[tux1968]

This really has nothing to do with liberal or conservative. It has to do with who is in power. When conservatives held the political reigns, they "cancelled" all marriages that didn't align with their traditional values. (for instance).

We're faced with many more authoritarians of a leftist persuasion these days, but that doesn't mean conservatives have any fewer authoritarians in their ranks. It's a problem of constraining power in general.

[ojnabieoot]

Man....... equivocating "being cancelled on Twitter because you said something misogynistic" with the pre-2005 reality of "same sex relationships will send you to jail in Oklahoma" is a profound lack of perspective, even by the standards of HN.

"Cancellation" isn't censorship and it's certainly not a human rights violation. Get a grip.

[tux1968]

There's a lot more to cancellation than losing a twitter account, it's about the instinct to silence and control those who disagree with you. And the underlying process is the same. Conservatives often think they are doing the lords work, and anyone who opposes them is evil and not worthy. And liberals often think they have the market on virtue cornered, and anyone who is opposed is a nazi/racist/xenophobe. And I'm only slightly exaggerating.

Edit: And I should add, that I did pick an example that was unfair to the right since it is worse than what is typically described as cancellation. So i apologize for that imbalance, but my basic point is still that the real issue is illiberal authoritarian elements that appear across the entire spectrum of left-to-right -- regardless of the degree to which they've so far been able to flex their muscles.