There seem to be several issues here:
(a) People (left and right) who want to cancel what they call the Cancel Culture. They claim to defend free speech or open discourse, but behind their attacks on those who complain about the language of others is the assumption that words don’t matter very much. But words are among our most powerful of weapons, and like weapons they can be used for good or bad. Unfortunately, some self-proclaimed progressives like to use offensive language because they think doing so just proves their point: “I’ll use ____” (fill in with the racist / sexist / homophobic / etc. slur of your choice), “and I’m not ____” (racist / sexist / homophobic / etc.). “In fact, using this kind of language shows how progressive I am — I’m so cool I can use offensive language and nobody will be offended by it. What, you’re offended? That’s because you’re _____” (not progressive / repressive / a snowflake / unable to appreciate irony, etc.).
A few decades ago, the same sorts of “defenders of freedom” (left and right) labeled anyone who objected to deliberately offensive language as seeking to impose “political correctness” on others, as if the “defenders of freedom” weren’t themselves in turn imposing their own standard of political correctness on the objectors.
(b) Most of these brave defenders use someone else’s platform to air their doggerel. YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, CBS, etc. have the legal right to establish rules of conduct and to enforce those rules, as long as those rules aren’t illegal or unconstitutional. It is not a violation of the First Amendment for a private entity to create and enforce rules of conduct. The First Amendment in essence limits what government (“Congress”) can do. It’s hard to imagine someone not being able to find an alternate platform in 2020. (If the Russian dissidents could get their works past Soviet censors by using samizdat, surely any exiled YouTubers can find other channels for their drivel.)
(c) Which is my third point. I hadn’t heard of Kulinski before (I’m not a big fan of YouTuber celebrities — could barely make it through a single episode of The Young Turks), but when I watched the anthology of clips here, the only thing I was offended by was how banal the guy was, and proud of it. Others may be offended by the actual content or language, and they have the right to object to his diction, but my complaint is that Kulinski is smug and boring. Ann Coulter is more interesting, and she’s on the bottom shelf of self-centered political commentators.
Thanks to your article, I can now simply ignore Kulinski if he pops up, but what concerns me is that there seem to be a number of people who like him, who think he says something worthwhile. If 5 million YouTube viewers watch “Cissy’s Make-Up Tips” that’s fine with me. Hypothetical YouTuber Cissy probably offers useful advice for people concerned about cosmetics. But for celebrities like Kulinski to pretend to provide a meaningful perspective on current events is far more offensive to me than any slur he uses in his broadcasts / tweets.
