Oddbean

@b05df304 @98042630 I don't think her decision was the right one. We are at a critical crossroad with regards to many things, and her actions are a potential dent in the armor. Also, I'm not confused about cancel culture. It's not that boycotting is central to the culture, it's that the internet makes protesting that much easier, and therefore people don't actually have to go out and do something. Therefore what we have is not a culture of cancelation. That's always been around. +

@7fccbd65 I don’t think her decision was the right one. We are at a critical crossroad with regards to many things, and her actions are a potential dent in the armor. On that we strongly disagree. Also, I’m not confused about cancel culture. Therefore what we have is not a culture of cancelation. That’s always been around. I mean clearly you still are since you said you werent confused, then went on to perfectly agree with me… You said “thats always been around”… ok so you just said Cancel Culture has always been around, thats literally you admitting that Cancel Culture is a thing, you just dont think its a new thing. @98042630

@b05df304 @98042630 I'm not because my point was that the central issue is not the cancelation mentality, it's the "I'm outraged now so lets do something now, preferably something that doesn't involve much effort". Actions have consequences, that's the basis for ostracism. So that basis will always be behind most responses to things like this. +

@b05df304 @98042630 But the change we have now is not a shift in that mentality, its with the ease of access that we have to information and the ability to react to it almost instantly. We see a post that angers us and we can immediately reply to it, and repost it, express our anger, giving it greater visibility. But in that same way, we can see something online and immediately buy it. We've become a more visceral society, where we tend to act more impulsively than ever before. +

@b05df304 @98042630 We are much more dependent on instant gratification, instant responses, sometimes even before we know all the facts. And that was my point. Society has always had ways to punish those it sees as transgressors, so what we're doing now isn't that different from what the Greeks started doing more than 2000 years ago. But this is part of a bigger issue, one that has ramifications in many aspects of our society. Simply put, this cancel culture is a symptom of a larger problem.

@7fccbd65 Sure but as per my last comment, Cancel Culture (that is, boycotting frivilously) seems to have happened quite a bit later after the instant gratification had already been a thing for decades. @98042630

@b05df304 @98042630 It was already here. I'm constantly reminded of that woman that made a stupid joke before boarding a 12 hour flight to find she'd been fired when she landed. What probably changed is what I mentioned in the other reply. We are so divided nowadays that this has almost become a type of warfare. I cancel the actor you like, you cancel the actor I like. I cancel the beer you love, I cancel the beer you love, and so on and so forth.

@7fccbd65 It was already here. I’m constantly reminded of that woman that made a stupid joke before boarding a 12 hour flight to find she’d been fired when she landed. Cant say I agree… People have been boycotting since forever. But prior to the last few years it was far less frivolous than it has become in recent years. What probably changed is what I mentioned in the other reply. We are so divided nowadays that this has almost become a type of warfare. I cancel the actor you like, you cancel the actor I like. I cancel the beer you love, I cancel the beer you love, and so on and so forth. Here we agree, the (IMO) recent development of Cancel Culture is closely linked to what you say here. @98042630

@7fccbd65 Sure, but that immediate response thing has been around long before the dynamic arose of frivolous boycotts. If they were as closely linked as you suggest I would have expected them to both emerge at the same time, not with a 20 year lag. @98042630

@b05df304 @98042630 I think it was already here before, but it got a significant boom when smartphones became a thing & we got instant access to anything & everything. As for the rest... The world is becoming more extremist in its views. Ppl are being pushed further & further apart, to the point where we almost sound alien to one another. That happened slowly with major help from social media & the ease with which it groups us with similar thinking ppl while separating us from everyone else.

@7fccbd65 > I think it was already here before, but it got a significant boom when smartphones became a thing & we got instant access to anything & everything. I mean people canceled things before sure, and there were frivolous examples of it. But it was more of a rarity. It seems to be in overdrive the last few years (which is where the distinction comes in too) @98042630

@b05df304 @98042630 Granted, but its not the only thing that's in overdrive and frivolous nowadays. Which is why I said that it wasn't the problem, it was one symptom of the problem. Hopefully if (normally I'd say when, but I'm not so sure that it'll happen) things calm down, we'll see a return to a "normal cancel culture" like it was in the days of yore. 😅

@7fccbd65 Granted, but its not the only thing that’s in overdrive and frivolous nowadays. Agreed Which is why I said that it wasn’t the problem, it was one symptom of the problem. Also agree, it is more a symptom than the root problem. Hopefully if (normally I’d say when, but I’m not so sure that it’ll happen) things calm down, we’ll see a return to a “normal cancel culture” like it was in the days of yore. 😅 One can hope :) @98042630

@b05df304 @98042630 Conceptually I agree, but who's the "we" in this example? We're constantly seeing examples of things that make no sense, like censoring things because someone gets offended by it. Like you said, it's easier and easier for things to get removed no matter how small the protest or inconsequential the subject. And as a result we have good cancelations and bad cancelations, depending on which side each one of us is... 😉