4 ms·

This conversation is a problem of definition. Cancel culture is not the entire or even half the audience of a club complaining about the act. Cancel culture is

This conversation is a problem of definition. Cancel culture is not the entire or even half the audience of a club complaining about the act. Cancel culture is 500 people out of 50M (0.0001%) complaining, which combined with the power of journalistic headlines to blow things wildly out of proportion, results in the act being removed - even though, in many cases, 100% of the in person audience enjoyed the act. In fact, in many cases, the shows are sold out and there are no free seats, so we can assume much more than 100% of the audience enjoyed the act. Cancel culture when a tiny minority can use outrage to cudgel others into complying. You can pretend when people say "cancel culture" they mean "popular opinion", but that's not what they mean, even a little bit.

ben_w 4y ago
> Cancel culture Until this point, I thought we were talking about literally being cancelled, not whatever the phrase "cancel culture" means in modern political discourse, given that this headline is literally about an endless AI-generated stream being switched off. Everything I used was intended as an analogy to that end. > Cancel culture is 500 people out of 50M (0.0001%) complaining, which combined with the power of journalistic headlines to blow things wildly out of proportion, results in the act being removed Reminds me of what (allegedly) happened in the UK in the 70s and 80s when some Christians were very upset to learn of Pagans appearing on the BBC. Also what I see happening in some quarters today with regard to trans women, which has very recently mutated into "also furries" (is this a confusion with "transhuman"? Seen a bit of hate towards that recently too). Also why the TV stations were so concerned about what happened with Shatner and Nichols, and why TNG's "gay rights" episode was so bland you could miss that entire aspect of the story. And, now I think about it, why there were no women captains in TOS. Not saying any of these things are "good", though I rather suspect you're underestimating the number of people who find $insert_topic_here enraging for whatever reason — people are a mess.
- erulabs 4y ago
  Eh, this comment itself is proof that cancel culture is a thing. You're hand wringing about someone, somewhere, who is probably upset. You're okay with something being removed that you don't personally find offensive, but instead find offensive on behalf of imaginary people you don't know.

ben_w 4y ago

> Cancel culture Until this point, I thought we were talking about literally being cancelled, not whatever the phrase "cancel culture" means in modern political discourse, given that this headline is literally about an endless AI-generated stream being switched off. Everything I used was intended as an analogy to that end. > Cancel culture is 500 people out of 50M (0.0001%) complaining, which combined with the power of journalistic headlines to blow things wildly out of proportion, results in the act being removed Reminds me of what (allegedly) happened in the UK in the 70s and 80s when some Christians were very upset to learn of Pagans appearing on the BBC. Also what I see happening in some quarters today with regard to trans women, which has very recently mutated into "also furries" (is this a confusion with "transhuman"? Seen a bit of hate towards that recently too). Also why the TV stations were so concerned about what happened with Shatner and Nichols, and why TNG's "gay rights" episode was so bland you could miss that entire aspect of the story. And, now I think about it, why there were no women captains in TOS. Not saying any of these things are "good", though I rather suspect you're underestimating the number of people who find $insert_topic_here enraging for whatever reason — people are a mess.

erulabs 4y ago
Eh, this comment itself is proof that cancel culture is a thing. You're hand wringing about someone, somewhere, who is probably upset. You're okay with something being removed that you don't personally find offensive, but instead find offensive on behalf of imaginary people you don't know.