[rukittenme]

> Would you feel comfortable that you still have your job and your reputation after going in front of the nation and saying "I think interracial marriages should be illegal"?

Don't you think that's a bit disingenuous? People aren't being canceled for having overt racist beliefs. They're being canceled for having polite (but political) disagreements.

The issue at play here is large-scale mob action. In the online space, it takes the form of bullying and cancel culture.

Terry Crews, for example, is in trouble for using the word "coon". But Terry Crews didn't call anyone a coon. He was called coon and made up an acronym that he felt could empower himself and others. Whether Terry's career is destroyed or not, the attempt to bully him out of the public eye is there and it sends a message.

> "Take what we give you."

> "You won't be given a charitable reading of anything you say."

> "Your beliefs will be stretched and twisted to the extreme."

> "And if they can't be then we'll attack you for what you didn't say."

[helen___keller]

> Don't you think that's a bit disingenuous? People aren't being canceled for having overt racist beliefs. They're being canceled for having polite (but political) disagreements.

I picked a controversial opinion. Your beef seems to be that mundane political opinions shouldn't be controversial. I agree with you, but that's not really relevant to the point I'm trying to make.

The point im trying to make is that some people treated Facebook or Twitter like a group of friends, when any digital post or recording can instantly become more like a nationally televised segment.

[rukittenme]

I understand your point but Terry Crew's probably understands his tweets reach millions of people. He uses it to advertise his TV shows.

And I have to have some sympathy for people who live their entire internet lives is absolute obscurity only to have their worst moment (or maybe just their most misunderstood) be promoted to a "nationally televised" level post-hoc.

[helen___keller]

> And I have to have some sympathy for people who live their entire internet lives is absolute obscurity only to have their worst moment (or maybe just their most misunderstood) be promoted to a "nationally televised" level post-hoc.

I do too. It should be known that the internet is not an obscure place. It is equivalent to a broadcast on national television. If nobody read your posts online it's because you were lucky, that's all.

Personally I took effort to go back and delete posts that I made in my youth. I hope others do the same.

[jjk166]

In private conversation, you have a chance to clarify what you mean and some knowledge of your audience to anticipate how they will understand what you say. Online, your brief statement will be taken in isolation and interpreted by potentially thousands of different people with different perspectives. Have you noticed how there are no polite but political disagreements on national television? Talking heads either say things so uncontroversial that no one could complain, or they get into a fight with another talking head. This is not a coincidence. You might think your view is polite and reasonable, but there are plenty of people out there who would consider it overtly racist or otherwise bigoted.

You phrase this as if there was some secretive cabal actively trying to destroy Terry Crews when really there's just a small number of random people pissed off about a racial slur.

[notmyfriend]

And a media system that pretends some fringe people opinion is worthy of news coverage.

[Theory5]

Which has been a staple of the news for many decades now, and will be for decades to come. Finding those niche views most people disapprove of and getting everyone's emotions up keeps them engaged.