ARCATA, Calif. —  Have you ever been canceled before?  

Not a pleasant experience, is it?  As a left-of-center liberal, I have to admit that I am in agreement with many on the libertarian Left and political Right on this particular subject of “canceling” people with whom you disagree.  

You shouldn’t do it — period.  Disagreement is OK, snowflakes. Get over it.

And anyways, aren’t those who agree with you all of the time on every single issue boring?  

If you’re the least bit curious, intellectually speaking, then you should welcome new information and perspectives that differ from your own.  

No one says you have to accept these differing views as correct for you, but being open to new ideas and varying beliefs is necessary. 

Like the Hegelian dialectic (thesis + antithesis = synthesis), the clash of two opposing concepts often results in the creation of a third idea of superior quality.  

Stop insisting upon conformity of thought, already.  

As Americans, we all share the same unwritten — usually unspoken — social contract, not to mention the same Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech, etc.

So don’t be like Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson, my far-Left friends.  

Remember the 1980s and 1990s, when conservatives were the cancelation kings?  

Apparently New Jersey — “home of the drones” — does.  

New Jersey isn’t just Jon Bon Jovi’s home state, it’s “The Boss” Bruce Springsteen’s home state.  

The Garden State — having given birth to “The Boss” — is what New Jersey may actually be best known for... after UFOs and “The Sopranos.”

Speaking of “The Sopranos” TV show, The E Street Band’s guitarist Steven Van Zandt (aka Silvio Dante), who has spent several decades as Bruce Springsteen’s musical sidekick, wasn’t the reason for the cancelation of a local Bruce Springsteen tribute band called No Surrender in Toms River, N.J.

No, the reason given for the Springsteen tribute band losing its gig by Riv’s Toms River Hub owner Tony Rivoli, who sounds like he could be a character himself in “The Sopranos” (one that eventually pushes up daisies), is that his ruby-red Republican area of New Jersey will never stand for listening to a Bruce Springsteen tribute band, because “Bruce can’t keep his mouth shut”

Did he make Trump cry?

“The Boss” has been canceled in Jersey in 2025 because “stable genius” Tony Rivoli says it’s “too risky at the moment”.  

Who would have thought?  

Playing Bruce Springsteen tunes on his own home turf in New Jersey can get you killed by Trumptards in tracksuits now? 

 Of course, there’s always a backlash to these sort of things.  

You may eventually see “Fat Tony” Rivoli on the evening news after having been dropped off a bridge into the Hudson River while wearing concrete shoes.  

Just saying. Stuff happens.

•

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jake Pickering lists his “biography” as follows:

“As the character Nada (‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper) from John Carpenter’s brilliantly prophetic and explosively subversive cult classic cinematic masterpiece ‘They Live’ infamously said: ‘Put on these glasses, or start eating that trash can.’

“As the renowned French philosopher Rene Descartes famously said, ‘Cogito, ergo sum.’ (Or in English, ‘I think, therefore I am.’)

“And as the character Mongo (Alex Karras) from Mel Brooks’ satirical Western cinematic classic ‘Blazing Saddles’ famously said, ‘Mongo only pawn in game of life.’”