 Cancel Culture Examples Cancel culture is a particularly obnoxious part of the modern woke community. By "woke" I mean people who are infatuated with equity and social justice. What is wrong with those you might ask? Well the problem is, they need to find problems to solve, to make their lives complete, so most of their activities are directed against problems which don't exist, although some of them have in the past. When people oppose their irrational views, they really can't defend them using logic and facts, so they have to silence opposition instead, resulting in cancellation. Of course, they will claim that it is because the opposing views are so bad they must be silenced, but in almost every case that's just an excuse. I have included a few examples here, which are just the tip of the iceberg. In some cases the cancelled person is entirely innocent, and in others they might have acted badly to a small extent but their "punishment" is completely disproportionate. Some Examples Bret Weinstein Protests at American university, Evergreen State College, resulted from his refusal to take part in a day of recognition of black people by forcing white staff to stay at home. WHile he supported similar ideas in principle, he didn't want to go that far. Weinstein is a very thoughtful and reasonable person, and would definitely be on the black people's side in most instances, but they took it too far this time, and when that absurd overreach was questioned, the questioner, previously an ally, became the enemy. With cancel culture, only total submission is acceptable. JK Rowling Harry Potter writer, JK Rowling, is a self-described TERF, a trans-exclusionary radical feminist. She believes the status of women is diminished by men who transition to women and demand all the same rights, and I agree. She has been criticised and excluded from HP events by the actors her work made into stars. Of course feminists have been cancelling people for years to protect what they see as female empowerment, so you might think I gain some satisfaction to see it used against them this time, but no, free speech and the freedom to hold reasonable opinions, even if they are contrary to political correctness is more important than petty revenge! Ben Shapiro In September 2017 right-wing commentator Shapiro visited the University of California, Berkeley as part of an event called "Free Speech Week". The protests against Shapiro and other speakers cost the university and the city over $600,000 to police the event. Universities are probably the worst examples of the toxic ideology of cancel culture. Even at a "free speech week" only some free speech is OK, according to the ridiculous children who pass for students now. Alan Dershowitz A woman who was a victim of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein has agreed to drop allegations against attorney Alan Dershowitz and admits she may have made a mistake when she also accused him of sexual abuse. I've read a book by Dershowitz and he certainly comes across as innocent. Yet his life has been destroyed by malicious claims and the resulting unthinking acceptance of those claims, for pure reasons of political correctness. Bari Weiss New York times writer, Bari Weiss, left the paper after what she described in a resignation letter as "forays into wrongthink that have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views". Weiss had a tendency to be more to the right than her colleagues, while still being anti-Trump. But the Times is no longer a good source for unbiased news, so even the small amount of content Weiss made which might seem to be not so far left as the rest, was too much. Andy Ngo Dartmouth College forced an event featuring Andy Ngo to be held remotely, just two hours before the speakers were set to take the stage. The college cited safety concerns and lack of communication for the decision, but the threat of violence and disruption from students was the real cause. Stopping an event for safety concerns just encourages the mob who want to cancel free speech to increase the level of violence and disruption to ensure that same excuse can be used in future, It's like saying "if you threaten enough violence we'll do what you want". Chris Harrison Bachelor TV show host, Harrison, found himself under fire last week after suggesting, in an interview with an entertainment news program, that the top contender for engagement, Rachael Kirkconnell, deserved the opportunity to explain why she was pictured at an antebellum-themed fraternity formal in 2018, dressed as a pre-Civil War southern belle. All he did was defend the right for another person, accused of a frivolous transgression, to defend herself. What possible reason is there for cancellation there? Jake Hepple Hepple was fired for having a banner saying "White Lives Matter" at a football game. He later posted on Facebook, saying: "I'd like to take this time to apologise... to absolutely nobody!" Hepple had previously posted in support of the English Defence League and has been filmed with Tommy Robinson. So, while he undoubtedly engaged in controversial actions, they demonstrated a sincere political opinion which he was surely entitled to. You can riot, burn down buildings, and cause death while holding a "Black Lives Matter" sign and you're a hero. Sit peacefully at a football game with a "White Live Matter" sign, and you get fired. Alessandro Strumia Professor Strumia, a CERN physicist, used a slideshow to illustrate the