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First, to head off the flames: yes, what happened to the people in the article is terrible. Cooler heads should’ve prevailed. But here’s a take: cancel culture
by smogcutter 6y ago
First, to head off the flames: yes, what happened to the people in the article is terrible. Cooler heads should’ve prevailed.
But here’s a take: cancel culture is not new, it’s just changed direction and is scaring the pants off people who previously had the luxury of ignoring it (or taking advantage). What happened to Cafferty is a shame, but the article left out another person who was cancelled over a vicious lie: Emmett Till.
- aliante 6y agoThe solution is not the diversification of lynching.
- softwaredoug 6y agoLearn about lynching before you compare anything here as even close to lynching https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/26/lynchings-memorial-us-south-montgomery-alabama https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/26/lynchings-me...
- oh_sigh 6y agoOP is the one who likened cancel culture to lynching, not the person you are responding to.
- smogcutter 6y agoNo, I chose a deliberately provocative example in order to illustrate the comparatively low stakes it takes to get people clutching their pearls.
- dang 6y ago"Choosing a deliberately provocative example" on an inflammatory topic is already trolling. You've broken the site guidelines by taking the thread further into ideological flamewar. Same with your comment here. Nothing good can come of this, so please don't. I realize yours is far from the only account stoking the flamewar in this thread, but this example was noticeable even in this wretched context. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- smogcutter 6y agoNot saying it is. Also losing your job is hardly being “lynched”, but I’m not interested in wading into a threadnaught over this.
- fzeroracer 6y agoThis is my thought as well. 'Cancel Culture' has existed in America for a long time. The only difference between then and now was that it was primarily minorities and women that were harassed off platforms or cancelled. It only became 'cancel culture' and pushed into the public debate when figures known for rascism, vicious lies etc were the ones cancelled instead. Otherwise people seemed to be rather quiet about the whole thing. I mean one just needs to look at what happened during Gamergate for an example of what I'm talking about. That said, it's obvious that those same types of people are weaponizing it against otherwise innocent people which means we need to do better at fixing things that end up wrong.
- christkv 6y agoDid you even read the article the examples of people cancelled were all minorities
- scarface74 6y agoRight. Cancel culture had much bigger consequences in the south when a Black guy was accused of looking at a White woman in the past.... Or even today if you don’t “look like you belong”.
- blub 6y agoIt hasn't changed direction, it's metastasized: if one doesn't get cancelled for being a racist, there's still sexist, TERF, anti-gay, anti-immigrants, etc. And since this phenomenon is affecting the income and livelihood of individuals, the only people that are safe are yet again the rich. The middle-class are tearing themselves and the poor up for the sake of appearances.
- hpcjoe 6y agoI wish I could upvote this more than once. Metastasized is the appropriate word.
- oh_sigh 6y agoIt's pretty disgusting to compare actual murderous lynching to someone getting wrongfully terminated from their job. This style of comment reminds me of people who protest against wearing face masks using 'I can't breathe' rhetoric.