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On one hand I worry about this power being abused, but it's hard for me to side with the people being cancelled because they're so repugnant. It is hard to sta

On one hand I worry about this power being abused, but it's hard for me to side with the people being cancelled because they're so repugnant. It is hard to stand up for the rights of the bigots, the white supremacists, the science deniers, the propagandists, and the misogynists. People who spent decades denying other people access and are now finding the shoe on the other foot. Can we find some good examples of people who were "cancelled" who were not peddling conspiracy theories or pontificating about why the white race is the natural rulers of humanity? In some ways this may be seen as a return to the media culture in the Fairness Doctrine era. It used to be that media companies had to seriously consider the viewpoints expressed and wouldn't give crackpots a voice very often. The Internet changed that, allowing everybody a voice regardless of how crazy they might be. Now we're turning back to a more metered experience as it seems that unlimited amplifying the wingnuts is actually damaging to the country. Nobody likes the censor, but they're a necessary evil. Without them trolls will always take over the conversation once the number of participants exceeds a fairly low threshold. Trolls can drive out honest participants, but honest participants can't drive out trolls. Moderation is necessary. It doesn't have to be third party moderation, upvote/downvote systems can do the job although they're tricky to get right and can be gamed.

t-writescode 6y ago
Someone being cancelled who shouldn't have been: Monica Lewinsky.
- jandrese 6y ago
  She's been cancelled? She has a million Twitter followers https://twitter.com/MonicaLewinsky https://twitter.com/MonicaLewinsky and 150k on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MonicaLewinsky/ https://www.facebook.com/MonicaLewinsky/ I've found articles about her speaking on college campuses with her anti-bullying campaign. I've not found anything about her being cut off from platforms yet. Can you post a link?
  - t-writescode 6y ago
    In her videos, etc, she talks about how she couldn't get a job because she's Monica Lewinsky, the lady that the president had an affair with in the 90s. It's been nearly 30 years.
    - jandrese 6y ago
      Connection with the Clinton Impeachment doesn't seem like a cancel culture thing. That's just normal infamy, and while it sucks it's not relevant.
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  > Someone being cancelled who shouldn't have been: Monica Lewinsky When was Monica Lewinsky “cancelled”? The closest to that would be the negative treatment she got from Clinton’s reflexive defenders in the late 90s during the scandal, but that's substantially before the supposed sudden, recent emergence of “cancel culture”, and her current profile rather undercuts the catastrophic descriptions of “cancellation”.
  - krapp 6y ago
    People currently describe cancel culture as an all-powerful, all-encompassing, all-devouring tyranny that can topple governments and ruin lives at will. An evil on par with that of Nazi Germany (at least according to white Conservatives who will unironically declare themselves victims of a modern Holocaust by cancel culture) which threatens the very foundation of human civilization and liberty itself. Almost every realistic description of cancel culture and its actual effects will undermine the narrative, because the need to spread fear and hatred of the left by overstating it and its scope has caused the dialogue around it to spiral out beyond hyperbole into batshit insanity. But yes, Monica Lewinsky would definitely be considered "cancelled" by today's standards. Any form of public backlash is considered cancel culture, now.
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
We can. My go-to example is Emmanuel Cafferty (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/stop-firing-innocent/613615/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/stop-firin...) - a Twitter power-user took a video of him using the OK sign, then declared him to be a white supremacist and summoned up a Twitter mob to get him fired for it.
- jandrese 6y ago
  That's a good example of atrociously poor HR by PG&E. Especially since they're apparently not willing to reconsider. It should be noted that he's has not been banned from speaking anywhere. I was curious about this so I tried to follow up on the story to see what happened after the fact, but the reporting is pretty much entirely about the firing. I'm curious if he's been blacklisted from his industry or not? If so, that would be a perfect case of cancel culture going too far.
  - SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
    He reports that he's been unable to find work (https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2020/nov/25/cover-sdge-line-man-fired-white-power-sign/ https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2020/nov/25/cover-sdge-l...), although I don't know how anyone could go about confirming that.

t-writescode 6y ago

Someone being cancelled who shouldn't have been: Monica Lewinsky.

jandrese 6y ago
She's been cancelled? She has a million Twitter followers https://twitter.com/MonicaLewinsky https://twitter.com/MonicaLewinsky and 150k on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MonicaLewinsky/ https://www.facebook.com/MonicaLewinsky/ I've found articles about her speaking on college campuses with her anti-bullying campaign. I've not found anything about her being cut off from platforms yet. Can you post a link?
- t-writescode 6y ago
  In her videos, etc, she talks about how she couldn't get a job because she's Monica Lewinsky, the lady that the president had an affair with in the 90s. It's been nearly 30 years.
  - jandrese 6y ago
    Connection with the Clinton Impeachment doesn't seem like a cancel culture thing. That's just normal infamy, and while it sucks it's not relevant.
dragonwriter 6y ago
> Someone being cancelled who shouldn't have been: Monica Lewinsky When was Monica Lewinsky “cancelled”? The closest to that would be the negative treatment she got from Clinton’s reflexive defenders in the late 90s during the scandal, but that's substantially before the supposed sudden, recent emergence of “cancel culture”, and her current profile rather undercuts the catastrophic descriptions of “cancellation”.
- krapp 6y ago
  People currently describe cancel culture as an all-powerful, all-encompassing, all-devouring tyranny that can topple governments and ruin lives at will. An evil on par with that of Nazi Germany (at least according to white Conservatives who will unironically declare themselves victims of a modern Holocaust by cancel culture) which threatens the very foundation of human civilization and liberty itself. Almost every realistic description of cancel culture and its actual effects will undermine the narrative, because the need to spread fear and hatred of the left by overstating it and its scope has caused the dialogue around it to spiral out beyond hyperbole into batshit insanity. But yes, Monica Lewinsky would definitely be considered "cancelled" by today's standards. Any form of public backlash is considered cancel culture, now.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago

We can. My go-to example is Emmanuel Cafferty (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/stop-firing-innocent/613615/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/stop-firin...) - a Twitter power-user took a video of him using the OK sign, then declared him to be a white supremacist and summoned up a Twitter mob to get him fired for it.

jandrese 6y ago
That's a good example of atrociously poor HR by PG&E. Especially since they're apparently not willing to reconsider. It should be noted that he's has not been banned from speaking anywhere. I was curious about this so I tried to follow up on the story to see what happened after the fact, but the reporting is pretty much entirely about the firing. I'm curious if he's been blacklisted from his industry or not? If so, that would be a perfect case of cancel culture going too far.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  He reports that he's been unable to find work (https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2020/nov/25/cover-sdge-line-man-fired-white-power-sign/ https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2020/nov/25/cover-sdge-l...), although I don't know how anyone could go about confirming that.