classic Looney Toons cartoons, erstwhile foils Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam have been de-gunned. That's right, Sam's six-shooters got 86-ed and Fudd's shotgun was replaced by a net.
Side question: If they are going to make me believe that Fudd is going to traipse into the woods hunting a rabbit that is clearly a head taller than he is with nothing more than a butterfly net, well, then Elmer has been sniffing Elmer's.
Elmer, you likely will be canceled, my man. And that's not even looking at Foghorn Leghorn: "I say, I say, boy."
But now there's a new development which leaves me wondering what is coming next.
HBO Max decided this week to remove "Gone With the Wind" from its streaming options because of potential racial insensitivities.
It appears that HBO reacted to a column this week by John Ridley, who wrote in the Los Angeles Times: "It is a film that, when it is not ignoring the horrors of slavery, pauses only to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color."
My first reaction is that we have much bigger racial issues than worrying if GWTW offends viewers' sensibilities.
For what it's worth, if HBO pulled GWTW because it's arguably the most overrated movie in the history of cinema, fine. I'd support that calculated decision and agree with the reasoning.
But GWTW does not promote racial divides in this country today. It portrays the racial fractures of 150 years ago. Also lost in this decision - which happens a lot when the morality mob selectively picks and chooses what is to be canceled - is the fact that the historic work of Hattie McDaniel, who became the first black actor or actress to win an Oscar for her role in GWTW, now will be less available to the masses.
Beyond that, though, is what happens the next time HBO Max or Netflix or the public library reads the quips of a big-city columnist or gets copied on 15 tweets that have 78 likes?
Are we going to ban copies of "Tom Sawyer?" Are we going to cancel "It's a Wonderful Life," the Jimmy Stewart Christmas classic that features the Bailey's live-in black maid who famously says she was going to find a husband with the money she donates to George's shortfall in the end?
What about "Hoosiers," which for years several folks - including Spike Lee - have maintained is racially biased?
I hope not, but in today's cancel culture, who knows.
I do know this: Anytime we censor the classics - period pieces done in a particular time and viewed through that prism - we lose that perspective and run the risk of rewriting history.
And when that happens, we all lose. Regardless of our race, religion or Twitter handle.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.
Jay Greeson