Isn't "Cancel Culture" just the other side of free speech, free expression and agency? It seems to me that those complaining about "cancel culture" believe they should be able to say whatever they want without suffering any consequences. Am I not free to not hire you because I don't like something you said? Am I not free to not schedule your class because I don't like something you said? Where do these people get the idea they can limit my freedoms? They're free to say what they want and I'm free to react to what they'e saying as I see fit. Am I missing something?
I agree with your rhetorical questions, but yes I think you are missing something: Collusion and coercion.
I never watched a single full episode of Friends. It was obviously a stupid show. I chose to ignore it.
I did NOT rally all my own friends and urge them to boycott Friends. I did not accuse Friends of creating a toxic environment that was literally or even figuratively killing me. I didn’t coin a term “micro-aggression” then use it as a synonym for aggression then accuse Friends of committing that act against me or my kind.
Of course you are free not to associate with someone you don’t like. But when you make that decision solely due to fear of being ostracized by your social peers, that is the mechanism of cancel culture.
I don’t click “like” of some things on LinkedIn that I actually like, because I don’t want to lose customers over my political opinions. I got bills to pay.
Thank you for that perspective - I hadn't thought about collusion. Maybe it's because if my friends urged me to not do something I'd still continue doing it if I wanted. If they're being particularly argumentative about and I don't feel like arguing about it I'll lie and say I'll stop but won't. I guess I'm assuming I'm an average person and everybody else operates pretty much the way I do. Maybe they don't in all cases. Is there an "average guy" fallacy?
I think it is also the other side of celebrity worship. There is a tendency to elevate them to gods so when they are shown to be lesser the illusion is broken, and the followers feel fooled and angry.
> But none of the people in my examples were canceled in the traditional sense. Though fired, my comedian friend’s reputation hasn’t been smeared by a public trial on Twitter. Kmele Foster, John McWhorter, and Walter Williams weren’t disinvited from the television special—they were simply rejected at an earlier stage. Time will tell what happens to people like Karith Foster.
