In my mind it's just a colloquialism for a certain kind of illiberalism: > "Cancel culture" is the belief that certain beliefs about race, gender, and equalit

In my mind it's just a colloquialism for a certain kind of illiberalism: > "Cancel culture" is the belief that certain beliefs about race, gender, and equality are so utterly indefensible that anyone holding them is necessarily acting in bad faith and consequently deserving of punishment. In practice, this means moral condemnation in place of consideration and argumentation, which is precisely illiberalism. What distinguishes "cancel culture" from, say, the conservative hatred of communism, is the whiff of hypocrisy that comes from the use of mob rule to enforce what are ostensibly academic positions, and the frequent reference to inclusivity as a justification of social exclusion.