>>126195249>>126182279>>126189189>>126189341Shunning people for bad behavior is common among human societies. Perhaps the recent right-wing panic over “cancel culture” has to do with the differences with how shunning is deployed between authoritarian and permissive wings of the culture.
Authoritarian “canceling” consists of an authority, such as a mullah, republican senator, or evangelical pastor makes a call to boycott a person or company. Think of the calls to de-monetize cereal companies that dare to portray a same-sex couple.
Contrast this to left-wing cancel culture. It basically consists of saying “This person did / said this thing”. The canceling that occurs afterwards is the collective disgust of the proletariat withdrawing from the offensive actor.
What really panics fascists about the decentralization of cancel culture is that they naturally look for a “canceler in chief”; it is part of their authoritarian mindset. It is difficult for them to comprehend that modern shunning is based entirely on the transmission of facts - not an order from a chieftain. It is possible to neutralize a boss, but fighting simple facts is much more difficult.
Take, for example, the UC Bev campus cop who pepper-sprayed kneeling protesters. Most people immediately were upset with this behavior; it did not require a pundit telling them what to think about the situation. The mere facts of the situation were enough.
Therefore, the right wing war on facts, fact-checking, and science, but that is another topic
