MovieChat Forums > General Discussion > Is the any upside to cancelling?

Is the any upside to cancelling?

posted 3 years ago by 123Guy (7841)
44 replies | jump to latest

If some one is breaking a law, gets caught, pays the price, and gets strung up by cancel opinion, that's one thing. They broke a law and got punished along with public humiliation via news sources and public chatter. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

If some one is not breaking the law but some social justice didn't like their actions, virals them out to public court, ruins their family, their career, there life from here on out, what is gained from this result?

Why does canceling exist? Because it can? Is there a point to crushing people outside the law? Is law not working like we want?

For example, guy gets caught having sex with his consensual girlfriend in his amazon van... no law is broken maybe just company rules. No one was in peril or danger. Van was parked, no one saw the sex, they had some human fun.
Should they be scoffed globally, fired, blacklisted and unrmployable now?

Love to hear perspectives on this. Canceling exists so there must be a reason for it.

[–] CrabgrassWilly (1616) 3 years ago

I’ll let you know, cuz you’re

CANCELLED!!!

[–] actionkamen (23176) 3 years ago

Do you know why the Japanese don't get cancelled?

Because they get CANCERRED!!!

[–] CrabgrassWilly (1616) 3 years ago

lol! Probably a side effect from all the lingering radiation in that area.

[–] chilone (18333) 3 years ago

Ringering ladiation, you plick!

[–] 123Guy (7841) 3 years ago

Aw, again???..... I hate it when that happens....

[–] Capnbucky (2218) 3 years ago

You’re cut. Don’t know why you even tried out...

[–] CrabgrassWilly (1616) 3 years ago

Everyone who tries out for anything should make it because it hurts feelings if you don't! And that includes pro sports teams.

[–] ShogunofYonkers (78608) 3 years ago

Or at least give everyone an ‘I Tried My Best’ ribbon and a pizza party

[–] actionkamen (23176) 3 years ago

I Tried My Best Friend

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

i certainly think there are times when someone can be cancelled and i'd say 'rightfully so.'

weinstein is cancelled, i guess. extreme eg, granted. but i have no problem with people saying 'harvey, if you ever get out of prison you'll never work in this town again.'

but there are far too many cases where hypervigilant woke types (i know that will get eyerolls - whatever, the term fits) have ridden people out of organizations for highly debatable, often dubious reasons. don mcneil at the new york times is a famous recent example. i was just listening to an interview with mike pesca, formerly of slate, on the fifth column podcast - same thing happened to him. bari weiss basically got run out of the nyt as well.

there is a new puritanism afoot, a legion of people who simply will not tolerate wrong-think, who think to have a debate on things is in itself an offensive act. and that stinks.

some will say it's limited, that you can only point to a few extreme cases. i don't think that's right at all. i work for a religious charity, one filled with religious conservatives i'm pretty certain, yet this organization is lousy with all manner of absurd messaging & silly posturing. it's everywhere, and i hate it.

[–] 123Guy (7841) 3 years ago

weinstein broke laws, though - at least it got to the level of him in court and prison etc, so, yes, cancel away....

but the amazon couple didn't break any laws - now, I don't know their outcome as it was just an example, but seems like a perfect example: offended someone, and probably lost his job because of the shame, not laws broken.

wrong think: who gets to decide the parameters of wrong think? Maybe I think doing it in an amazon van is just fine, and someone else thinks they should get the death penalty.... who's morality gets to be the correct one?

[–] AndyKing1967 (39865) 3 years ago

Just as long as they didn't do it on top of one of my packages.

[–] chilone (18333) 3 years ago

No blow-up dolls were harmed in said infraction. 😜

[–] AndyKing1967 (39865) 3 years ago

Good, I'm fed up of buying puncture repair kits.

[–] cyberbob (3488) 3 years ago

If some one is not breaking the law but some social justice didn't like their actions, virals them out to public court, ruins their family, their career, there life from here on out, what is gained from this result?

This is overly dramatic. Most people in the world would GLADLY switch lives with many of the canceled celebrities whose lives have supposedly been "ruined"

A few canceled celebs have faced criminal charges, because they (at least alledgedly) committed crimes, like Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Ron Jeremy, etc.

But others who merely are not getting work like Kevin Spacey, Joss Whedon, James Franco, Louis CK, Casey Affleck, Armie Hammer, Ellen, etc., were their lives actually ruined?

