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by dadarepublic 2170 days ago
There's no such thing as cancel culture.

The lack of self-examination and self-awareness is stunning in these types of responses of people who may have some problematic aspects in their lives.

>But the cultural revolution has entered its mass-spectacle Reign of Terror phase

The author is another person who is upset because they got called out on some problematic aspects of their work/persona, a lot of people agreed, and it turns out the problematic aspects had an adverse affect on their lives.

Sounds like a good time to self-examine to me.

I've had to eat crow sometimes. I always try take it as an opportunity to grow and reflect.

2 comments

That assumes we should all seek to progress towards someone's ideal of human behavior and thought patterns. Why should she self-examine? To adhere to your standards for behavior? To a segment of society's standard? I argue that we need journalists and others who make us uncomfortable. That's how we learn to examine ideas for their own merit. If we cancel out people who espouse radical ideas, we cut off the pipeline of critical thinking, debate, and the surfacing of ideas. The only way to a better society is through more ideas. Not forced adherence to one that people are scared to challenge.

Her persona doesn't need to be fixed. She needs to be invited to more forums, so critically thinking adults can examine her ideas and either accept, reject, or refine those ideas.

> Why should she self-examine? To adhere to your standards for behavior?

I believe "lack of self-examination" is code for "she expresses views I find distasteful, that I believe she would change if she self-examined. I also want to imply she has not done so and kept her views".

I think it's more nuanced than that. There are excesses[1]--I'm skeptical that this was one of them.

[1] https://twitter.com/jenbrea/status/1271148784316108800

Thanks, I'm glad I followed that to Jonathan Chait's piece:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/case-for-liberalism-...