There is no such thing as cancel culture. I don’t know how this dog-whistle changed meanings, but everything I have heard and can see suggests that complaints about “cancel culture” are used whenever someone says something anti, like anti-semitic or anti-LGBQTI, or racist, sexist, homophobic, or anything that is designed to shame or injure someone and they get called on it. Why is calling someone on their bad behavior canceling them? That’s not what my mother called it when she gave me instructions on how to behave like a civilized person making my way in the world. She wasn’t canceling me, she was instructing me, teaching me, civilizing me, schooling me, bringing me up to have manners.
Why is this a big deal today? I was reading an article about cancel culture. What is cancel culture? “For those unfamiliar with The Great American Threat, “cancel culture” is a phenomenon of the “Karen” era, likely to be cited by the type of person who’d be called a “Karen.” (It’s also a term that originated in the Black community, which, I suspect, has a lot to do with how conservatives react to it — but that’s a subject for another story.)
If you’ve been shamed on social media or rendered unpopular and possibly unemployed for committing an unpardonable offense (R. Kelly, Roseanne Barr, Megyn Kelly, and Chick-fil-A), you’ve been canceled. It’s Americans doing what Americans have always done well — judge others — only social media allows everyone to join the mob and wield a degree of influence,” writes Jeremy Helligar on Level.
But, unlike phrases like ‘MeToo’, ‘cancel culture’ can’t be traced to a single individual, but has evolved over time on social media from colloquial use by African Americans, to a symbol of the 21st century phenomenon of online bashing, to a rallying cry by conservative politicians.” writes Alice Hutton for The Independent (HERE).
What I read was about Dr. Seuss books being removed from further publication and that economic and social action being derided as “cancel culture.” “Dr. Seuss Enterprises, which manages the author’s legacy, announced last week that six books would no longer be published because they “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” They say the decision was made in consultation with educators and after reviewing the author’s works,” said Paul Caine of WTTW television in Chicago. HERE
“I don’t think you can call that ‘cancel culture’ — I believe what we are looking at is critically thinking about content. It’s availability to young people. And making supportive decisions that there are other works that better represent Dr. Seuss’s genius and legacy. The estate has made the evaluation that some of the work that he wrote in the ‘40s and ‘50s reflect outdated cultural attitudes and outright racist ideas that they’d rather not have out there anymore.”
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom
So what do I see in my news feeds? The reaction to Tuesday’s announcement was one of swift derision from many conservative politicians and commentators, including Donald Trump Jr. and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and that icon of American children’s literature, former Secretary of HUD Ben Carson. Read more HERE