First, the "acceptable" position gets established; the stance a "good" person holds. It then seems that to critique, challenge, disagree, disbelieve, dislike, disapprove, reject, or refuse to unquestioningly promote/support said stance gets labelled as hateful, harmful, threatening, dangerous and "bad", which is then used to justify cancel culture. Much of the media has no compunction about making things worse by manipulating the truth and taking things out of context, stirring the pot and further inflaming tensions by exploiting people's trust and emotions. Emotional reactions are plentiful, often bound up in and fueled by a few easy to recite but shallow talking points circulated by the media. Meanwhile mature, seasoned, critical, nuanced, broadly informed independent thought wanes.
Love this line: "Thus, instead of opening the public square for debate and discussion on alternate and opposing ideas, what may be considered to be 'counterculture' discussions are instead relegated to kitchen tables." Not having this kind of public square discussion is a huge loss.
Thank you for this Brian. An excellent exploration of the impact and repercussions that cancel culture can have on our society. Nothing is ever black or white many times. Life is all about the grey areas. Cancelling those who explore them, even when they are wrong, stifles in-depth debate and limits everyone's ability to grow, pitting one side endlessly against the other. Diplomacy is fast becoming a dying art. There must be room for exploration of other views, perspectives and ideologies. Otherwise we are doomed to greater divisiveness and polarization. Great article Brian!
First, the "acceptable" position gets established; the stance a "good" person holds. It then seems that to critique, challenge, disagree, disbelieve, dislike, disapprove, reject, or refuse to unquestioningly promote/support said stance gets labelled as hateful, harmful, threatening, dangerous and "bad", which is then used to justify cancel culture. Much of the media has no compunction about making things worse by manipulating the truth and taking things out of context, stirring the pot and further inflaming tensions by exploiting people's trust and emotions. Emotional reactions are plentiful, often bound up in and fueled by a few easy to recite but shallow talking points circulated by the media. Meanwhile mature, seasoned, critical, nuanced, broadly informed independent thought wanes.
Love this line: "Thus, instead of opening the public square for debate and discussion on alternate and opposing ideas, what may be considered to be 'counterculture' discussions are instead relegated to kitchen tables." Not having this kind of public square discussion is a huge loss.
Thank you for this Brian. An excellent exploration of the impact and repercussions that cancel culture can have on our society. Nothing is ever black or white many times. Life is all about the grey areas. Cancelling those who explore them, even when they are wrong, stifles in-depth debate and limits everyone's ability to grow, pitting one side endlessly against the other. Diplomacy is fast becoming a dying art. There must be room for exploration of other views, perspectives and ideologies. Otherwise we are doomed to greater divisiveness and polarization. Great article Brian!