Maybe We Shouldn’t Call it Cancel Culture

Don’t get me wrong: cancel culture obviously exists and needs to be discussed, or you wouldn’t’ve intuitively understood what I meant by “it.” Maybe the “it” is simply a culture of people who have lost their senses of proportion and humor.

Then again, there may be several sometimes overlapping phenomena we refer to under that term’s umbrella. The term being so catchall, and so appropriated by Trump and now by conservatives as a reactionary whinging point, renders it at worst polarizing and at best vague and impotent as terminology in a constructive conversation about the pros and pitfalls of the crowd’s/mob’s/squeaky handful of people’s power in the social media era.

So many people, across the sociopolitical spectra, criticize “cancel culture,” that one begins to wonder whether anyone is actually in favor of “it.” The phrase appears to have followed the same trajectory as the word “hipster.” No one seems to think the term applies to what they’re doing, yet we all see the phenomenon everywhere around us.

But perhaps some people do still think of “cancel culture” as righteous. Those seem to have reframed (or rebranded) “it” as “consequences” or “accountability” culture. But is what we have going on really a “consequence culture?” There are often consequences to people in the culture that wouldn’t’ve happened 10+ years ago. There are professors losing their jobs for saying the-word-that-must-not-be-named aloud in a discussion of whether or not a democratic culture is best served by having no-no words for some demographics. Powerful sexual predators have also been sent to prison and/or killed in prison (or whatever it was that happened). Are these both examples of “cancel culture?” Are they both examples of “consequence culture?”

I’m all for legal consequences for illegal actions, but we don’t need a “culture” for that, just good laws and good prosecutors. I’m all for social consequences for shitty but legal actions, but this has been and always will be haphazard. Should Katie Herzog and Jesse Singal be labeled “transphobes,” with attendant death threats arriving via every type of mail and social media, for daring to look into the underbelly of the current genderqueer landscape? Shouldn’t we focus more on not supporting corporations and companies that don’t provide living wages and that waste resources and devastate our ecosystems with legal impunity? We very much need journalists and activists who have lucid values and integrity, not this amorphous “consequence culture” with incoherent and nebulous morals and enforcement. We’re letting 22-year-olds and anonymous online under- and over-medicated mobs have oversized power in whatever this culture is.

Yes, there are Conservatives raking in the rage views by exaggerating and distorting The Dr. Seuss and Potato Head situations. (Though, there are also quite reasonable critiques of those dynamics.) But most of the people I know and listen to who criticize the excesses of “cancel culture” are really criticizing, not “accountability culture,” which sounds good but does not exist, but rather the culture we do have in the US - and specifically on The Left right now - that we are very concerned is growing. These cultural dynamics might more illustratively be called:

-Judgment culture

-Condemnation culture

-Holier than thou culture

-Pile on culture

-Under the bus culture

-Guilt by association culture

-Scapegoat culture

-Witch-hunt culture

-First stone culture

-Dehumanization culture

-Tattletale culture

-F*€k anyone who (voted “wrong”/doesn’t feel that “acab”/doesn’t think the trans sports thing has been fully thought through with scientific rigor and empathy for all parties concerned/listens to Joe Rogan/has been labelled a “TERF” or “SWERF” or “-phobe” or “-ist”/uses Substack/read an author who’s been deemed a bad guy/etc.) culture

-Manichaean/Black and White culture

The great sin of The Left is that we/they’ve (my pronouns when it comes to The Left) decided it’s not only okay but morally necessary to hate some people. How did the party or “side” of liberalism come to this?

My hopeful take on this is that, whatever The Left strikes down often receives a greater audience on The Right (see for instance Dr. Seuss’ newfound popularity, Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying, Bari Weiss, Mike Pesca hopefully…). This way, The Right will hear better ideas, and they will become a better party, with better candidates to force better candidates on The Left. So actually, please continue with your attempts at “canceling” everything that you can think to “cancel,” you’re doing the Lord’s work.

But all half-kidding aside, do you want to be judged by the worst things you’ve ever said, done or tweeted? Do you want to be judged for things you’re saying and doing now, when in ten years the culture may decide some of those things are beyond the pale? Do you want to live in a world where you might be labeled an irredeemable, bad person for an opinion you hold or a mistake you make? Do you want to become a social pariah when you take a stand and everyone else is too afraid of the consequences of sympathizing or even associating themselves with the witch to stand up for you? Do you want to receive death threats and face job loss unless you publicly confess your sins and beg the mob for forgiveness, even if you secretly still think you’re right?

Yes, there is a time and a place for boycotting and social consequences (I’m in favor, for instance, of shunning Woody Allen in every way imaginable). What I’m suggesting is that we stop putting people into the good guy and bad guy boxes and then tainting everyone who disagrees with our assessment as bad guys too. Even if someone else thinks Woody Allen is innocent, I don’t need to assume the worst about that person. Obviously, they have a different perspective because of their different information sources and life experiences. Let’s get back to a time when liberals can love and respect someone, even if they’re a Republican, even if they value Jordan Peterson’s writing, or empathize with JK Rowling, or think racial humor can actually diminish racial animus, or have forgiven someone we haven’t.

When it comes to keeping our hearts and minds open to others with different viewpoints, it’s time for liberals to have an I’m Spartacus moment.

As always, if you think I’m wrong about any facts or opinions, holler at me and I’ll listen. I love feedback. This is, after all, a blog, and I’m happy to improve it.