discrimination that men have faced, with examples including female STEM students receiving free or cheaper university fees in Italy. He also claimed that he should have been hired by the National Institute of Nuclear Physics over a woman who got the job, as he had more citations than her. The first "transgression" seems perfectly reasonable given that anyone listing similar biases against women would be celebrated. The second was perhaps less well considered, but would anyone arguing the reverse (a man getting the job instead of a woman) be punished for it? That seems very unlikely. Tim Hunt Sir Tim Hunt, a Nobel laureate, resigned from his position as honorary professor at a UK university after he made comments about the "trouble with girls" in science, claiming women in labs "cry" when criticised and "fall in love" with male counterparts. Obviously that was a very silly thing to say, and while there might be an element of truth in it, is it really the female lab workers' fault? But given his age, and how he might not have caught up with modern trends, was forcing hom to resign really necessary? Matt Taylor Dr Matt Taylor, a scientist involved with the Rosetta spacecraft, was forced to apologise for a t-short deemed "offensive" by some. The brightly coloured shirt included images of scantily clad women. It seems highly unlikely that this was any more than an example of poor taste and there is no reason to think it indicated any misogynistic tendencies on his part. Lazar Greenfield An ill-advised Valentine's Day editorial touting the mood-lifting effects of semen on women who have unprotected sex lead to the resignation of Dr Lazar Greenfield. Yeah, I believe there is some science here, but it is controversial. But this was clearly a humorous piece which no one should have taken too seriously. Don Cherry A Canadian hockey coach and broadcaster stepped down from a sports network after referring to immigrants as "you people" after noting that people he saw as immigrant rarely wore red poppy pins, which are a symbol of fallen Canadian service members. Again, a comment which might not have had a lot of real evidence supporting it, but when viewed in the context of larger societal problems, how serious was it, really. Shane Gillis After being announced as a new cast member of Saturday Night Live it was found that he had made "defamatory comments" about Chinese people, LGBTQ, and women during episodes of a podcast he participated in. This illustrates how comments made in any context from any point in the past can be used as evidence to cancel a person. What is acceptable changes over time and depending on the situation. Retrofitting past behaviour or comments to an entirely different situation seems harsh. Michael Jackson The two-part Michael Jackson documentary, Leaving Neverland, examined claims by some individuals that Jackson sexually abused them over a period of several years when they were children. No supporters or family of Jackson were interviewed, and he denied the allegations, showing that there was no fair treatment of Jackson in this program. Whether he was guilty or not, this is a clear attack, ironically on a black person, and had no balance or fairness. Ryan Adams The New York Times alleged a relationship between Adams and an underage woman, which he denied. But the allegations led to the cancellation of his tour of the UK and Ireland. The automatic assumption by many that women's claims of mistreatment must always be accepted as true ("believe all women") is an obvious problem in terms of natural justice. There are numerous examples of false accusations of this type (one of which I listed above), and cancelling someone on such one-sided evidence is unjust. Brian Leach Leach, a disabled grandfather, was fired for sharing a Billy Connolly video on his private Facebook page, where Connolly criticised religion. An offended colleague complained to management, and he was summarily dismissed with the claim that the video "had the potential to bring the company into disrepute". He was later reinstated after a backlash. Comedy has always been an activity where people and institutions, who might sometimes be protected, can be criticised. It's a tradition that goes back centuries, maybe millenia, but even that is now being cancelled by the overly sensitive and risk averse woke mob. Christian Webb Webb, a school teacher, was sacked after his managers became aware of his past involvement in comedy rap videos. He played a character called MC Devvo, a "dole-queue hero". His videos featured foul language and references to sex and drugs. He had retired the character in 2016, three years before he was ousted. Again, an activity which happened years before and had no relevance to his job, was used as an excuse for cancellation. Danny Baker A veteran radio host for the BBC, Baker was dropped for tweeting an old picture of two posh people holding the hands of a chimpanzee wearing clothes with the caption "Royal baby leaves hospital". It was a reference to the birth of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's baby, Archie. Baker said he was mocking the monarchy and did not intend the tweet to be racist. They always assume the worst possible interpretation of these things. Controversial public figures should expect mockery, especially when they act in such a self-centered and dishonest way as Harry and Meghan. The imagery of this was undoubtedly unfortunate, but the claim that no racism was involved is quite credible. David