You posted a thread about JK Rowling and mentioned ‘ruining people’s livlihoods’. Since you didn’t specify, I presumed that you were talking about the topic of the thread and not something only distantly related to it. But if you don’t have any problem with the treatment that JK Rowling is receiving for airing her hateful and bigoted views, why make her the subject line of your complaint?
What do you mean by ‘the current orthodox view’, and what are the cases of people getting fired or being left unable to hold meetings or speaking? This is all too vague to meaningfully respond to, and sounds a lot like whitewashing ‘this person called the cops on a black person for existing’ or ‘this person accosted a woman who looked too butch when she tried to go to the bathroom’ into something innocuous.
If you’re not aware of the history of people protesting ads that aren’t christian white people, protesting (and often successfully banning) shows for showing people that aren’t ‘standard’, firing teachers (and plenty of others) for being gay or engaging in interracial relationships, segregation and anti-miscongeneation laws, and the like, then your lack of knowledge is simply breathtaking and it’s no wonder that you think ‘cancel culture’ is brand new.
You’re… you’re seriously asking that question? Do you really not know any 20th century US history? I’m not being sarcastic here, open discrimination against and persecution of blacks, people friendly to blacks, LGBT people, people friendly to LGBT people, non-christians, was incredibly common.