5 ms·

Modulo specific technology, that's how life was if you were gay, Jewsish, Black, Asian or communist at certain times. None of that is new and the point stands.

• leereeves 6y ago
  It was wrong then too. And what claim stands, exactly? Are you suggesting that because something bad has happened before, it shouldn't be opposed now?
  • pdpi 6y ago
    Because something bad has happened before, we should look at it happening now as part of an ongoing problem, instead of characterising it as new phenomenon. I get your point, but if you tell me I did a bad thing, I can answer in one of two ways: “you did a bad thing too, so you have no right to criticise me”, or “you did a bad thing too, maybe we should have a frank conversation about why we both fell into the same trap”.
    • leereeves 6y ago
      I don't think anyone's denying that the desire to cancel those who believe differently is an ongoing problem; in fact, that is implicitly acknowledged when recent actions are described as witch-hunts or McCarthyism. Those allusions to history are powerful precisely because this behavior isn't new. And I'd love to see a frank conversation about how we can avoid falling into that trap, but such a discussion has to start by acknowledging that it is a trap; that is to say, that cancel culture is wrong.