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In the days following Charlie Kirk's murder, has seen a wave of employers being contacted regarding off-color remarks made by employees on social media about his passing. The debate is, does this constitute cancel culture, but by the right instead of the typical left? Some have argued that it is not the same thing, due to the disparaging comments being immediate, vs old comments dredged up in an attempt to cancel someone. There is a big difference between someone desecrating Charlie Kirk in an overt manner right after his passing, compared to a social media post made 10+ years ago against living targets that could be deemed as racist only under the most uncharitable light.
My take is, contacting an employer with the intent of getting someone fired for something not work-related or fired in the public interest as a 'concerned citizen', by definition, is cancel culture. Sure, one can argue that this is a different degree of cancelation, but it's the same principle. Someone posting a vile comment on his social media celebrating someone's death doesn’t necessarily affect his ability to do his job, like making sandwiches or whatever. Sure, if said individual confessed on social media to spitting in customers' sandwiches or making disparaging remarks about customers, go ahead and get his ass fired to protect the customers if no one else. But this is not like that. Consumers and other employees are not negatively affected by an employee holding a grudge against a dead podcaster.
To turn the tables, imagine if George Soros died and many of those same people wrote "good riddance" on their social media accounts, should this be grounds for cancelation? By the above logic, yes if you want to be morally consistent.
relevant tweet https://x.com/politicalmath/status/1967066826590028174
It was "Cancel Culture is out of control" when (as found downthread (news article)) someone got their sponsorship cancelled for a different person's offensive speech before they were born.
This is Cancel Culture under control. It's entered the range where I can see valid arguments for both sides and the relevant tradeoffs. I still want even less of it, but having social policies/practices that are a bit off from with my desires is normal so it's not worth highlighting anymore.
Agreed. Arguments to abolish cancel culture is just an argument for an even more shameless culture than we already have. It’s nihilism disguised as principles
Busybody pile-ons full of people feeling giddy at the prospect of ruining someone's life for an opinion is is shameful.
A business owner in Sacramento was just mistaken for a guy in So Cal whose wife talked shit about Kirk. He was getting threats from people running away with ignorant moral righteousness fueled by social media amphetamines. Again, shameful.
The right discovering that they believe liberalism itself is nihilism reminds me of a central Asian Muslim student who attended a classical liberal seminar years back with me. He said it all just sounded like moral relativism to him. (He ended up sleeping with a Marxist woman that night we both were trying to get at, lol, but I digress. Totally principled guy!)
No one’s life is getting ruined by this. It’s not like they said the dreaded N word or anything. But yes they may have some hardship, hopefully it will teach them to have some empathy.
Liberalism is when you keep your job while being a horrible person? Okay guess liberalism should DEFINITELY die then
I guess I feel bad for some on the left now the same way I felt bad for conservatives amid covid, when they were the pariahs
Hardly comparable. Conservatives couldn’t travel, shop, or be employed
Liberals can’t…make fun of a recently murdered celebrity? Oh boo hoo
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