Starkey A Tudor historian, Starkey said that black slavery was not a form of "genocide", because otherwise there would not be "so many damn blacks" in Africa and elsewhere. These comments cost him his academic positions at several institutions, and his publisher has vowed never to publish his work again and is even considering withdrawing his backlist from publication. I think he was right that slavery was not a form of genocide, but adding the comment about the "damn blacks" was probably somewhat unnecessary. Maybe a correction, in less emotive language, might have been appropriate, but total cancellation, even possibly including works completely unconnected to this event, is surely going too far. Emma Nicholson Baroness Nicholson, the Booker Prize vice-president and Conservative peer, was removed from her post as the honorary vice-president of the Booker Prize Foundation following an online debate with transgender model and activist. She referred to the other person as a "weird creature" and was accused of misgendering her. Misgendering usually involves telling the truth. If a person wants to be seen as a gender which does not reflect biological reality it is often just polite to go long with that. But in the case of an activist, politeness seems no longer necessary. And "weird creature" seems a fairly innocuous insult, and barely worth being cancelled for. Felix Ngole Ngole was a Christian social-work student who was taken off his course at a British university when he said that "the Bible and God identify homosexuality as a sin". Another student reported him to the university, which removed him from the course. Years later a court overturned the decision, but didn't require the university to re-enrol him in the course. The statement is correct, at least according to many interpretations of the Bible, so why should anyone care? And what sort of pathetic person reports a fellow student for making a statement like that, even if it is based on a book of fantasy? Gareth Roberts Roberts is an award-winning writer for the classic British TV series, Doctor Who. He was cancelled after someone found some tweets using the word "trannies" and has argued that the trans movement reinforces gender stereotypes. Twitter is a place where controversy thrives. It is not expected to be polite or politically correct. Any material found there, as long as it is not tweeted during work hours and doesn't identify the employer in any way, should be no business of the employer. And what's wrong with those comments any way? Gillian Philip Children's author, Philip, was fired by her publisher after changing her Twitter handle to include the hashtag #IStandWithJKRowling. JK Rowling believes that trans people who are biological men shouldn't be given access to some facilities and events reserved for women (see above). How this can be controversial is beyond me. Surely it is self-evident that men who identify as women should not be treated as women in every circumstance. For once I stand with a radical feminist! I also stand with JKR! Martin Shipton Journalist, Martin Shipton was asked to step down as a judge from the Wales Book of the Year competition because of some of tweets questioning why Black Lives Matter protests were being allowed during the lockdown, and how protesting in Wales could help stop alleged police violence in the US. Those both seem totally reasonable questions to me. In fact, I would go a lot further, because there is no good evidence that police violence in the US is aimed at black people more than every other group, and the total hypocrisy and corruption of BLM is no secret. But even if that wasn't the case, is his opinion not reasonable to state? Alastair Stewart Stewart was forced off ITV News, ending a 40-year career, after bosses identified "multiple errors of judgement" in his social media. The only incident which was reported in the press, however, was when he tweeted a Shakespeare passage that contains the phrase "an angry ape" at a black Twitter user - a passage he had quoted on Twitter before at others. So it looks like the mob assumed the worst again - that he used that particular insult because the person was black - even though he also used it for others. Maybe he should have thought of that before he used it, but why should people constantly have to be careful that they will offend those who live for being offended? Maya Forstater Tax expert, Maya Forstater didn't have her contract renewed after she said people cannot change their biological sex. On Twitter (how often is a tweet to blame) she rejected the assertion that "being a woman or female is a matter of identity". She took her case to an employment tribunal, which she lost. The judge involved stated: her views were "not worthy of respect in a democratic society". So the truth is not worthy of respect? Even the legal profession has been infected with this nonsense now. As I have said before, in many cases it is just being kind to a person to recognise the sex they identify as, but that doesn't make it true. Nick Buckley Nick Buckley, a charity director, was dismissed as director of a charity he founded, which has helped thousands of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic children, after writing a blog post criticising some of the more radical aims of the Black Lives Matter movement. BLM is an incredibly corrupt and counterproductive movement which deserves all the disrespect it gets. But, unlike me, he wasn't even criticising the movement