What is cancel culture?

Something that keeps popping up again and again is "we have to take a stand against cancel culture"! "It's erroding our way of life!" But I have never heard a definition of what cancel culture is, or for the better part why it's bad. To me it sounds like it's about trying to improve oneself. Stop saying racist things because those have an affect on people. And if you do, then things will be better. I think it's overly optimistic but hey it's somewhere to start. But then again, what do other people think on the subject? Why is it so wrong? I honestly don't get it.

 

In my mind, it is the action of 'the people have spoken'. Frankly, I'm all for that kind of 'cancelling', as it is a result of the will of 'the people'. But when it comes to the cancelling being done by one political party or another, that gets into the weeds for me. Too often the intent is disingenuous.

And before anyone jumps on the subject of memorials and statues, I don't see that as cancel culture if they are simply moving the statues to a more appropriate place (ie a museum or gallery).

 

Right but what does that mean? I don't follow it at all.

 

It's called Liberal Totalitarianism. You just bow to the Liberal Ministry of Truth and Thought Police and you'll be okay.

 

You just saw it practiced by the GOP when they cancelled Liz Cheney from her leadership role.

 

When there is a movie one may find offensive, a reasonable person doesn't buy a ticket. A cancel culturist tries to close the theater. It is a perpetual state of dissatisfaction with ones own life that no level of cancelling can ever alleviate.

 

My understanding of cancel culture is a grassroots movement of like-minded people who set out to destroy someone's livelihood. This can be done in many ways but it's usually some type of smear campaign that erodes one's customer base and/or employment and/or housing.

Now, with that said, I have an issue with "cancel culture" as it is known today and here's why.

Have you noticed an uptick in the complaints and criticisms that people are targeting white men (ie removing them from commercials, hiring non-white and females more often, etc.)? I have. I have also noticed that...

Minorities are accused of lying or "pulling the race card" when they take issue with being discriminated against.
Females are told to shut up and get back into the kitchen and birthing babies when they take issue with being discriminated against.​

White men have been "canceling" others since before "cancel culture" had a name. They've locked people out of jobs, shunned neighbors they don't like, denied housing and business loans for certain groups, have had people fired by threatening boycotts to company owners, etc. The list is long and they INVENTED it.

Yet, NOW, that white males are experiencing the same type of exclusion, it's a problem EVERYONE should care about.

 

Always good to know you don't know what it is either. Don't worry, this will be an educational opportunity to everyone.

Yeah but what is that? Like what does that example show?

Right but what does that mean? Like why not shut down the theater for deciding to air the movie in the first place?

Right that's an amazing power and it's one we celebrate nationally via Rosa Parks. We love the idea of the bus boycott. Why is it now that people are upset over it?

 

I really hate all the recent talk of cancel culture and how it is being demonize as the destroyer of society. Cancel culture has been around since the beginning of civilization. To me cancel culture means an individual or group taking a legal action against someone or an organization in order to legally influence change in behavior. In the simplest example if you had a bad experience with service or food at a restaurant and you wish to warn others so they do not make the same mistake you could tell others or even form a group to do so. You can place reviews and use word of mouth. The goal is to have the owners of the restaurant make better food or give better service. The threat is that they will lose customers if they do not comply. This interaction has been around forever. I am sure some medieval merchant made the same accusation to a tavern owner over a 1000 years ago. The difference now is social media has amplified the power. You can easily reach more people and the impact is much greater. If you hated a restaurant in the 1950s you could tell your friends and family and so on but now you can put the information on social media and reach millions whereas in the past you may have been lucky to influence a few people. In the past, in order for cancel culture to work and influence change it often involved groups or organizations trying to stand united to influence the change. I remember in the 90s, Christians tried to form a boycott of Disney because they were one of the first companies to offer spousal benefits to same sex couples. I remember my family telling me not to visit Disneyland. You can see how that group wanted to use the threat of loss of Christian customers to try to influence Disney's behavior. I fully support cancel culture because it is society using peaceful means to influence change. Whether it is boycotting a bakery that will not offer services to gay couples or Trump calling for boycotts of Goodyear Tire, everyone is entitled to try as long as they do it legally. If enough of society agrees with you it can lead to change if not like in the Chick-fil-A example it fails.

