southernhybrid
Contributor
I made a remark in another post about an opinion piece I read concerning cancel culture. I didn't want to put this in the political forum for various reasons, but let's just say that cancel culture is more of a social movement than a political movement. Hopefully, this can be discussed, assuming anyone is interested, in a reasonable, intelligent way.
I read about the history of cancel culture. Apparently, it started around 2014 and Stephen Colbert was one who was attacked early on. For those of us who are fans of Colbert, we knew that his earlier show was all satire. He played the part of a far right news anchor. But, some people didn't understand the satire and they wanted Colbert to be cancelled. I just learned about that today.
President Obama is one of the people who criticized cancel culture, among others. It really didn't get too much attention until a few years ago, when all of a sudden people in the past as well as in the present were being criticized for making even one inappropriate remark, that might have been perceived as being racist or sexist etc.
While people on the right often blame people on the left for cancel culture, the truth is that it comes from both sides and from all kinds of people. The most recent example of right wing cancel culture is the right wings attempts to ban books from schools, to refuse to teach children about the systemic racism that has existed throughout the history of the US, refusal to allow schools to discuss such topics as the issues that the LBGTQ community faces etc. When it comes from the left, it's usually related to a remark that someone made, or words in a book written decades ago using words that are no longer considered appropriate.
I read surveys about who is most likely to support cancel culture and it's those who are ages 18-34 that are most supportive of it. Some people don't care and others don't have strong feelings about it one way or another. People over 65 are the least likely to support cancel culture, so I suppose we could say it's a movement of the younger generations. I'm not sure what they hope to accomplish It seems rather extreme to me to punish someone for something they said 20 years ago or something hey said last week without fully understanding they used words that are no longer considered acceptable in today's society.
I mentioned the liberal intellectual John McWhorter who currently writes as a guest columnist for the NYTimes. He is a highly educated, dare I say privileged Black intellectual, who's parents were both college professors. He has said some controversial things, mostly in the past, but I think he's also written some excellent pieces on the status of cancel culture. For that reason, I'm going to gift at least one of his recent columns to start things off.
I'd like to know exactly why any of you support or are disgusted with the status of cancel culture. I'm posting this at the risk of being cancelled myself.
How did our society become so super sensitive that words make one subject to such harsh criticism, including the loss of a job, or status in a community where they've been respected for years? Why are some of us so upset over the fact that some of our US founders or politicians of the past aren't perfect? Why do we judge people in the distant past for using words that were appropriate during their times, but are inappropriate these days? Why do some people judge someone based on a few things they say or believe instead of looking at their entire character and contributions to society?
Below is McWhorter's recent article. Hopefully, I've done it correctly so everyone can read the entire piece.
I read about the history of cancel culture. Apparently, it started around 2014 and Stephen Colbert was one who was attacked early on. For those of us who are fans of Colbert, we knew that his earlier show was all satire. He played the part of a far right news anchor. But, some people didn't understand the satire and they wanted Colbert to be cancelled. I just learned about that today.
President Obama is one of the people who criticized cancel culture, among others. It really didn't get too much attention until a few years ago, when all of a sudden people in the past as well as in the present were being criticized for making even one inappropriate remark, that might have been perceived as being racist or sexist etc.
While people on the right often blame people on the left for cancel culture, the truth is that it comes from both sides and from all kinds of people. The most recent example of right wing cancel culture is the right wings attempts to ban books from schools, to refuse to teach children about the systemic racism that has existed throughout the history of the US, refusal to allow schools to discuss such topics as the issues that the LBGTQ community faces etc. When it comes from the left, it's usually related to a remark that someone made, or words in a book written decades ago using words that are no longer considered appropriate.
I read surveys about who is most likely to support cancel culture and it's those who are ages 18-34 that are most supportive of it. Some people don't care and others don't have strong feelings about it one way or another. People over 65 are the least likely to support cancel culture, so I suppose we could say it's a movement of the younger generations. I'm not sure what they hope to accomplish It seems rather extreme to me to punish someone for something they said 20 years ago or something hey said last week without fully understanding they used words that are no longer considered acceptable in today's society.
I mentioned the liberal intellectual John McWhorter who currently writes as a guest columnist for the NYTimes. He is a highly educated, dare I say privileged Black intellectual, who's parents were both college professors. He has said some controversial things, mostly in the past, but I think he's also written some excellent pieces on the status of cancel culture. For that reason, I'm going to gift at least one of his recent columns to start things off.
I'd like to know exactly why any of you support or are disgusted with the status of cancel culture. I'm posting this at the risk of being cancelled myself.
How did our society become so super sensitive that words make one subject to such harsh criticism, including the loss of a job, or status in a community where they've been respected for years? Why are some of us so upset over the fact that some of our US founders or politicians of the past aren't perfect? Why do we judge people in the distant past for using words that were appropriate during their times, but are inappropriate these days? Why do some people judge someone based on a few things they say or believe instead of looking at their entire character and contributions to society?
Below is McWhorter's recent article. Hopefully, I've done it correctly so everyone can read the entire piece.
Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and one of the most accomplished and respected psychiatrists in the world, recently tweeted about Nyakim Gatwech, the celebrated American model of South Sudanese descent who is known for her dark skin, writing, “Whether a work of art or freak of nature she’s a beautiful sight to behold.” A number of people on social media and within and outside Lieberman’s profession found his words offensive, particularly his use of the phrase “freak of nature” and specifically the term “freak” in a tweet about a Black woman, and the sequence of events that followed was, sadly, all too predictable.
As the Times’s Lola Fadulu reported Wednesday, Lieberman has resigned from his position as executive director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, was suspended by the university and will no longer serve as psychiatrist in chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
The day before he was suspended, Lieberman apologized in an email to colleagues, saying, according to The City, that he had tweeted “a message that was racist and sexist” and contained “prejudices and stereotypical assumptions I didn’t know I held” and that he was “deeply ashamed and very sorry.” He offered that “an apology from me to the Black community, to women, and to all of you is not enough. I’ve hurt many, and I am beginning to understand the work ahead to make needed personal changes and over time to regain your trust.” Note, here, his understanding that the apology by itself was not the whole job, that he has learned much from our current culture and was trying to do the right thing.
But in this current culture, that’s not enough. Even after his sincere apology for a single mistake, Lieberman probably won’t be able to continue serving society — at least not as before — as the brilliant doctor he is.