[57844743385]

What people haven’t grasped yet is you can’t fight the mob.

There’s no recourse, no appeal, no tribunal, no council of wise learned people you can go to when the mob sets out to destroy you.

You’re just simply fucked and have to accept you’ve been cancelled, your reputation is ruined and you’re “out”.

That’s all there is to it and no-one has come up with a solution.

[dfxm12]

There's no recourse against the mob because the mob doesn't have real power. A mob can't cancel your speaking engagement at MIT. Only MIT can do that.

Also, it's hard to assert that you're ruined. I get that this is an emotional response, just like an angry mob's, but rest assured that time has shown that's it's not really the case. Getting fired from one speaking engagement does not ruin a person. It's more like temporary embarrassment, which happens to everyone. Kevin Spacey, Jeffrey Toobin, Bill O'Rielly, etc. have all been "cancelled", but are back working today.

One solution, at least in America, would be a better social safety net, so that most of your benefits aren't tied to having a job. Losing your job shouldn't be so scary, no matter what the reason (although that wouldn't matter in this specific case, since this person didn't lose their job).

[HonestOp001]

Where is James Damore? He became the celeb du jour. he was correct on most fronts and he was considered toxic.

Google did not want to deal with the mob. Both externally and internally. They came up with a lame reason to let him go.

We are currently seeing people okay with pulling social safety net benefits for choosing not to vaccinate. How can you guarantee that politicos will not buckle similarly.

[joshuaheard]

I think the first step is recognizing that there is a mob and mob behavior. Then, act to disband the mob by not engaging in mob behavior, and convincing others not to engage in mob behavior.

[hw-guy]

It is probably impossible to disband the mob, but it does not have to be given power. It is up to the leaders of universities and corporations to have the moral courage to stand up to the mob and ignore its outrageous demands.

[peter_retief]

Exactly, cowardly administors looking after their own interests at the expense of the University.

[falcolas]

The only plus side is they aren’t wielding torches and pitchforks. The mob has always been bloodthirsty, readily dispensing “justice” against those in the out group for being in the out group.

[ChainOfFools]

easy come, easy go.

this is the same mob that accepts you as 'in' based on how readily your social profile can be mapped to a silhouette template drawn in broad strokes that do not degrade or distort from low bandwidth amplification because it is already in its most reduced form to begin with.

lightweight, irreducible binary properties, such as 'Y does|does not support cause Z' percolate to the surface where they can be accessed by an audience whose members go no deeper than is necessary to splash another with hot takes.

it costs almost nothing to attract the attention (and KPIs) of the broad, shallow audience that values "cancelation." both sides of political spectrum messaging are increasingly (and existentially) optimized to cater to this fraction of their constituency above all else.

[peter_retief]

MIT need to do their job and evict the culprits from the campus and make sure their staff are safe from harrasment.