 

Cancel culture is the activity of punishing people for disagreeing with you. Simple as that.

 

Sorry bout that...

Before responding, I looked up the definition of the term online. It was basically described as - at its least - a withdrawl of support and, at worst, public shaming.

My stance is that it has become a 'catch all' phrase and has been watered down significantly. I support 'the people' making their personal or collective decisions to boycott or make their opinions known with their pocketbooks or public support of any company.

 

Oh no you haven't done anything wrong it's just that I don't understand why we're upset at the idea of cancel culture. In a nutshell it's arguably one of the most cherished freedoms, boycotting. I mean it's a moral disagreement sure but it feels like it's more than that and I just don't understand it. That's why I wanted to make this thread, to figure out what it is.

 

Cancel culturists are in a constant state of being offended. Their parents likely shielded them from such content and they reached adulthood unprepared to deal with these emotions. They are easily triggered by statues, pancake syrup, Elmer Fudd using a gun to shoot at that wascawy wabbit, etc.

 

Yeah but why not? No offense but this just sounds like a refusal to engage with these ideas. Statues are national monuments designed to show people how they value history. If you value the history of a population that has discriminated against another, doesn't that seem justified in wanting to take the statues down? Or how do you present African Americans in a good light if they have no heroes other than the ladies on pancake syrup? There are ideas behind these and when you look at the logic it's there. So why not engage with those arguments?

 

What do you mean that African Americans have no heroes other than the ladies on pancake syrup?

 

You should ask Germany what cancel culture is and why it’s bad. They were quite the experts at it back in the day.

so were the Soviets. Communist China as well and North Korea too.

but my guess is if you don’t already know why destroying someone because they disagree with you is bad and completely counterintuitive to the first amendment, then the most extreme examples aren’t going to have much effect.

On a sidenote, anyone down for a good book burning? You can make some great s’mores. Honestly, I don’t see what’s so bad about a lovely book bonfire.

 

She wasn't cancelled out...she was voted out. Big difference there pal, but she still has a seat in congress which means she hasn't yet been properly cancelled out of congress, and hopefully out of the Republican party. Another RINO sucking up to the whims of the destructive democrat party.

 

No offense taken. I was raised not to be offended. I raised 5 kids not to be offended. The opinions of the easily offended are not worth discussing. If you don't like something, don't buy it. Its that simple. If there is a statue on public property you object to, there is a process to get it removed legally.

Personally, I am a Vegan and do not consume animal products. (With rare exceptions) I am not looking to deny you your steak dinner.

 

Think about why we have days like Martin Luther King Jr. Day, or we have black history month. They're designed to counter racist narratives about black people. Things like "black people are mentally inferior because they don't have a history worth talking about". You have to find ways to counter that, so that's what I was going for there.

Yeah that's just apathy. Why should a person be apathetic?

 

You are incorrect. Apathy is not caring; wisdom is directing concern where it benefits others. Why would any reasonable person spend their hours trying to appease the easily offended when there are causes far more worthy of our time?

 

You will find the best definition of what is going on in Michael Knowles new book. Cancel culture is the attempt by the left to shut down any and all debate of controversial ideas, such as the chemical castration of children, not by offering better arguments but by hounding people from public discourse, trying to get them fired from their jobs etc.

 

As has been explained already, the mechanism of cancel culture has been around for a very long time. The only thing that has changed recently is that it is being used as a tool to manipulate others to promote or obfuscate another issue altogether. In other words, who is doing the cancelling and for what reason are not always obvious.

 

CANCEL CULTURE something the right accuses the left of and the left accuses the right of. In other words pure bullshit!!

 

Social media did a great job actually cancelling people they disagreed with, either about COVID or the election. No dissent is tolerated if you're disagreeing with the left.

 

What's the difference between the people who are "making their personal or collective decisions" to boycott or demand people be fired and McCarthyism?