So glad to stumble upon this article. It's a well balanced look at cancel & call-out culture that I needed. The author does a killer job of exploring the nuance of the issue, the why and the results.
Defo got my wheels spinning and led me to think more deeply on the pros and cons. big YES for me.
I hadn’t heard of cancel culture so this was an eye opener. I did hear of the problems Rowlings was having and am concerned that dialogue can be squelched with the threat to one’s career or livelihood. At the same time, it sounds like it can be an effective tool for the powerless. I think this writer does a good job of elucidating pros and cons.
yea, I kept hearing about it but didn't "get" it per se. I think Jeff made a great point about the risks for normies who don't have the cushion of fame. The JK Rowling thing is such a hot mess oh jeez, the queer newsletters I follow are tearing her apart and it just keeps getting worse. I hardly know how to absorb it all.
I'm really curious what will come about when the call out culture masses enter the work-force en masse (since it seems to be a younger trend, i could be wrong). I have a bit of morbid curiosity, bc I really can't imagine that mindset in the corporate office. Maybe it only works online where people can pile on?
This article does a good job of going deep on the history but it doesn't actually address the most serious problems with cancel culture. I don't think many people are decrying the boycott of people in positions of power who are convicted of sexual assault or other serious crimes. Maybe there's room for discussion on the role of forgiveness but I don't think that's the real issue.
The article talks about "a celebrity or other public figure" being the target of cancellation but then only mentions A-List celebrities and fails to acknowledge that anyone with a social media presence qualifies as a public figure. The real problem with cancel culture is when there is a rush to judgement against someone who doesn't have the resources to insulate themselves from the emotional and financial impact of the attack.
Even for those who aren't ruined financially, the most pernicious aspect of being cancelled can be the attacks on others who associate with them or even worse fail to denounce and disown them for fear of being cancelled themselves. Natalie Wynn calls this "The Transitive Property of Cancellation."
There's so much more to say about this topic but I'll instead just link to Natalie's article (which is a transcript of a video if you'd rather watch) that dives deep into the real problems with cancel culture: Transcript of "Canceling" — ContraPoints
ohhhh I'm so glad you brought up the cancellation of normal people, which is horrifying. It had clicked for me in the famous people part, aka the scary mindset of "we made you famous dude, we can take it away".
The article is defo a yes for me still, I think it's important to understand some of the wheels spinning in our digital culture (and why everyone should delete all past social media content just in case) and whats out there. Will defo check out the contrapoints article, seems like a topic worth diving into deeper for anyone who exists online.
Social media birthed cancel culture, of course. No way it could've ever happened without it. You simply couldn't gather a large enough mob in the old days to move the needle of famous people.
The more I think about it, the more I believe social networks aren't the future. Tech is all about fixing problems of existing infrastructure, and someone will come along with something better. At least that's my hope, anyway.
The author seems to miss the point. Cancel culture ruins the lives of people who don’t have the power and connections to make it through. It chills free speech. It sentences people without judge or jury.
So glad to stumble upon this article. It's a well balanced look at cancel & call-out culture that I needed. The author does a killer job of exploring the nuance of the issue, the why and the results.
Defo got my wheels spinning and led me to think more deeply on the pros and cons. big YES for me.
I hadn’t heard of cancel culture so this was an eye opener. I did hear of the problems Rowlings was having and am concerned that dialogue can be squelched with the threat to one’s career or livelihood. At the same time, it sounds like it can be an effective tool for the powerless. I think this writer does a good job of elucidating pros and cons.
yea, I kept hearing about it but didn't "get" it per se. I think Jeff made a great point about the risks for normies who don't have the cushion of fame. The JK Rowling thing is such a hot mess oh jeez, the queer newsletters I follow are tearing her apart and it just keeps getting worse. I hardly know how to absorb it all.
I'm really curious what will come about when the call out culture masses enter the work-force en masse (since it seems to be a younger trend, i could be wrong). I have a bit of morbid curiosity, bc I really can't imagine that mindset in the corporate office. Maybe it only works online where people can pile on?
This article does a good job of going deep on the history but it doesn't actually address the most serious problems with cancel culture. I don't think many people are decrying the boycott of people in positions of power who are convicted of sexual assault or other serious crimes. Maybe there's room for discussion on the role of forgiveness but I don't think that's the real issue.
The article talks about "a celebrity or other public figure" being the target of cancellation but then only mentions A-List celebrities and fails to acknowledge that anyone with a social media presence qualifies as a public figure. The real problem with cancel culture is when there is a rush to judgement against someone who doesn't have the resources to insulate themselves from the emotional and financial impact of the attack.
Even for those who aren't ruined financially, the most pernicious aspect of being cancelled can be the attacks on others who associate with them or even worse fail to denounce and disown them for fear of being cancelled themselves. Natalie Wynn calls this "The Transitive Property of Cancellation."
There's so much more to say about this topic but I'll instead just link to Natalie's article (which is a transcript of a video if you'd rather watch) that dives deep into the real problems with cancel culture: Transcript of "Canceling" — ContraPoints
ohhhh I'm so glad you brought up the cancellation of normal people, which is horrifying. It had clicked for me in the famous people part, aka the scary mindset of "we made you famous dude, we can take it away".
The article is defo a yes for me still, I think it's important to understand some of the wheels spinning in our digital culture (and why everyone should delete all past social media content just in case) and whats out there. Will defo check out the contrapoints article, seems like a topic worth diving into deeper for anyone who exists online.
Social media birthed cancel culture, of course. No way it could've ever happened without it. You simply couldn't gather a large enough mob in the old days to move the needle of famous people.
The more I think about it, the more I believe social networks aren't the future. Tech is all about fixing problems of existing infrastructure, and someone will come along with something better. At least that's my hope, anyway.
The author seems to miss the point. Cancel culture ruins the lives of people who don’t have the power and connections to make it through. It chills free speech. It sentences people without judge or jury.
I'm glad to see this here, I had heard the term "cancel culture", but I didn't really know what it meant until I read this article.