This article nicely captures the essence of the issue. Cancelling is a form of bullying, not activism. It claims to protect vulnerable people as an excuse, but really it's about the sense of power that comes from dominating someone.
I love this article, as I think that boycotts are the most powerful tool we have with which to influence woke capitalists to go back to their real jobs. Mr. Adorney's central point that boycotts have been used by social movements to create constructive change as opposed to destroying people and organizations is a useful distinction. I think that a large part of MLK's position on nonviolence, however, was rooted in his commitment to Christian principles regarding patience, tolerance and forgiveness. The woke movement, as Mr. Adorney points out, is based in the dark side of Christianity, i.e., the authoritarianism, sadism and misogyny of the Inquisition. Perhaps that is why the woke activists feel such empathy and kinship with the Hamas terrorists, who consistently act out the darkest side of Islam.
The main strength of MLK's approach was his ability to restrain himself and his organization from engaging in the vengeful actions that people take when they are no longer functioning on a rational level. His actions were strategic, pre-planned and focused on the goals of the civil rights movement , and not on the discharge of hatred and rage in the moment. I think that we who oppose the woke takeover of Western Civ should indeed take a lesson from MLK's example, not because I think that hatred and vengeance are immoral in all cases, but because we need to "keep our heads" to win.
Keep in mind you can only be 'canceled' in a domain that the Wokies control and dominate. Substack and X are not controlled by them. These are our institutions, dedicated to truly open dialog and speech. Even awful speech. People used to understand that we need to hear the most awful views most of all because only then can we counter them with better views. Many, many people have been won over from bigotry by reasoned appeals and dialog, over time. The idea that shutting down 'hate speech' is good for unity and coherence in society is crazy.
I'll give you a lil example from my own world. I became intellectually (not personally) interested in the white nationalist movement, so I spent some time on two of their most noted 'thinkers' sites for a while. I learned, for example, that many white nationalists think Neo-Nazis are stupid and want nothing to do with them, and that many just want to stop being told they are to blame for everything. I also found a group of them who are deeply embracing their 'whiteness'. A conscious tribalizing if you will, and those folks do actually hate other races sometimes, without being Nazis. Their pride in whiteness is quite intense. That made me realize just how dangerous this Woke stuff is from a new POV. White people are being moved to become more tribal. I could literally watch commenters and authors sliding down the slippery slope.
Most of all what I found was that they were willing to engage, argue, analyze and discuss their beliefs with someone who didn't agree. While I was never moved towards their positions (cuz there are a whole bunch of white people I don't like and many non-whites who I do like, so I can't do the math the way they do), I came away seeing them as humans looking for somewhere they could exist that they felt was just. While there was no shortage of hate, I was surprised by how many seemed calm and had just done a calculus about how they wanted to live vs. how things are going and had decided that they'd had enough. Many were otherwise 'normal', not loners, had families, real careers and businesses. Many kept it covert.
I eventually got banned by one as a troll, and the other locked down commenting for paying members only, and of course I'd never give those guys a dime. But the engagement gave me understanding. and I do think some of my arguments may have landed here and there with some commenters. You never know, but what is certain is that if we can't hear them, we can't engage them. This used to be common knowledge, but so many people seem to think shutting down voices they don't agree with is a good idea these days. Even many who claim to believe in 'free speech'.
The cure for 'bad' speech is more speech. It's really interesting to see how anti-intellectual the current crop of censorious bullies are, they care not a whit for how knowledge gets produced via the open exchange of ideas in a truly free, ordered society. It's all just about their moral Jihad towards a Utopia they don't even bother trying to describe anymore. Canceling is a weapon of their revolution.
Really interesting post! I read somewhere recently that the so-called Incels may be committing fewer rapes and other violent acts against women. The author speculated that a contributing factor might be that they have an online community where they can express their misogyny and violent feeling to each other, so they have less need to act them out.
Feelings of hatred are normal in humans, and perhaps as well in some other mammals. In my psychology practice I tell people my office is a free speech zone, and encourage them to express their feelings in whatever terms they like. Now that the woke cult has taken over my profession, therapists are being taught to "call out" and discipline their clients and each other for expressing any feelings or thoughts that the cult views as cause for cancellation. I hear now about clients getting fired for saying whatever things the therapist construes as "racist" or whatever, without making any attempt to explore what engendered these feelings.
