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I hate the recent “Cancel Culture” thing (that the phenomenon you descrive is an instance of). Firstly, and beside the point, the term itself is wonderfully (t
by qubex 6y ago
I hate the recent “Cancel Culture” thing (that the phenomenon you descrive is an instance of).
Firstly, and beside the point, the term itself is wonderfully (though I suspect accidentally) ambiguous and self-defeating, as one can read it as “the culture of a cancelling” (as intended) or “this will cancel culure” (a possible side-effect).
Anyway... yes, cancel culture... I criticised it here once previously and amongst the various responses, most contrarian, was one that stuck with me: paraphrasing, it read “you’ve always told us to vote with our feet and now you’re complaining about cancel culture?”
Clearly this responder considered “cancel culture” to be the latest term for “boycot”, but I don’t think that’s accurate. I cannot (yet?) justify even to myself what utterly subtle distinction must exist between the two, but until I do and probably even thereafter I will accept that they do have a point.
- tartoran 6y agoI think people can vote with their wallets/feet if they don’t approve of someone, it’s their right. I am not sure whether that constitutes cancel culture or not. However, there are cases where the cancelled is abused, sent death threats and such and this is absolutely a bad thing and should not happen. Also some people are ‘cancelled’ before the complete news breaks out or the whole picture emerges and in the end it turns out they were setup or completely innocent. That is a big problem and seems to be a part of the cancel culture. An example of a guy coaxed to do the ok sign, filmed and posted everywhere had his life ruined for no reason. That is not okay and we should do something to stop it
- tetrometal 6y agoI think the point is fair. From the perspective of liberty, there's no government using aggressive force against you; this is a perfectly free-market phenomenon. That said, that doesn't mean it's always moral. For example, I don't feel comfortable saying at my place of work (software engineer) that women are biologically different than men and this probably has a large impact on why the field isn't 50/50 men/women. I think this is a perfectly reasonable position, yet there's no way I could say this at work. I'd lose my job, just like James Damore. So, I don't think that what is being done is wrong in the political sense, but I do think unfair cancellations are unethical. I think it's fine to "cancel" people/businesses/organizations that cause or allow unfair cancellations to take place. I already quietly decline to do business with and lobby against companies that adopt "woke" postures. I'm part of a silent majority that votes with their wallet, I suppose.