I mean, most of these people are extremely wealthy and set for life. I've listened to some of Louis CK's new special and he describes spending last year laying low in France and finding a new girlfriend. Does vacationing in France and finding romance actually sound like someone whose life was ruined? I'd LOVE for my life to be ruined that way

---

That said, I do think that public outrage can be weaponized and used to settle personal scores. I'd say I'm both for and against cancel culture. I don't see it as an actual dolling out of justice, but at the same time the rich and famous deserve to be taken down a notch

[–] NitroHangover (1143) 3 years ago

Yeah but you jumped straight to talking about celebrities who've been cancelled, for some reason. The OP's example was about an Amazon delivery driver who got cancelled and is now famous and basically unemployable.

He's not rich, or set for life. He probably made just over minimum wage. Normal, everyday people get "cancelled" everyday by the online mob, even for perceived infractions that weren't intended and aren't actually against the law. Cancel Culture is real, it's mob rule, and it's fucking revolting.

[–] cyberbob (3488) 3 years ago

It's not the same thing. It's related, but it's not the same thing

"Going viral" predates the cancel culture movement. You remember the video of the chubby kid, Ghyslain Raza, videotaped doing "lightsaber moves"? He went viral and was the victim of cyberbullying. Did people "cancel" him? Well "cancel", as colloquially used, is a made up term, so anyone can interpret it anyway they want. But most would agree that there is a tacit difference between what that kid experienced and what, say, Kevin Spacey experienced

That's a consequence of social media and the internet existing. Having sex in a parked car is actually against the law. Not that I personally care if it happens, but there is a reason why someone thought it was worth recording and posting online, it falls outside of cultural norms

I assume that the video went viral because it's funny or peculiar to see a woman who obviously just got fucked exiting an Amazon van, NOT because people have extremely high expectations for the moral conduct of delivery drivers

[–] 123Guy (7841) 3 years ago

sorry I missed these great replies...

i know my example of that couple is weak, but best I could muster at the time. :)

so, is the old school "viral to shame", and modern "cancelled from employment", when real laws are NOT broken, somehow have a positive outcome? that's basically what I am asking.

if there is no "upside", why do we all allow it to continue?
If it is dragging society down, instead of having some positive upside, should we all step up to stop it?

[–] OnanTheBarbarian (13179) 3 years ago

The tide always turns on these social trends. I think we will start to see "cancelled" people emerge as the the new anti-heroes of the resistance.

It's like having a book banned in Boston used to make it an immediate bestseller. It became an advertising gimmick after awhile.

So entertainers will be billed before they come on stage as "CANCELLED IN NYC, LONDON & PARIS!!!". And there will be enormous applause.

[–] Who (5146) 3 years ago

No need to cancel someone if they weren’t worth subscribing to in the first place. Fame is a rare thing we bestow on a precious few. If they want to screw it up then the cancelling is on them.

[–] 123Guy (7841) 3 years ago

ok, but why? if they haven't broken any laws, and they say they dislike people wearing green or something, why do we get to cancel them for disagreeing? and I was talking about a not famous person.

maybe a closer example for me here is that harry potter writer saying women are women or whatever... she didn't break any laws, just gave her perspective that upset a bunch of people? why did it upset them to want to crush her? that is their problem being upset, not hers.

[–] Who (5146) 3 years ago

You said it. It upset a lot of people, and they were done with her. What else did they do? I seriously don’t know the repercussions but other people still read her books, see the films. That’s fame.

[–] MovieManCin2 (26342) 3 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Kazak (2199) 3 years ago

[deleted]

[–] AmeriGirl26 (15121) 3 years ago

Well, for one thing, you learn who your friends are and who you can or can't trust, and who can be considered on your list for revenge later.

There's a reason many sensible people have fled mainstream social media, because it's probably one of the most disgusting, toxic places on the internet these days.

[–] 123Guy (7841) 3 years ago

agreed, but that doesn't sound helpful, healthy, or progressive for anyone. :)

was hoping to hear from some cancellers as to why they know it is helpful to society, and not a hurtful waste.

[–] AmeriGirl26 (15121) 3 years ago

Cancelling in general is bad. But it reveals a lot about the people doing it, and the victims.

[–] 123Guy (7841) 3 years ago

It kind of looks like hive mind bullying to me. I thought bullying was canceled? :)

[–] AmeriGirl26 (15121) 3 years ago

You got the hive mind bullying all right. They all talk with the exact same lines and words, never once being creative about it. Bullying isn't canceled, just certain kinds of bullying. If it's "for a liberal cause," you can bully all you want.

[–] Solastine (1104) 3 years ago

The upside to cancelling is that you can help ruin someone's life so you don't have to feel so bad about having no life of your own.