“Cancel culture” is a right-wing construct, and if you aren’t onboard with the goals of modern conservatism, you should stop using their terminology. You’re playing right into their hands when you do.
ONE children’s book publisher discontinues a couple of old titles because they include cringe inducing tone-deaf stereotypes………that’s cancel culture.
But if a state legislature makes it illegal for libraries to carry 850 titles that deal with race and gender issues…….that’s OK.
If a social media company, in course of enforcing their terms of service, revokes the posting privileges of conservatives…….that’s cancel culture.
If another social media company forbids the posting of liberal viewpoints as part of their terms of service……that’s OK.
Cancel Culture is simply a construct that conservatives use to demonize the free speech rights of people that disagree with them. And, we speak with our wallets as well as our mouths……it was conservatives that codified the idea that money IS speech.
I’m a huge fan of the 1st Amendment. I don’t believe that the government has any right to prosecute or penalize people for speech, which I why I found it incredibly disturbing that the Trump White House reviewed the social media accounts of thousands of employees, and fired dozens for expressing or even liking the wrong opinions. One woman was fired from a White House job for liking a post by Taylor Swift encouraging people to vote, because the photo in the post was an endorsement of a Democratic candidate. It didn’t matter that the employee was a huge Taylor Swift fan that had literally liked everything the singer had posted, she was out of her government job.
But I don’t believe private citizens or companies are under any such obligation. I believe the intent of the First Amendment is the limitation of governmental power, period. I don’t believe the Constitution intended to protect assholes from the private consequences of unpopular speech,
To take it further, I believe social opprobrium is an important tool towards the maintenance of a civilized society. You can hold all the shitty opinions you want as long as you keep them to yourself, but if you start spouting them in public, you should be prepared to lose your girlfriend or your job.
Yes, it may seem unfair, but to legislate otherwise would infringe on the both the free speech and association rights of your girlfriend and employer.
You do however, retain the right to bitch about your loveless and jobless state and to blame it on “cancel culture”. And I’m free to laugh at you.