as a whole, just the more radical parts of it. This seems completely absurd. Nigel Farage Farage is a radio host, and a controversial figure, who lost his radio show after referring to Black Lives Matter as "a new form of the Taliban" because of their efforts toppling statues. As I said above, BLM is at the very least a very controversial organisation, and I would extend that to calling it corrupt and destructive. The comparisons between those actions and similar actions by the Taliban seems irrefutable, but yet again, the facts mean nothing to the woke mob. Noah Carl Carl, a research fellow at a British university was fired after writing some articles expressing right-wing views on race and immigration. I haven't found details on exactly what these views were, but being skeptical of immigration policies is perfectly reasonable. Many people, me included, are against excessive immigration, especially of groups which don't assimilate well. The effects of uncontrolled immigration have been obvious in many countries in Europe. I say, bring in immigrants who can make a positive change to their new country. Bring in doctors, teachers, vets, engineers, or any other profession we need more of, but not untrained people with extreme religious ideas. Harsh, I know, but also rational. Paul Embery Trade unionist Paul Embery was removed from the Fire Brigades Union's executive, and banned from holding office for two years after he spoke at a pro-Brexit rally which featured Nigel Farage. Even 20 years service as a union official was not enough to protect him from being cancelled. OK sure, Farage is controversial, and some parts of society, especially the woke mob, don't like the idea of Brexit, but this seems completely ridiculous. What sort of society allows someone to be fired for supporting a political view, which turned out to be the majority view? Rebecca Long-Bailey Politician, Rebecca Long-Bailey was fired by her party leader after she shared an interview with actor Maxine Peake on social media and referred to Peake as an "absolute diamond". In the interview it was suggested the American police were taught the kneeling technique used during the death of George Floyd by Israeli forces. I have no idea if the Israelis really did is true or not, and it does seem unlikely, but so what? She shared a video of an interview and was fired. What exactly is the problem here? Richard Page Richard Page was a director of a trust and a magistrate. He lost both positions after saying in private to colleagues at an adoption hearing that he doubted adoption by same-sex couples could be in children's best interests, based on his Christian beliefs. You could make a case to say there is some justification in this one. As a person who might judge cases where adoption to same-sex couples was involved, he should be neutral, and that might not be the case, but I cant see a justification for him being fired from the trust. Roger Scruton Philosopher, Scruton was framed by an article in New Statesman magazine which deliberately distorted his views to make him look like a racist. Re was reinstated to his position when a full transcript showed what he had really said. Why do people feel the need to do this? And worse, why do employers fire people as soon as any hint of alleged racism appears? It seems that in most similar situations, natural justice takes priority, unless a person does something politically incorrect when mindless hysteria takes over. Sarah Champion This British MP was forced out of the shadow cabinet after writing an article for a newspaper about Pakistani grooming gangs in her constituency. The Labour leader at the time accused Champion of "vilifying an entire community", which wasn't true. Later, she was advised by police to accept added police protection when attending the Labour Party conference because of death threats made against her for speaking out. These gangs of thugs are real, and it seems like a reasonable action for a politician to bring attention to the problem. I'm sure that if the gangs had been white Christians the article would have been celebrated, but because they were Muslim (presumably) Pakistanis the problem suddenly becomes the person bringing attention to it. Stella Perrett A cartoon produced by Perret for a newspaper was labelled "transphobic" and her relationship with the paper was ended. It featured a crocodile entering a pool of newts with the caption "Don't worry your pretty little heads. I'm transitioning as a newt!" This is clear commentary on the debate around allowing trans women (who are biologically men) to use women's facilities, such as changing rooms. It's a real debate, and the answer should be argued by both sides. That's what cartoonists do, or at least what they used to do before the scourge of cancel culture. Stuart Peters Peters, a radio presenter, was suspended for questioning the idea of "white privilege" during an on-air debate about Black Lives Matter, although he was later reinstated. White privilege is a BS term used by activists to shut down reasonable debate. Questioning whether it is real is quite reasonable. I mean, this was a debate, but making a perfectly fair point on one side wasn't allowed. Summary These are just a small fraction of the examples I found doing a quick search. Many I was already aware of, and are reported here accurately, other I haven't checked the details of, but I have no reason to question them.
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CANCEL CULTURE