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For those interested, I wrote here about how, and why, cancel culture needs to be resisted: https://www.caylanford.com/blog-1/2020/11/16/on-fighting-back-against-cancel-culture
2/ A “trial by media” is a misnomer: it is not a search for truth or justice, and there is no semblance of due process. The crimes are never clearly defined. There is no presumption of innocence, no rules of evidence, no concern for fairness or proportionality...
3/ And if a person is condemned on the basis of allegations that turn out to be false, incomplete, or misleading, there is usually no authority to whom they can appeal for redress.
4/ Neither is cancel culture a form of debate. When I sought dialogue with my critics, they were neither interested in nor capable of engaging with ideas. They simply want to assign their target an incendiary, thought-stopping label, then declare further discussion illegitimate.
5/ To be the target of a cancel campaign is psychologically shattering and often professionally ruinous. But the harms of cancel culture go beyond the damage to individuals. It erodes the boundary between public and private spheres, and so undermines trust and openness.
6/ It exerts a chilling effect on free inquiry, limiting our ability to seek truth or consider different perspectives without fear. It incentivizes a rush to judgement and to outrage, suffocating reason, charity, and generosity.
7/ By encouraging people to see each other as enemies and potential informants, it undermines the sense of solidarity and social comity that makes life in a free society possible.
8/ What can we do to fight back against cancel culture? We can each try to uphold human virtues. We can commit ourselves to seeking truth, and refuse or assent to lies. We can be courageous in the defence of our friends. We can be slow to judge, and generous and humble when we do
9/ We can also impose costs on those who use these tactics—not by playing their socially destructive game, subjecting them to retributive humiliation, or unleashing a mob against them—but by holding them accountable for their actions under the law. And that is what I am doing.
