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"Cancel Culture" is a classic Moral Panic - an instance of public anxiety or alarm in response to a problem regarded as threatening the moral standards of society, in which the reality of the threat is exaggerated for political purposes. https://m.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/cancel-culture-harpers-jk-rowling-scam_n_5f0887b4c5b67a80bc06c95e?ri18n=true&ncid=NEWSSTAND0001
Spiked has become the exact thing it claims to despise: a billionaire-funded establishment mouthpiece trying to shut down legitimate debate over the limits of free speech.
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Spiked claims that Universities 'are awash with Cultural Marxist Leftists brainwashing young snowflakes with Marxist propaganda, who respond by censoring controversial views by banning books or deplatforming or cancelling those with views their fragile minds can't cope with'.
We're often told by people on the Right (or at Spiked) that 'free speech is under threat' at Universities.
The HE sector consists of 163 institutions, over 135,000 academic staff & 2.3 million students, but incidents of censorship is extremely rare.
https://blogs.northampton.ac.uk/law/2018/11/02/free-speech-in-he-under-threat-from-the-straw-man/
The HE sector consists of 163 institutions, over 135,000 academic staff & 2.3 million students, but incidents of censorship is extremely rare.
https://blogs.northampton.ac.uk/law/2018/11/02/free-speech-in-he-under-threat-from-the-straw-man/
Between 2010 & 2018 there were:
7 student complaints about course content being offensive or inappropriate (4 of which resulted in action being taken).
6 occasions on which universities cancelled speakers as a result of complaints.
0 instances of books being removed or banned.
7 student complaints about course content being offensive or inappropriate (4 of which resulted in action being taken).
6 occasions on which universities cancelled speakers as a result of complaints.
0 instances of books being removed or banned.
Moral Panics analysis does not claim problems don't exist - the debate over the legitimate limits of free speech IS important - but rather, arguments are mobilised which exaggerate the actual threat: thanks to social media, people have never been more free to express their views!
For a good discussion of Moral Panics & its utility as a conceptual tool, see: https://oxfordre.com/criminology/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264079.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264079-e-155
The irony is that Spiked itself grew out of Living Marxism magazine, & the concept of Moral Panic grew out of a Left response to the relentless exaggeration of threats to moral order by right-wing newspapers & 'moral entrepreneurs' in order to legitimate authoritarian measures.
We do need a debate about the limits of acceptable speech - for example we've spent years discussing what constitutes antisemitic or racist speech and beliefs about biological sex. But let's all try & do that in a respectful way, rather than screaming abuse at each other.
