Qotsaautopilot

But if you’re in the middle you don’t get to be on a team and have another team to hate. What will we do if we don’t have politics as our identity? Might actually have to think for ourselves. Sounds terrible

CBreezy

Case in point: any Republican who was censured for speaking the truth.

Hey, anyone remember what happened if you espoused or were even thought to maybe espouse Communism in the 50s?

Or maybe you remember early standup Comedians like Lenny Bruce in the 60s for using "dirty" language. Let's stop pretending like cancel culture is a new thing. While I don't agree with woke cancel culture, Conservatives have been trying to cancel dissenting opinion for decades.

OOfff

everybody thinks they “think for themselves,” and that other people don’t. so who actually does?

JFS 3

100%. Watching the fringe of the right snivel about cancel culture, while simultaneously vowing to boycott NFL, MLB, Nascar, Nike, Starbucks, Keurig, Yeti Coolers, Delta, Colin Kaepernick, Kathy Griffin, etc. is hilarious. The amount of mental gymnastics required to believe the mythology of their own suburban oppression is staggering.

SonicFlyer

As long as people are trying to take my stuff, steal my money, and tell me how to run my life.... no, we can't get along.

JFS 3

Exhibit A:

NotMrNiceGuy

I think this is a false equivalency. I think it’s perfectly acceptable to boycott a company that behaves in a way you think is immoral. If you know that a company intentionally dumps toxic waste into a river, it would violate your own personal code to support that behavior. You are under no obligation to do that. Company boycotts are fine.

The individuals you mentioned are in the public sphere. Most people that enter this sphere are aware of the consequences of their actions because their popularity with the masses determines that individual’s value (except in the case of Kaepernick - he was just a crappy quarterback). The problem with cancel culture is that it attacks private citizens and ruins their lives as well as their family’s lives. Often these videos are from one perspective without full context. No one is defending certain actions. The Central Park dog lady comes to mind. But should she lose her livelihood from a moment of poor judgment? She was fired from her job. This is the problem. The cost drastically and disproportionately outweighs the crime or grievance. Cancel culture is unjust and disproportionate in its punishment.

Gone Flying

not continuing to do business with a company over official company policy/decision is not even close to the same as seeking out someone’s employer and trying to get them fired and ruin their lives for something they did on their free time.

the two are not even remotely comparable

Rama

The conundrum of modern life is that most people would be far happier if they ignored cable news, websites and politics in general.
The down side is that if you don't pay attention you end up with leftist curriculum in your schools and kids are being led down a path in which they are indoctrinated rather than educated.

CoefficientX

Boycotting and cancel culture are not in the same realm as others have said.

I truly believe the majority of this country is somewhere in the middle. The problem is the far left and the far right have the loudest voices and are the main drivers of division.

People who are in the middle have decided it’s better to stay quiet lest they be called out by the other side. It’s not worth most people’s career to be publicly vocal about these issues. Someone wants to ruin you for not thinking like they do.

I thinks it very telling that the lead prosecutor in the Chauvin trial, a black man, stated on 60 minutes that he found zero evidence that race had any bearing on the murder of George Floyd. Racism is being used as a tool by the extremes to divide us. It’s working exceptionally well.

I’m wandering a bit off topic but until cooler more centrist views are allowed we as a country are in serious trouble.