Cancel Culture

/ Benn Bell

From the Desk of the Editor

Cancel Culture. Is it a thing or is it not a thing? Or is it market forces just working things out? Or is it just the next level of political correctness working itself in? I guess if you are the person who gets cancelled it is a thing. Especially those high-end individuals who get their show canceled or lose their cushy job. But what about the rest of us poor slobs working somewhat lower in the social hierarchy? To us, every day is Cancel Culture. We stand to get fired every day our existence. Say something wrong, do something wrong, boom! You are in line at the unemployment office. I used to have a boss who was fond of saying you are only as good as your last time at bat and one aw shit cancelled out ten atta boys!  One morning at a production meeting after a pretty miserable night’s performance on the factory floor he went around the room and singled out everybody one by one and threatened them with their jobs. When got to me he paused a minute, I had just been transferred and hadn’t been there long enough to fuck anything up. But in the spirit of not leaving anybody out he said to me, “…and I ‘ll send your ass back to Houston!”

Well, I worked there another 12 years and got a couple of promotions, so I didn’t get canceled. But I saw plenty of others get cancelled. And for them it was real.

Now, I am of the opinion that if you are a high-profile entertainer or a TV personality and you said some shit 20 years ago that you regret saying, you probably should not get canceled. There has to be some room for personal growth, redemption, and forgiveness. If you are a high-ranking editor at New York Times and you publish an opinion piece by a US Senator that is unpopular that should not be grounds for dismissal. There is nothing more sacred than free speech. If we lose that then what are we? Mice or men?

When you lose your job that is like corporate capital punishment. You have to be able to make living. If you mess up bad on the job, or do some questionable shit, yes, you should be held accountable. But it should not be permanent exile. Unless that shit’s real bad, in that case, it’s off to Siberia with you! And if you are Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein, then it’s the slammer!

Let’s use a little common sense and not go too far out into the field of political correctness lest we get bogged down in the Cancel Culture.

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.

15 thoughts on “Cancel Culture”

  2. I’m not sure what cancel culture is. Many times it seems it is just whining from those who thought their privilege exempted them from criticism being shocked that their position is not as invulnerable as they thought. “Victims” of cancel culture aren’t really cancelled. Their views persist although the place where they express them may change.

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  3. I’ve put what you said in <<<<>>>>>>
    <<<<<>>>

    That’s why unions are so important. It’s the only real voice working class people have. They can’t just fire you on a whim. You have a contract that lays out a handbook of it. It is why the overlords aimed for the strongest union in the country when they set out to break the backs of unions: the teachers union. The rest are falling like dominos. When I started in my union back in 1993 it had a lot of clout and big teeth. Admin and Management tred lightly. When I left the union in 2018, the mealy-mouthed stewards were alternating brown-nosing with licking the boots of admin.

    >>>>> Say something wrong, do something wrong, boom! You are in line at the unemployment office. I used to have a boss who was fond of saying you are only as good as your last time at bat and one aw shit cancelled out ten atta boys!  One morning at a production meeting after a pretty miserable night’s performance on the factory floor he went around the room and singled out everybody one by one and threatened them with their jobs. When got to me he paused a minute, I had just been transferred and hadn’t been there long enough to fuck anything up. But in the spirit of not leaving anybody out he said to me, “…and I ‘ll send your ass back to Houston!”>>>>>>>

    The Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing) verse 17 talks about types of bosses:
    The very highest is barely known by men.
    Then comes that which they know and love,
    Then that which is feared,
    Then that which is despised.

    (Feng/English translation)

    Managing people well is an art. As corporatocracy has taken over and unions evicerated, management has become robotic. These days maybe a 5th category should be added: mindless automaton.

    <<<<<<<>>>>>

    And I’m sure you observed the inverse: many that should have been canned that weren’t. I have a laundry list of theories as to why they aren’t, but I won’t go into those here, now.

    >>>>>Now, I am of the opinion that if you are a high-profile entertainer or a TV personality and you said some shit 20 years ago that you regret saying, you probably should not get canceled. There has to be some room for personal growth, redemption, and forgiveness.>>>>>

    If such a person “said some shit 20 years ago…” and here and now has grown and redeemed themselves, I agree. What if you’re still saying – and doing – that same shit? Not what you’re tweeting but actual in vivo proof that you’ve grown.

    >>>>> If you are a high-ranking editor at New York Times and you publish an opinion piece by a US Senator that is unpopular that should not be grounds for dismissal. There is nothing more sacred than free speech. If we lose that then what are we? Mice or men?>>>>>

    This sounds like current events and I’m not up on current events. Can you give me the gist?
    You do know that most multi-media is now controlled by a fistful of mega-billionaires and/or corporations, yes? They control our First Amendment rights these days. Free speech is a wonderful ideal, and you may even find it is protected if you challenge it being curbed in court. As time goes on, less and less unbiased judges sit on benches, which means more and more our free speech is losing ground, even in cases where it is taken to court.

    >>>>>>When you lose your job that is like corporate capital punishment. You have to be able to make living. If you mess up bad on the job, or do some questionable shit, yes, you should be held accountable. But it should not be permanent exile. Unless that shit’s real bad, in that case, it’s off to Siberia with you! And if you are Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein, then it’s the slammer! Let’s use a little common sense and not go too far out into the field of political correctness lest we get bogged down in the Cancel Culture.
    I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts.>>>>>>

    I hear Wal-Mart is always hiring greeters. No person is above hard manual labor, no matter how high up the food chain they’ve gone.

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  10. Good topic!
    Cancel culture has been around for ages. It’s more or less a catch all for boycotting or “we’re giving you your walking papers.”

    I’m more or less in agreement with your take. From the yeoman to the Senator we’re all subject to being cancelled but that doesn’t mean it should be subjective. Unless the offense is egregious it should be well thought out.

    In the workplace you have to be circumspect about what you say and do, more so than in the past. Used to be a time when co-workers settled their shit between themselves. Now it seems that almost any perceived slight gets taken to HR

    In any business, including sports and entertainment the bottom line is the bottom line and if the perception is that words/actions are going to hurt that bottom line, you’re gone. I remember when Hank Williams Jr. on national television compared Obama to Hitler and ESPN pulled his MNF theme song (Glad they did. I found it obnoxious). If he’d said that over a couple of beers with a buddy there probably wouldn’t have been a problem. You can call the CEO just about anything you want over the dinner table to your spouse but tweet it and you’re toast and you can’t complain that your first amendment rights are being violated.

    I have some mixed feelings about people being outed on social media. That said, given the general atmosphere and the better than average chance that your public rant might end up on FB it’s a little baffling that people aren’t more judicious about their behaviour.

    For my part everyone should understand that people have to be able to make a living so if you’re ready to misbehave or tee off on someone or something in a setting that might go public you’d best take a deep breath and if you’re the one to put the hammer down you might want to think it through and talk it through before showing someone the door.

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