Cancel Culture Feasting on the LEFT

The resignation letter: www.bariweiss.com/resignation-letter

I was wondering why no one had started a thread on this yet, but that you put in your title, "feasting on the left," saddens me. Cancel culture is feasting on everyone, right, left, and independent. If you read that resignation letter, you should realize that the bigger picture is the fact that cancel culture is tearing this country apart even more than the partisan divide that our enemies are stoking.

I used to rail against conservatives being so judgemental, now the extreme left is doing it even more vigorously; and both are wrong for doing it. What sealed it for me was seeing the gloating over causing the woman in Central Park to lose her job and her dog for calling the police on the man calling out her transgressions and filming her. She committed two offenses: illegally walking her dog off-leash and fabricating a story to the police that a man was threatening her when he wasn't...in the portion of the encounter that we witnessed anyway (we have no idea what happened before or after that film clip). She was absolutely wrong for doing those things, but it could've been handled without that video being uploaded to social media, and the Woke mob hunting her down. Even the man on whom she called the cops, refuses to cooperate as a witness in her trial.

What bothered me most was the gleeful reactions by even some friends of mine who didn't stop to consider the fact that her life has just been crushed for a mistake, and who snidely dismissed her apology. She now has to find a new job in a time when millions of others are out of work as well, with the stigma of the notoriety she now has. She lost her dog (maybe only temporarily, who knows?) and for some, their pets are like their kids. She was a single woman walking alone in Central Park (a fact that would make me paranoid and hyper-vigilant if I were her) and we don't know what happened outside of that short video - did he antagonize her? Was he rude in approaching her, and only started filming once she got upset and he projected calmness to make it look more imbalanced? We have no idea if that video is an accurate representation of the whole encounter. The assumptions and rush to judgement, the gloating at this kind of public punishment, and the absolute lack of empathy and willingness to forgive was stunning.

When did callousness and an utter lack of consideration for others become so entrenched in our society? How can we fix this, because this is the root of our problems.

Here's a letter that was published earlier and signed by many names you'll recognize (though, ironically, many asked their names be removed when they found out J.K. Rowling had signed it, because she's being canceled her for her views on trans):
A Letter on Justice and Open Debate
Harper's Magazine | July 7, 2020

The democratic inclusion we want can be achieved only if we speak out against the intolerant climate that has set in on all sides.

The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted.

This stifling atmosphere will ultimately harm the most vital causes of our time. The restriction of debate, whether by a repressive government or an intolerant society, invariably hurts those who lack power and makes everyone less capable of democratic participation. The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away. We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other.

It Wasn’t My Cancelation That Bothered Me. It Was the Cowardice of Those Who Let It Happen
written by Margaret Wente, Quillette | Published on July 9, 2020

It doesn’t take much to get cancelled these days. Last month, my turn came around. The experience was unpleasant, but also completely ludicrous. And I learned a lot. I learned how easily an institution will cave to a mob. I learned how quickly the authorities will run for cover, notwithstanding the lip service they may pay to principles of free speech.

After all, they’re terrified. They’re afraid that if they don’t beg forgiveness and promise to do better, they’ll be next at the guillotine.

I was cancelled by one of Canada’s quainter institutions, a University of Toronto graduate residential school called Massey College. Few people outside Canadian academia have heard of it. But the cultural revolution has entered its mass-spectacle Reign of Terror phase, and so my story made news across Canada. I was depicted as a racist, anti-feminist heretic whose mere presence inside Massey’s halls would have presented a threat to students.

But Massey College hasn’t fared too well, either: In this climate, every fusty institution is just one trivial scandal away from public-relations crisis and knives-out infighting, as all concerned flail about in a bid to prove their moral purity. I’ll survive. I’m not sure Massey will.

Colin Wright @SwipeWright July 10, 2020 Twitter Thread

1/ What is cancel culture? A few months ago I was a postdoc at Penn State with an soon-expiring contract, job hunting for tenure track professorships.

I posted the following tweet citing the well-known "social contagion" hypothesis forwarded by Dr Lisa Littman's work on ROGD.

2/ Some people thought this was cancel-worthy & attempted to spread word of my "vile transphobia" to my colleagues, even tagging diversity organizations in my field.

"Colin is on the job market. I hope the EEB community is paying attention."

The goal was to limit my employment.

6/ Don't let anyone tell you cancel culture isn't real. It is, and it's ferocious.

All these leftists saying that cancel culture isn't real, or that it only targets the powerful, are gaslighting you just like they did to me when they said they weren't trying to blacklist me.