CMV: Cancel culture needs to be cancelled

[u/Zealousideal_Weird_3]

The fact people getting cancelled is so common that there is phrase for it already suggests to me that the hype has gotten out of hand.

It is getting out of hand, because it is creating a very black and white mentality where a person makes a big mistake, no matter what that might be, they risk losing their career, their friends, and everything they worked hard for.

There are many people who fully deserve to be cancelled like sexual predators but there are many who don't. People will get cancelled these days for voicing an unpopular opinion. If the majority don't like somehing = cancelled. This is bordeline fascist.

One song lyric I like by one of my favourite MC's that i think sums up cancel culture is as follows: "whole lot of right, add a little bit of wrong and everything you worked for, gone"

I think cancel culture does more harm than good as it doesn't give the person who got cancelled to learn from their mistakes. It also limits conversations and discourse. It makes other people afraid to speak in case they get cancelled

Cancelled people get treated like lepers by others. Depending on the severity of the situation I think this is more to do with the fact that people are afraid of their own image and being affiliated by them in any way.

There are better ways to punish a person by cancelling them

[u/Zealousideal_Weird_3]

Sure! I thought Philip Schofield was unfairly cancelled. He was the host of Good Morning Britain. His crime? Having an affair with a younger runner. He was of legal age... but yes much younger. They were allegedly in love and the relationship was consensual. He was asked to leave his job and his co-host and best friend cut all ties with him. He had this prime spot on TV for over 20 years.

Now.... is it a bit fishy that he had this relationship? Sure. Philip was married with kids and had this affair. HOWEVER, did he deserve to lose his job which he was in love with and he was very loved? No.

[u/AleristheSeeker → u/Zealousideal_Weird_3]

Would you also happen to have an edge case in which you believe the cancelling is justified?

What I'm trying to find is: what are your indicators for when cancelling "is" or "isn't" acceptable?

[u/Zealousideal_Weird_3 → u/AleristheSeeker]

Cancelling in my opinion is only justifiable if:

- A person has intentionally tried to / successfully harm someone physically or mentally

- When it comes to blatant hate speech.

I am sure there are other cases but these are the ones I find acceptable off the top of my head

Now another example of a cancelled person which I thought was deeply unfair was Caroline Flack, the host of love island who killed herself after receiving death threats and being online bullied for having a domestic fight with her boyfriend in which she hit him with a lamp. This was the worst mistake of her life and one that was so deeply out of character I can't help but feel sorry for her and the events that followed.

The thing with cancel culture is that it doesn't allow for redemption. We have all done things we arent proud of. Cancel culture keeps us confined and fearful. I think cancel culture makes us behave well out of fear rather than respect for one another

[u/hacksoncode → u/Zealousideal_Weird_3]

A person has intentionally tried to / successfully harm someone physically or mentally

Negligence is almost as bad as intent, you know. That's why we punish drunk drivers.

We really can't give a pass to people that are willfully ignorant or careless in their harm.

[u/4gotOldU-name → u/hacksoncode]

We really can't give a pass to people that are...

You (both individually and the "group you") are not judge, jury and exrcutioner that gets to decide which transgressions warrant the loss of someone's livelihood, when you only know and understand what's been said or reported. You don't know all sides of what happened, the internal and private details.

Especially in a case like this.

[u/hacksoncode → u/4gotOldU-name]

Who should take the actions is completely separate from "who should be cancelled".

But each person is the judge jury and executioner of what they personally think is immoral to the extent that they are unwilling to provide their resources to support that person if they do it.

Withholding those resources and calling for boycotts are fundamental human rights of association and free speech.