Take a Lesson From Mark Wahlberg

Back in my uni days, I studied a subject called “Crisis and Risk Communication”. Basically, it was all about how businesses and public figures should prepare for, and what to do, when the shit hit the fan. One of the more basic precepts we were taught was when in doubt, say nothing. It may seem counter-intuitive, but a blank “No comment” is reputation-neutral – and absolutely less risky than opening your mouth only to put your foot in it.

Meanwhile, in Katherine Paterson‘s Bridge to Terebithia, a character offers advice on dealing with bullies: ignore them. Pretend you don’t even hear them. Deprived of their sport, they lose interest and give up.

Both of these approaches are supremely important in dealing with Cancel Culture. Cancel Culture is just organised bullying and it creates instant reputational crises for its targets.

Mark Wahlberg has ably demonstrated the wisdom of saying nothing and ignoring Cancel Culture bullies.

Remember last week?

It was just a few days ago when actor Mark Wahlberg looked like the next celebrity to get canceled. The “Transformers” star made the mistake of trying to heal the nation after a police incident left an unarmed, cooperative black man dead.

“The murder of George Floyd is heartbreaking. We must all work together to fix this problem,” he wrote. “I’m praying for all of us. God bless.”

It’s hard to imagine a more positive, harmless message. Think again. That generic virtue signaling caused a kerfuffle. Social media followers recoiled at his kind words, dredging up the star’s ugly past in the process.

The media circus was loud and impossible to ignore at the time.

Wahlberg’s genuinely problematic past is common knowledge. As a thuggish teenaged Boston rowdy, Wahlberg lead a gang of juvenile goons in everything from drug addiction to beating up and harassing blacks and Asians in his neighbourhood. Wahlberg has long come clean on his record.

None of that matters to the Cancel Culture inquisitors, of course. For the Wokerati, no one can ever be better than their worst.

So Wahlberg should be easy meat for the Twitter mobs.

Has anyone heard about the incident since then? Have we seen any follow-up stories? Did social media users spend the last seven days bombarding the star with questions about his past?

No, no and no.

More importantly, Team Wahlberg went radio silent. He didn’t apologize or even address the issue in any fashion. Like his character in “The Fighter,” Wahlberg kept his head down and waited for the blows to sail over him.

And they did.

The woke mob is now obsessed with the T-shirt worn by a college football coach and other inanities.

This is the lesson everyone, from businesses to celebrities to the lowliest social media user, should take on board.

Don’t apologise, don’t try to explain.

As our own Cam Slater often says, “explaining is losing”. So is apologising. The Woke are insatiable beasts: apologies only embolden them. Cancellers are tar babies: the harder you fight, the harder you get stuck. The more tar you smear on yourself, the longer it takes to get clean again.

When you’re under attack, the hardest thing to do is not fight back. But, when dealing with online mobs, it’s almost always the wisest course of action. These are people with hair triggers and the attention-span of goldfish. Twitter outrages are literal two-day wonders.

Remember, this too shall pass.

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