Posted on 11/02/2020 6:00:10 AM PST by karpov
People that work at universities and newspapers should be the most intellectually free people in the world.” Few would vocally disagree with these words recently said by former New York Times writer Bari Weiss. And yet, despite living in the freest country in the world, it’s become increasingly risky for students, academics, and journalists even to slightly stray from an ever-evolving and insidious ideology that has enveloped American society.
The ideology falls under the banner of many names: social justice, “wokeness,” intersectionality, racial justice, etc. Whatever label one assigns to the new ideology, its underlying strategy is clear: Advance the cause of “social justice” by silencing the faintest dissenter by any means necessary—even if it involves destroying their reputations, careers, and livelihoods.
Where did this censorious phenomenon, commonly called “cancel culture,” come from? Prominent journalists point to academia.
On September 22, Weiss and Thomas Chatteron Williams, a contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, spoke at an online event hosted by Duke University. The event, Is There Still Room for Debate?: Free Discourse and Cancel Culture Today, was moderated by Duke University classical studies professor Jed Atkins.
Williams and Weiss first described the nature of cancel culture and then analyzed its ideological roots.
“Cancel culture is not about holding people accountable…holding someone accountable means they can mount a defense, they can respond, it can be a back-and-forth,” Williams said. “Cancel culture is about shutting somebody down, targeting their employment, making an example out of them so that others take note.”
On July 7, Williams, along with several others, published a statement in Harper’s Magazine entitled “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate.”
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
Cancel Culture is a logical extension of Communist methodology where the Communists do not have power yet but are getting close. In this case they do not yet have political power but they pretty much own the culture.
Until Americans lose the fear of being called a racist it will never change and probably get worse. When leaders start telling the truth without fear of the “R” word we will continue down down down.
Cancel culture isn’t really new. If you stepped out of line 50 years ago in the media your career was in trouble. It’s just gotten worse.
They destroyed Anita Bryant back in the 70s for opposing the gay agenda. And they’ve never let conservatives have much voice in Hollywood, the media or universities.
Cancel culture is just part of Communist practice. We have the establishment of the party line (PC), the accusation of people who stray from it (media or social media attacks), where like any “struggle session,” they are suppose to acknowledge guilt, and then their conversion into non-persons to (cancellation).
This was a constant in Communist countries, and was going on in leftist groups in the US in the 60s and 70s. It’s simply now that they have achieved such critical mass, mostly through their dominance of academia and the media, that it’s been extended to the entire country and every single person living in it.
Also, don’t forget the leftist slogan during the 70s: “the personal is the political.” This meant that no sphere of your life was exempt from politics. I remember one example in CA when I was living there where a bunch of radical feminists turned on another feminist because she appeared to be happily married to a man and worse still, had a son whom she refused to reject.
True. Cancel Culture is a tool for Totalitarians to use to control the masses.
Pre-revolutionary Spain, to be honest.
Communism, that is where cancel culture came from. And that is why it is so prevalent in colleges. Play with turds, you end up stinky.
Just leftists doing what comes naturally when they attain a certain amount of power.
Well, it's obvious to anyone who is paying attention that there's a long way between "should be" and "are".
Has been a commie weapon for a long time.
“Until Americans lose the fear of being called a racist it will never change and probably get worse.”
Exactamundo!! Even here in freeperland most freepers recoil at the thought of being called “racists”
I’ve been saying for the past couple of years “embrace the insult” that’s the only way to disarm it. If you try to defend yourself from it, it only makes them use it more because they know it works.
We did that with “deplorable and irredeemable” we need to do the same with racist.
Yes, we are racists, got any other insults you want to throw at me?
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