Last week, I listened to a very interesting video on Cancel Culture. It was surprising because it was a YouTube influencer who spoke out against it, and therefore, she was putting herself at risk of Cancel Culture. Others have spoken about it before, doing so eloquently, though with a few swear words included.
I do think that it has a place, an example being people avoiding playing video's or songs of Gary Glitter so that he is denied the royalties that he would get otherwise. I know that I would not be able to watch The Cosby Show now, not that I can imagine that this is shown anymore.
Yesterday I watched another video which compared what is happening now with Cancel Culture to McCarthyism of the past. Bill Maher is right, and these views were shown in the film of the 90's Guilty By Suspicion, where those with views which were deemed to be unacceptable, we silenced.
If we silence the space for people to talk about matters we drive conversations underground and cannot engage with them. People like Trump have been elected by people who felt afraid to discuss views, and if they had been allowed to air them, maybe they would have felt listened to and not voted for a racist misogynist instead. Anna Akana talks about how it is important to accept that people may have had views in the past that they may regret and how it is important to allow people to be judged on who they are now, not on who they were in the past.
I do not want to live in a world where only acceptable views are discussed. I am biased, as in the past, I have had views that would not be considered acceptable and no doubt, will have such views in the future.
