Cancel Culture thread, Part II

    This was such a goodie that I had to start a new thread. (Here is the link to Part I with its title:IS "CANCEL CULTURE" AS BAD OR WORSE THAN THE RIGHT-WING CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT?)

    Boy George officially now a figure from the Before Times: https://t.co/cS5xB4WTlu

    — Wesley Yang (@wesyang) January 19, 2020

    Comments

    Okay, teach - more from Wes:



    Outrage Culture Is Ruining Foreign Policy As the 2020 presidential campaign heats up, U.S. politics is getting harder and harder to explain to the rest of the world.

    Op-ed by  @ ForeignPolicy.com, JANUARY 20, 2020

    August and September 2018 were two significant months for the outrage culture that has afflicted the U.S. public square in recent years. In August, the California Democratic Party called for a boycott of In-N-Out Burger because of a $25,000 donation that company made to the state Republican Party. A few weeks later, some Americans burned their sneakers over a Nike television ad featuring the blackballed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

    Ever since, I have wondered how foreign diplomats posted in Washington try to capture the current moment in U.S. politics. Do they and the foreign ministers, prime ministers, presidents, kings, and queens they serve grasp the near-constant state of indignation that has gripped society, fueling polarization and even fear in recent years? It seemed absurd to me that a beloved burger joint became the object of political ire among Democrats and that people, the majority of whom seemed to be supporters of President Donald Trump, were burning their sneakers. I cannot even imagine what those diplomatic cables say.

    These episodes were no doubt regarded as the oddities and excesses of the current moment in American politics and may have been a source of confusion and dismay for U.S. allies, but the Kaepernick story and the burger boycott (which failed) had no effect on foreign policy. Yet this may be changing. In recent months, outrage—and its cousin, virtue signaling—have made it harder and harder to have a conversation about U.S. foreign policy. At a time when the world and U.S. priorities in it are changing, this sad state of affairs is putting Americans at a disadvantage.

    There are already countries in the Middle East that elites in the United States tend to view through their own ideological prisms. As I wrote last summer: Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are “red” in the sense that Republicans tend to be—or are perceived to be—more supportive of these governments than Democrats. In turn, Iran, the 2015 nuclear deal, and Palestine are—or are perceived to be—“blue” given that Democrats tend to support engagement with the Iranians, back the nuclear agreement, and express sympathy with the Palestinians in greater numbers than Republicans. This state of affairs, I argued, was not a positive development. Looking back, I was a bit too Pollyannish for fear of giving offense—it is actually ludicrous, moronic, and dangerous.

    In Washington these days there is no conversation or debate about foreign policy; there is only politics. The appreciation of a complex world in fine-grained shades of gray—the recognition of which once indicated an active and fertile mind—has given way to a binary world of absolutes. Folks choose teams and advocate for what is best for their side, not necessarily what is in the best interest of the United States, 

    This seemed clear as the conversation— though it was more like people talking in their own echo chambers—about the U.S. killing of the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani unfolded. There was far greater interest among journalists, analysts, and activists in scoring points. That is how you get fury over a manufactured controversy in which Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a presidential candidate challenging Trump, allegedly changed her position on Suleimani’s demise. She did no such thing. I suppose that this type of nonsense is to be expected in a political campaign season, but it is precisely because the stakes in a confrontation with Iran are so high that the indignation and trolling were inappropriate.

    There were a bevy of interesting analyses written over the last two weeks, but the overall quality of the discourse over the Suleimani hit was diminished by partisanship in which two basic facts seemed to get lost [....]


