Conservatives are extremely good at taking a word or phrase and mushing it into the ground so that it’s stripped of any actual meaning. Think “political correctness,” “critical race theory,” and “woke.” You can absolutely include “canceled” in that group as well. What was initially meant to describe someone who very clearly deserves to lose their privileges over their misdeeds or crimes has now just become a catch-all phrase for when someone doesn’t let getting criticized.
Case in point, how Indianapolis Colts GM Chris Ballard used it in a recent interview to describe his team’s terrible season.
Ballard met with reporters on Tuesday to discuss the team’s 4-12-1 finish, which included the Matt Ryan trade that didn’t work out, the firing of head coach Frank Reich, and the failed experiment of replacing Reich with Jeff Saturday.
“Look, I failed,” Ballard kicked off the feel-good fest. He also added that any criticism regarding his job was “warranted.”
However, he then pivoted into a defense of his job by launching into a screed about how “failure’s not allowed” in the NFL and equated being fired to being “canceled.”
“When you fail in this world, you get canceled and everybody wants your head,” Ballard said. “And rightfully so, in some cases. But if you’re able to go through it and learn from it, you can reach your greatest heights.”
Colts GM Chris Ballard: We live in a[n NFL] world where failure's not allowed. When you fail in this world you get canceled and everybody wants your head. And rightfully so in some cases. But if you're able to go through it and learn from it, you can reach your greatest heights."
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) January 10, 2023
That’s, uh, not what getting “canceled” means, even if it doesn’t really mean anything anymore. If you get fired because you do a bad job, you just got fired. There isn’t much more to it than that.
What’s ironic about that statement is that Ballard and owner Jim Irsay fired Reich in the middle of the season. Perhaps he could have taken his thoughts about being “canceled” into consideration before doing so.
Ultimately, the Colts’ GM said that he’s just doing his best and things simply haven’t worked out recently in Indy.
“I don’t worry about getting let go and fired,” Ballard said. “I do the best I can, and even the best-laid plan sometimes, even the best-thought-out plans, they don’t work sometimes.”
Irsay has already said he expects Ballard to return next season.