One of the ways to really get people to hate you is to unjustifiably shame and blame them for problems over which those people no control. Bullying them into silence when they get pissed off about the shaming and blaming takes their rage to a higher level. I see this a lot in some white men I work with. I think the woke cultists engage in this kind of behavior deliberately, sadistically, to make these men feel powerless and desperate, so they can then shake their fingers and say, "See how hateful THEY are?"
Another problem is that the backlash to cancel culture also foments mob destruction. I know that many against Bud Lite for its woke advertising wanted to see Bud Lite be destroyed in the market... the brand forever tarnished for what it had done.
It is large mob action that is the problem. And we can thank Big Tech for enabling it.
While it is true that the Internet allows cancel mobs to form easily, I don’t think it’s fair to blame “Big Tech.” The benefits outweigh the downsides. Although some might disagree.
A major difference not explicitly mentioned here is that cancel culture cannot admit that person who is a target (their work) might actually be *correct*. I’m particularly thinking of so many of the academics who have been targeted. Their conclusions are not aligned with the ideology, therefore they must be destroyed. Leave it to a corrupt Academy to find a way (in the words of the article) to put a veneer of civilization on witch burning.
One of the most chilling (to me) aspects of cancellation is that it allows people to act cruelly and feel morally righteous. So what if you ruin a professor's career, or drive a business into bankruptcy...you're protecting marginalized people! There's something religious about that point of view; you can lie, cheat, or engage in atrocious behavior because, hey, you're saving souls, right?
To my mind, if you want to claim the white hat, you have to act like you deserve it.
Agreed. I touch on this more in part 3, but I think some cancelers hide (consciously or more often subconsciously) malice under their superficial do-gooding.
Cancel culture is your grown sons, who you put through college, going no contact when you, a woman, a mother said, "I will no longer use female pronouns for your father." I said this after I discovered their father's second time, financial fraud in court to get out of paying child support. He's no 'oppressed tranny' but rather the deadbeat dad who now owns an apt in NYC worth over 3M.
This article nicely captures the essence of the issue. Cancelling is a form of bullying, not activism. It claims to protect vulnerable people as an excuse, but really it's about the sense of power that comes from dominating someone.
Generally, yes. Not always, but far too often.
I love this article, as I think that boycotts are the most powerful tool we have with which to influence woke capitalists to go back to their real jobs. Mr. Adorney's central point that boycotts have been used by social movements to create constructive change as opposed to destroying people and organizations is a useful distinction. I think that a large part of MLK's position on nonviolence, however, was rooted in his commitment to Christian principles regarding patience, tolerance and forgiveness. The woke movement, as Mr. Adorney points out, is based in the dark side of Christianity, i.e., the authoritarianism, sadism and misogyny of the Inquisition. Perhaps that is why the woke activists feel such empathy and kinship with the Hamas terrorists, who consistently act out the darkest side of Islam.
The main strength of MLK's approach was his ability to restrain himself and his organization from engaging in the vengeful actions that people take when they are no longer functioning on a rational level. His actions were strategic, pre-planned and focused on the goals of the civil rights movement , and not on the discharge of hatred and rage in the moment. I think that we who oppose the woke takeover of Western Civ should indeed take a lesson from MLK's example, not because I think that hatred and vengeance are immoral in all cases, but because we need to "keep our heads" to win.
Lots to agree with here <3 Thanks for your thoughts!
Keep in mind you can only be 'canceled' in a domain that the Wokies control and dominate. Substack and X are not controlled by them. These are our institutions, dedicated to truly open dialog and speech. Even awful speech. People used to understand that we need to hear the most awful views most of all because only then can we counter them with better views. Many, many people have been won over from bigotry by reasoned appeals and dialog, over time. The idea that shutting down 'hate speech' is good for unity and coherence in society is crazy.
I'll give you a lil example from my own world. I became intellectually (not personally) interested in the white nationalist movement, so I spent some time on two of their most noted 'thinkers' sites for a while. I learned, for example, that many white nationalists think Neo-Nazis are stupid and want nothing to do with them, and that many just want to stop being told they are to blame for everything. I also found a group of them who are deeply embracing their 'whiteness'. A conscious tribalizing if you will, and those folks do actually hate other races sometimes, without being Nazis. Their pride in whiteness is quite intense. That made me realize just how dangerous this Woke stuff is from a new POV. White people are being moved to become more tribal. I could literally watch commenters and authors sliding down the slippery slope.
