Sunday, June 13, 2021
I did say it
I wrote this Quora answer, pulling together some themes that I hadn't properly connected before. Worth repeating here. I should have written it here first.
The question was: What's the opposite of cancel culture?
Answer:
Cancel culture is more subtle than usually described.
Censorship and editing have always existed, and are necessary parts of civilization. Before the cancel era, editors and administrators decided who to fire, or which articles to censor, based on experience and laws and internal rules.
Cancel culture gives total power to ONE complainer or accuser, provided the complainer is on the correct side. Admins or editors who had been following the normal rules now fire and censor after one single button-push.
This is part of a much larger abdication of power by editors and selectors and judges and legislators. The abdication also allows the opposite type of unmediated individual power.
One “scientist” who runs obviously wrong statistical models and advocates obviously murderous “measures” can take over the entire medical profession, provided the “scientist” is in the right direction. Ethics boards and FDA regulators and lawyers stand back and let him murder the world.
Labels: Answered better than asked, Editors
¶ 12:12 AM
