CANCEL CULTURE
Please read the article in The Good Weekend, the Saturday magazine of the Sydney Morning Herald of Saturday, 20th November 2021 on “Cancel Culture: It’s complicated” by James Button.
The article, to be presented over three issues of the Sydney Morning Herald viz Sat 20 November, Sun 21 November, Mon 22 November 2021, is the most definitive and best written exposé of this recent affliction to our society.
In my opinion, ‘Cancel Culture’ is not designed to change or remove ‘culture’ but instead to destroy any person, celebrity or not, who expresses an opinion that could cause hurt to someone, in many cases only the hurt of those who are the self-professed victims.
For hundreds of years, in our western culture the debate of ideas and opinions has led our institutions of learning and our governments and organisations. Debate where those involved listened to the ideas of others, put forward their own ideas and opinions and perhaps, but not always, came to an agreement or compromise. The debate was of the ideas not of the personal and people were prepared to allow all to profess their own opinions and thoughts as part of wider discourse.
But with the rising of social media, the anonymity of such avenues for expression of opinions has led to so much vitriol, such threats of violence, such cowardice that people so attacked have committed suicide or attempted suicide and at the very least have had their mental health severely compromised.
Please read the article with an open mind, be prepared to express your own opinions but DO NOT attack the author for his opinions.
