In August, Carrie Underwood was harassed on social media because she liked a tweet from conservative pundit Matt Walsh. Walsh’s tweet concerned a speech he gave to the Nashville School Board that discussed not wearing masks. Underwood’s like prompted outcries from the left-wing COVID mob, which excoriates any person on Twitter who does not agree with their ideas. Matt Walsh doesn’t, so when Underwood liked a tweet, she became persona non grata.
At the time, Walsh sent out a series of sarcastic tweets regarding the outrage and mockingly agreed that Underwood should denounce him. He also sarcastically questioned how long it would be before Underwood would deny liking the tweet on purpose as a result of the reaction on social media. I argued that Underwood should not give in to the mob but instead fight back.
“She should stand up to the mob and establish the precedent that everyone seems to learn in grade school but forget once they are a celebrity: stand up to a bully, and the bully will stop harassing you,” I wrote.
More than a month later, Underwood seems to have done just that.
Regarding the outcry over her liking Walsh’s tweet, Underwood decided to ignore it. This is less aggressive than the response I was hoping for, but it was effective nonetheless. When the Twitter mob came for her, she stood up to it by refusing to give it relevance with a response.
That is an important lesson in this era of cancellation we live in. If the mob comes for you, ignoring its faux outrage is an effective strategy to highlight its irrelevance. It is simply better to tough it out than to respond in a way that validates the mob. This mob only gains power and justification when you react — your lack of response avoids giving it validation.
Personally, I would have liked to see Underwood take a more assertive approach to the bullies. But the mere fact she did not apologize is still a sound strategy. Hopefully, other people who are targeted by the mob learn this lesson. Don’t give them the attention they so desperately want. And definitely, under any circumstance, do not apologize for the actions that angered them.
