4 ms·

Cancel culture happens because it works, and it not even be true. Until businesses, universities, and institutions say no to the digital mob, it will continue.

commandlinefan 5y ago
Cancel culture isn't particularly new, either - the name is, but it was going on when I was a kid. The only difference was that the same people who are cheering it on now (like, I'm sure, Popehat) are the same ones who were raging against it when it was the religious right doing it.
- pessimizer 5y ago
  > when it was the religious right doing it. The religious right continues to do it. They've somehow been grandfathered in while we gather lynch mobs to attack pink-haired community college liberal arts professors.
  - ameminator 5y ago
    If only the people who condemned the religious right would also condemn the fanatic left, I'm sure the world would be a more consistent place.
    - ssully 5y ago
      It would be a consistent place assuming the people who condemn the fanatic left also condemn the religious right.
    - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
      >people who condemned the religious right would also condemn the fanatic left There's a word those people. It's like "librarian" but with some extra letters thrown in.
- kbelder 5y ago
  It's not new, but it's scaled up. Computers are a force multiplier.
pessimizer 5y ago
That's the good thing about cancel culture: it works. The bad thing is that anything that works eventually goes corporate. > Until businesses, universities, and institutions say no to the digital mob, it will continue. You can wait on that, but I prefer labor laws.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- Overtonwindow 5y ago
  Good point.
tensor 5y ago
I think it should continue. For a while I was leaning against it, but on reflection I realized that there is no obligation for me to listen to or engage with people that have abhorrent views. Rarely will doing so actually change their mind, or mine. What corporations are allowed to do is one thing, but as an individual I've decided to take cancel culture to heart. When possible, I now just put anyone with awful views on my personal ban lists. Twitter and Reddit both allow this. I no longer see any of their posts and they don't see mine. I'm far happier having done this an I don't think the world has lost anything by it. There are definitely issues I'm willing to engage on and discuss, but there are many that I am not. Hearing the same tired old propaganda talking points from people in certain camps is just poison to me.
- jimbokun 5y ago
  Cancel Culture would be actively seeking to enact consequences on those people beyond disagreeing with them, blocking them, or calling them a poo-poo head. Like contacting an employer to get them fired, trying to ruin their business, trying to get them banned from social media sites or organizations, etc.
- diffeomorphism 5y ago
  > For a while I was leaning against it, but on reflection I realized that there is no obligation for me to listen to or engage with people that have abhorrent views. Rarely will doing so actually change their mind, or mine. I don't think anyone disagrees with that, but your notion has pretty much nothing to with what other people call "cancel culture". If there is a talk about topic "X", you not showing up is not "canceling" anything and nobody cares.
  - tensor 5y ago
    Sure, but as a private institution you also have no obligation to give a person a platform to talk about "X." The counter to this is why not give free promotion to people who can't afford it? Why are we biasing "speech" towards those who can pay to be loud? That's not freedom either. The poor are by default "canceled" in many ways.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
fleddr 5y ago
You got downvoted, but I think it's an excellent insight that gets to the heart of the matter. You can't stop mobs from forming or trying to do damage, but for sure we can attempt to shield society from it. Businesses should learn to not panic when a mob calls for the firing of an employee. Often it's done in a blackmail scenario: I will stop using your products if you don't comply. They didn't use your products in the first place, and if they did, they won't stop using them in numbers. The economic threat is a bluff. Call the bluff. Nothing happens. Then, just wait out the mob as they get impatient and move on to the next target. Stand like an oak, not like a twig in the wind. Don't let a bunch of weird anime avatars tell you how to run your business. As this return of sanity will not magically happen, I would support legislation to offer employees some reasonable protection from mob terminations. Universities are perhaps the hardest to fix. Students needs to be taught to be resilient, open to opposing points of view, understand the concept of a zeitgeist and stop seeing being offended as the end of the world.

commandlinefan 5y ago

Cancel culture isn't particularly new, either - the name is, but it was going on when I was a kid. The only difference was that the same people who are cheering it on now (like, I'm sure, Popehat) are the same ones who were raging against it when it was the religious right doing it.

pessimizer 5y ago
> when it was the religious right doing it. The religious right continues to do it. They've somehow been grandfathered in while we gather lynch mobs to attack pink-haired community college liberal arts professors.
- ameminator 5y ago
  If only the people who condemned the religious right would also condemn the fanatic left, I'm sure the world would be a more consistent place.
  - ssully 5y ago
    It would be a consistent place assuming the people who condemn the fanatic left also condemn the religious right.
  - throwaway0a5e 5y ago
    >people who condemned the religious right would also condemn the fanatic left There's a word those people. It's like "librarian" but with some extra letters thrown in.
kbelder 5y ago
It's not new, but it's scaled up. Computers are a force multiplier.

pessimizer 5y ago

That's the good thing about cancel culture: it works. The bad thing is that anything that works eventually goes corporate. > Until businesses, universities, and institutions say no to the digital mob, it will continue. You can wait on that, but I prefer labor laws.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Overtonwindow 5y ago
Good point.

tensor 5y ago

I think it should continue. For a while I was leaning against it, but on reflection I realized that there is no obligation for me to listen to or engage with people that have abhorrent views. Rarely will doing so actually change their mind, or mine. What corporations are allowed to do is one thing, but as an individual I've decided to take cancel culture to heart. When possible, I now just put anyone with awful views on my personal ban lists. Twitter and Reddit both allow this. I no longer see any of their posts and they don't see mine. I'm far happier having done this an I don't think the world has lost anything by it. There are definitely issues I'm willing to engage on and discuss, but there are many that I am not. Hearing the same tired old propaganda talking points from people in certain camps is just poison to me.

jimbokun 5y ago
Cancel Culture would be actively seeking to enact consequences on those people beyond disagreeing with them, blocking them, or calling them a poo-poo head. Like contacting an employer to get them fired, trying to ruin their business, trying to get them banned from social media sites or organizations, etc.
diffeomorphism 5y ago
> For a while I was leaning against it, but on reflection I realized that there is no obligation for me to listen to or engage with people that have abhorrent views. Rarely will doing so actually change their mind, or mine. I don't think anyone disagrees with that, but your notion has pretty much nothing to with what other people call "cancel culture". If there is a talk about topic "X", you not showing up is not "canceling" anything and nobody cares.
- tensor 5y ago
  Sure, but as a private institution you also have no obligation to give a person a platform to talk about "X." The counter to this is why not give free promotion to people who can't afford it? Why are we biasing "speech" towards those who can pay to be loud? That's not freedom either. The poor are by default "canceled" in many ways.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

fleddr 5y ago

You got downvoted, but I think it's an excellent insight that gets to the heart of the matter. You can't stop mobs from forming or trying to do damage, but for sure we can attempt to shield society from it. Businesses should learn to not panic when a mob calls for the firing of an employee. Often it's done in a blackmail scenario: I will stop using your products if you don't comply. They didn't use your products in the first place, and if they did, they won't stop using them in numbers. The economic threat is a bluff. Call the bluff. Nothing happens. Then, just wait out the mob as they get impatient and move on to the next target. Stand like an oak, not like a twig in the wind. Don't let a bunch of weird anime avatars tell you how to run your business. As this return of sanity will not magically happen, I would support legislation to offer employees some reasonable protection from mob terminations. Universities are perhaps the hardest to fix. Students needs to be taught to be resilient, open to opposing points of view, understand the concept of a zeitgeist and stop seeing being offended as the end of the world.