    This one looks like a paranoid pre-emptive:


    “As defenders of freedom of expression, we categorically reject rigid rules about who has the right to tell which stories.” ⁦@PENamerica⁩ weighs in on AMERICAN DIRT: https://t.co/UDEUq9cDeB

    — Carlos Lozada (@CarlosLozadaWP) January 30, 2020

    Good background piece if have have the need, @ Vox.com: American Dirt’s publisher cancels the rest of the book’s tour, citing threats; American Dirt’s publisher says it is receiving threats. Critics of the novel are receiving threats, too., Jan. 29.




    yes, absolutely, both sides do do it:




    Oh, I thought it was teaching a biracial couple how to grope. After 10 mins following up your @willowhasadick post, not sure these PSAs are working or even have the right audience anymore. (If they posted "don't cross on red, we'd have a regular bloodbath - what we have here is a failure to cooperate)


    She was dressed as Amy Winehouse and trying to get people canceled for 17-year-old Halloween costumes is a weird ass hobby https://t.co/Hfbk2yTYAU

    — Katie Herzog (@kittypurrzog) June 8, 2020

    Edit to add:

     


    This?


    Or that?




    good question! one I am not going to answer unless that's the work of a major artist that I know something about, heh. Meanwhile over in foodie world, there's some major cancelling going on over costumes. Earlier I saw some quip which suggested that-didn't look into it, tho. And now I see this:

    Reminds me of  how my mentally disabled brother just adores the Cinco de Mayo party they have for employees at his Goodwill job every year. They put on sombreros and blankets over their shoulders, eat tacos, get their picture taken. Guess he and his co-workers need some sensitivity edjumaction, they got white privilege problems, they don't know from people calling them names, making fun of them nor getting beat up by bullies on the bus, no not they...


    Fellow staffers said Rapoport should resign. Ethnic minorities working at the publication complain about treatment and compensation. Why is the resignation a big surprise?


    And people say blacks, the left, and white supremacists can't find common ground. They all agree that Cinco de Mayo shouldn't be celebrated by whites.





    competing tribes here:

     


    Here's J.K. Rowling's essay the Vanity Fair article is commenting on. I agree with Rowling.



    Complex rules! One can only conclude that everyone needs a full semester course in gender terminology if we are ever to get along.


    She says it all, commenting on checking out why "Kevin James" is trending on Twitter. People have to feel guilty about liking stuff if it doesn't follow the political correctness of the day/minute:

    Whew! I thought Kevin James said something stupid and had to be moved to the canceled list. I love King of Queens BTW pic.twitter.com/ydHX3HVNff

    — Karen (@I_20sFinest) June 10, 2020

    P.S. Also, she can't help it her parents named her Karen either laugh


    There are cult behavior commonalities with Trump cult:






    Cross link to Sean Ono Lennon noticing canceling of Penny Lane in England by mistake, Cultural Revolution II warriors as stupid sometimes as Mao's Cultural Revolution I.


    Spike Lee sometimes has a hard time figuring out who to cancel:




    That's one way of putting it, I guess, but lots of them seem to be getting off on it.  Not sure when "consummated" happens.


    Re "getting off on it". Just ran across this video clip of same meme by serendipity, someone I follow retweeting another tweet by this guy, never heard of him, is a comedian, but this clip serious:

    Ever wondered why the more "progress" we make, the angrier people become about "injustice"?

    Here's me talking to @JohnAndersonAO a year ago. pic.twitter.com/Jfc5wQ5vjg

    — Konstantin Kisin (@KonstantinKisin) June 15, 2020

     



    This Psychology Today article titled "The Apocalytic Cult of Cancel Culture" takes us right back to the question posed by Antonio Garcia-Martinez at the start of my  Part I Cancel Culture thread  IS "CANCEL CULTURE" AS BAD OR WORSE THAN THE RIGHT-WING CHRISTIAN MOVEMENT?


    Since when has Cancel Culture stacked the judiciary, dictated a faith test fór acceptable candidates, shamed people for going into a medical facility or killed them for treating patients? Look at millions denied contraception because it might be linked to abortions (along with historical "immoral behavior")? Or dictating the actual content of grade school and high school textbooks? Total false equivalence. Jerry Falwell must be thrilled.

    (wondering how much of Sub-Saharan Africa's inability to control population to escaped poverty can be tied to the Hyde Act?)


    Pretty damn good comment about big picture results:


    That would be great because he is against it. 




    Meanwhile Sudan et al fight crazy repressive Laws, not just woke inconvenience

    https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jul/16/thank-you-our...


    er...no words...



    Ellen's had enough of this cancel culture shit, why not just cancel herself?



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