The fact of the matter is that this sort of disingenuous think-piece essentially saying "nothing to see here" has been going on regarding so many of these culture war issues, for at least 6-7 years. It's been going on regarding the censorship/free speech in academia issue. It's been going on regarding the general issue of political correctness run amok. It's been going on regarding how vindictive and pathological call-out culture has become. It's been going on regarding trans activism. It's been going on regarding the growing language policing. Anytime a nuanced critique of these extremist positions and tactics is raised, you have these dishonest voices dismissing the critiques with something akin to, "These critics are really just a bunch of horrible bigots wanting to be offensive without repercussion. Cf. Milo!"
For me, this is all really frustrating to deal with, not just because I disagree with their positions, but because I strongly believe that it's important to hear honest criticism of one's own positions. But these critiques are rarely honest. They misrepresent the cases, deny facts, selectively quote, and generally obfuscate the issue in order to bolster their regressive viewpoints. After seeing this sort of bad-faith feedback enough, one tends to just tune out criticisms of one's views entirely, realizing it's a waste of time to spend one's energy engaging with dishonest actors. But that isn't an intellectually healthy approach either.
I don't have a solution, just laying out my thoughts.
Before they became progressives, liberals called "cancel culture" blacklisting-- and hated it. Then again, liberals used to believe in free speech and due process.
Reading this Suuuper late. This does seem to be missing a clear and probably more widespread aspect of regular people being hunted and their employers hounded.
This brings the cancellations well outside of just the sphere of otherwise public figures whose public image is tied to their livelihoods by nature.
The fact of the matter is that this sort of disingenuous think-piece essentially saying "nothing to see here" has been going on regarding so many of these culture war issues, for at least 6-7 years. It's been going on regarding the censorship/free speech in academia issue. It's been going on regarding the general issue of political correctness run amok. It's been going on regarding how vindictive and pathological call-out culture has become. It's been going on regarding trans activism. It's been going on regarding the growing language policing. Anytime a nuanced critique of these extremist positions and tactics is raised, you have these dishonest voices dismissing the critiques with something akin to, "These critics are really just a bunch of horrible bigots wanting to be offensive without repercussion. Cf. Milo!"
For me, this is all really frustrating to deal with, not just because I disagree with their positions, but because I strongly believe that it's important to hear honest criticism of one's own positions. But these critiques are rarely honest. They misrepresent the cases, deny facts, selectively quote, and generally obfuscate the issue in order to bolster their regressive viewpoints. After seeing this sort of bad-faith feedback enough, one tends to just tune out criticisms of one's views entirely, realizing it's a waste of time to spend one's energy engaging with dishonest actors. But that isn't an intellectually healthy approach either.
I don't have a solution, just laying out my thoughts.
Before they became progressives, liberals called "cancel culture" blacklisting-- and hated it. Then again, liberals used to believe in free speech and due process.
"Ilk."
Reading this Suuuper late. This does seem to be missing a clear and probably more widespread aspect of regular people being hunted and their employers hounded.
This brings the cancellations well outside of just the sphere of otherwise public figures whose public image is tied to their livelihoods by nature.