At its core, “cancel culture” is simply another form of cyberbullying. And just as we teach our children to stand up to bullies, adults must stand up to the censorship and intolerance inherent in cancel culture. 

As anyone who is a victim of cancel culture can attest, the damage is often profound and long-lasting. Repairing the reputational damage caused by false allegations and misinformation is costly, time-consuming, and intensely stressful. 

We experienced this firsthand after we tried to donate $10 million to the City of Miami to build a domed multi-sport athletic complex at an under-utilized and decrepit public park. Instead of earning the community’s gratitude, we were pilloried in the local press, which circulated false accusations that we had engaged in bribery and were trying to “take over” a public park for our personal use. 

The Miami Herald, in particular, was positively obsessed with the matter, publishing article after article that sought to frame our efforts to donate $10 million to improve a public park as being somehow sordid and corrupt. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. As hard as it may be for some to believe, we love our hometown and want to help improve it. 

Biscayne Park, which sits across the street from the school we co-founded, Centner Academy, badly needs some tender, loving care. As-is, the park is frankly too dangerous for residents to safely enjoy. Our vision was to build a facility to benefit the local community and our students. Instead of an open field littered with needles, Biscayne Park would be a place for yoga and Pilates, midnight basketball leagues, and more.

The City Commission agreed with us, eagerly signing a deal to work with us to turn a run-down greenspace into a crown jewel of Miami’s park system. 

It turns out, though, that someone else had plans for the property, which included a housing development and a new campus for a local charter school. The Miami Herald sided with partisans for that project and portrayed us as villainous robber barons out to privatize a public resource for our benefit. 

Eventually, we were forced to abandon our plans and withdraw from our deal with the City. 

The false media allegations against us were incredibly damaging, both personally and professionally, causing us to be de-banked and lose business opportunities. Many other victims of cancel culture attacks come out in even worse shape. Fortunes have been lost, reputations ruined, and careers ended by cancel culture. 

Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Scheller felt honor-bound to speak out about the mismanagement of America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, which ended up costing the lives of 13 American service members and countless Afghans. In response, he was court-martialed and removed from command. 

Bret Weinstein was forced to resign his position as a professor at Evergreen State College after objecting to a “day of absence” that called on white students and faculty members to leave campus as a statement of solidarity with minorities. 

Even revered children’s book authors can’t escape the reach of cancel culture. Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl both had their works subjected to posthumous censorship over perceived  “politically incorrect” words or images. 

One thing is clear: nobody is immune to cancel culture. However, how we respond to such attacks can mean the difference between humiliation and vindication.

The cancel culture bullies love easy targets. When you stand up to them, fortified by the truth, they eventually give up and move on to easier prey.

David Centner is a serial entrepreneur with multiple successful exits who personally invented critical technology used in automatic tolling. Leila Centner is the founder of Centner Academy and Centner Wellness. They are the owners of erase.com, a reputation management company.