I am old enough to remember when conservatives decried “cancel culture” and the Left scoffed.

It wasn’t “cancel culture.” It was about holding people accountable.

You could use the wrong pronouns and lose your job because transphobia is literal genocide. Riley Gaines gives a speech at a university and is held hostage for hours, assaulted, and driven off campus the university administration expressed pride in the behavior of the students, not Gaines’ bravery.

I open #TikTok and this is what greets me: “We are in an active #transgenocide in our country and people don’t want to name it that because they’re afraid to use that word.”

I’m not afraid to use the word dude, it’s just NOT HAPPENING. You’re delusional in more ways than one. pic.twitter.com/5JvmWL90jZ

— Ilana (@_ilanabanana) April 1, 2023

Professors could have their jobs threatened for discussing Halloween costumes, and they deserved it for being insensitive. Dissent from the orthodoxy that men belong in women’s sports or women’s prisons could get one hounded out of polite society.

“Silence is violence” we were told, and people needed to be held accountable for what they didn’t say, no less what they said.

“We are seeing people being fired from their jobs, being investigated by HR over their social media posts or conversations with colleagues, and having job offers rescinded. There is a clear trend that people’s jobs are being targeted right now.” https://t.co/eRj2BSX361

— The Intercept (@theintercept) October 30, 2023

That was then, this is now. Suddenly the gleeful celebration of actual genocide is A-OK, and people should stop taking notice.

WATCH: Bill Maher: “The same students who will tell you that words are violence and silence is violence were very supportive when Hamas terrorists went on a rape and murder rampage worthy of the Vikings. … If ignorance is a disease, Harvard Yard is the Wuhan wet market.” pic.twitter.com/C8rA5zfOuh

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) October 21, 2023

Students and others around the country have been celebrating the actual murder, rape, torture, and kidnapping of innocents from infancy to old age and they are shocked that not everybody wants to employ them.

People who fly into a rage over the use of a pronoun and who demand the offender be exiled from society are now horrified to discover that embracing actual terrorism can lead to losing a job offer.

Us: Hey, let's not normalize this sort of thing.

You, high on your own righteousness: It's called ACCOUNTABILITY CULTURE.

— T. Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) October 30, 2023

The Intercept has one of a growing number of articles out there bravely standing up for the right of people to call for the eradication of an entire people without consequence. I find this hilarious.

There have been a few cases of genuine prejudice and hate speech underlying these incidents. But the vast majority of recent retaliation appears to be based on what is considered protected speech and advocacy in normal circumstances. These attacks have extended from corporate America deep into the cultural world as well. Numerous writers have had their events canceled or been forced to shift venues based on past or present statements they have made deemed to be supportive of Palestinians or critical of Israel, including the political analyst and author Nathan Thrall and the novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen, who was scheduled to speak at 92NY.

The New York Times just rehired a literal Nazi to cover the war in Gaza, so I have to say I think that “accountability culture” hasn’t gone quite far enough. But then again, the NYT is a leftist organization that fired and caused to resign several people in its employ because they chose to publish an Op/Ed written by a US Senator.

Publishing an Op/Ed made the newsroom feel “unsafe.”

Luckily we got Bari Weiss’ Free Press out of the deal, so it was all good.

Nobody, though, is meant to feel unsafe when hundreds of thousands chant in favor of genocide or when students and academics embrace Hamas and call terrorism “resistance” to “settler colonialism” and blame the victims.

We still live in a world where Riley Gaines can be denied access to Eventbrite, but Hamas supporters of actual genocide are supported by the company.

So, just to clarify @Eventbrite's position:

Supporting a global terrorist group = perfectly fine.

Supporting women's rights in the US = unacceptable.

Mindbogglingly backwards.https://t.co/0onE2ZiEgq

— Will Hild (@WillHild) October 30, 2023

Today the Left has claimed to discover free speech, but I think we can be assured that the discovery will be short-lived. As with many principles, for the Left, it is a tactic, not a principle.

Virginia governor @GlennYoungkin says on @clayandbuck he’s ended the state of Virginia’s relationship with EventBrite over their refusal to allow @Riley_Gaines_ ‘s women’s sports events to be ticketed: pic.twitter.com/T0tr2yB68f

— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 30, 2023

The Left created the rules here and still isn’t being made to live up to them. Somebody losing a job offer is not cancel culture; their being hounded out of a classroom, assaulted with impunity, burned in effigy, and held hostage by a mob is.

As far as I can see, none of that is happening to the students who have stood up for Hamas. They have endured what amounts to mild criticism in their world. They are being indulged by the administrators in their schools, not driven off campus as conservatives often are.

Still, it is good to see that Leftists are being made to live up to their own rules, if only by a little bit.

Leftists have spent years hounding their opponents out of spaces they control, and are shocked that there are limits to society’s patience.

As with Gaza, now is not the time to call a truce. The Left has demanded an “accountability culture” for years now. Let’s give it to them for once.