Most of all what I found was that they were willing to engage, argue, analyze and discuss their beliefs with someone who didn't agree. While I was never moved towards their positions (cuz there are a whole bunch of white people I don't like and many non-whites who I do like, so I can't do the math the way they do), I came away seeing them as humans looking for somewhere they could exist that they felt was just. While there was no shortage of hate, I was surprised by how many seemed calm and had just done a calculus about how they wanted to live vs. how things are going and had decided that they'd had enough. Many were otherwise 'normal', not loners, had families, real careers and businesses. Many kept it covert.
I eventually got banned by one as a troll, and the other locked down commenting for paying members only, and of course I'd never give those guys a dime. But the engagement gave me understanding. and I do think some of my arguments may have landed here and there with some commenters. You never know, but what is certain is that if we can't hear them, we can't engage them. This used to be common knowledge, but so many people seem to think shutting down voices they don't agree with is a good idea these days. Even many who claim to believe in 'free speech'.
The cure for 'bad' speech is more speech. It's really interesting to see how anti-intellectual the current crop of censorious bullies are, they care not a whit for how knowledge gets produced via the open exchange of ideas in a truly free, ordered society. It's all just about their moral Jihad towards a Utopia they don't even bother trying to describe anymore. Canceling is a weapon of their revolution.
Really interesting post! I read somewhere recently that the so-called Incels may be committing fewer rapes and other violent acts against women. The author speculated that a contributing factor might be that they have an online community where they can express their misogyny and violent feeling to each other, so they have less need to act them out.
Feelings of hatred are normal in humans, and perhaps as well in some other mammals. In my psychology practice I tell people my office is a free speech zone, and encourage them to express their feelings in whatever terms they like. Now that the woke cult has taken over my profession, therapists are being taught to "call out" and discipline their clients and each other for expressing any feelings or thoughts that the cult views as cause for cancellation. I hear now about clients getting fired for saying whatever things the therapist construes as "racist" or whatever, without making any attempt to explore what engendered these feelings.
One of the ways to really get people to hate you is to unjustifiably shame and blame them for problems over which those people no control. Bullying them into silence when they get pissed off about the shaming and blaming takes their rage to a higher level. I see this a lot in some white men I work with. I think the woke cultists engage in this kind of behavior deliberately, sadistically, to make these men feel powerless and desperate, so they can then shake their fingers and say, "See how hateful THEY are?"
Another problem is that the backlash to cancel culture also foments mob destruction. I know that many against Bud Lite for its woke advertising wanted to see Bud Lite be destroyed in the market... the brand forever tarnished for what it had done.
It is large mob action that is the problem. And we can thank Big Tech for enabling it.
While it is true that the Internet allows cancel mobs to form easily, I don’t think it’s fair to blame “Big Tech.” The benefits outweigh the downsides. Although some might disagree.
A major difference not explicitly mentioned here is that cancel culture cannot admit that person who is a target (their work) might actually be *correct*. I’m particularly thinking of so many of the academics who have been targeted. Their conclusions are not aligned with the ideology, therefore they must be destroyed. Leave it to a corrupt Academy to find a way (in the words of the article) to put a veneer of civilization on witch burning.
Ooh that's a really good point!
One of the most chilling (to me) aspects of cancellation is that it allows people to act cruelly and feel morally righteous. So what if you ruin a professor's career, or drive a business into bankruptcy...you're protecting marginalized people! There's something religious about that point of view; you can lie, cheat, or engage in atrocious behavior because, hey, you're saving souls, right?
To my mind, if you want to claim the white hat, you have to act like you deserve it.
Agreed. I touch on this more in part 3, but I think some cancelers hide (consciously or more often subconsciously) malice under their superficial do-gooding.
Cancel culture is your grown sons, who you put through college, going no contact when you, a woman, a mother said, "I will no longer use female pronouns for your father." I said this after I discovered their father's second time, financial fraud in court to get out of paying child support. He's no 'oppressed tranny' but rather the deadbeat dad who now owns an apt in NYC worth over 3M.
My interview with Tammy Peterson on the subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wV9d7-ZXQW8
I'm so sorry, that's awful.