JK Rowling, Dave Chappelle, Whoopi Goldberg, the last few months have been littered with celebrities saying things that got them “cancelled”. In my article, The Corrosive Cost of Cancel Culture, I wrote about the latest attempt to de-platform Joe Rogan over a clip of an undeniably racist joke he told nine years ago. And while I have no particular interest in defending him, I thought it important to point out that the rest of the clip, while not excusing the joke, does make it clear that his intentions were basically good (you can watch it here).
Thank you for posting that link, I had never seen it. It occurs to me that I think I told a similar story about me being the only white person in Flaming Sally's in Macon Georgia on a Saturday night in around 1980. No Planet of the Apes but the same, "you know what, they were cool with me." Monday at the bid whist table in the break room someone who had seen me there told everyone what a terrible dancer I am, and they all laughed. That was cool too. Context, you could say it was a woke moment for Rogan. A demonized subculture that was OK with him being there. Every white person needs that experience.
Your last paragraph belongs in a picture frame on a wall where it will be reread every day. For that chance we will understand each other better.
"you could say it was a woke moment for Rogan. A demonized subculture that was OK with him being there. Every white person needs that experience."
Absolutely. One of the many flaws with the cancel culture mindset is that it demands people be perfect straight away. It's not enough to make a mistake and learn from it, even though that's one of the ways we *all* learn, any error, however long ago, is evidence that you're forever irredeemable.
I believe in a zero tolerance approach to bigotry and believe that we need to be vigilant. That doesn't mean we need to be hysterical. The SJWs are hysterical.
I find it hard to get worked up over some shock jock on Spotify or a writer of children's books making a mild remark, I have a little rule I follow: if you need to infer or embellish at all to see the bigotry then just forget about it, because there is such an abundance of the real thing, no embellishment required. And a lot of it is physical.
"if you need to infer or embellish at all to see the bigotry then just forget about it, because there is such an abundance of the real thing, no embellishment required."
Having video access to every passing comment is something we'll have to deal with better as a society in order to get along. Amplification of things on media is such a super-stimulus to many people now. Not defending Rogan, but in general I live in a state eager to let killers and felons out on the street asap out of "mercy" and "kindness" but some terrible words on the internet? - burn the witch. And the witch is never sufficiently crispy enough. However, these same standards end up transmitting to normies who don't have the wherewithal to just deal. Not everyone has the bank of Chappelle or JK or Rogan. Another aspect is prosecuting past comments in light of evolving modern moral standards. I don't see any evidence that we're getting to a sensible place there. SF schools trying to scrub "Lincoln" from their names, while eliminating advanced classes for talented kids of all hues (black included) is a giant facepalm. Who are you really helping? Telling that they got recalled.
"Having video access to every passing comment is something we'll have to deal with better as a society in order to get along."
This. And the frustrating thing is, it doesn't take much. All we need to do is normalise the radical notion that maybe you don't know everything you need to know about a situation after watching a 30 second clip!😅
Hysterics over bad jokes, incitements to violence that didn't happen, and an inability to handle scientific facts about men and women is a sign of how badly we have a case of First World Problems.
If Joe Rogan's stupid 9-year-old joke is the most outrageous thing black people have heard today, congratulations! You have finally overcome. :)
"a sign of how badly we have a case of First World Problems."
This is really it. I often think about how people living with real problems, past or present, would look at the perforative victimhood of the 21st Century.
I usually refer to TFG as "the fat oaf" because so many of his supporters like to cartoon him as having a resplendent physique.
Someone on Facebook implored me to edit out the "body shaming."
Not a chance, I replied. I was overweight once (Zoloft) and I went on a diet. There are no such simple options for the schizophrenic or the wheelchair-bound.
The "gender is a social construct" thing really cheeses me off. And some of the "intermediates" are among the nastiest people I have ever run into anywhere.
'Speech will always be imperfect. There’s always a chance we’ll offending somebody when we attempt to tell the truth. But there's also a chance we’ll understand each other better. That’s why it’s so important that we try.'
I wish this could be a public announcement in every school, every office, every place where people gather for whatever the reasons.
And I'm glad you're not dying on that hill. Whatever that was supposed to mean.
Thank you for posting that link, I had never seen it. It occurs to me that I think I told a similar story about me being the only white person in Flaming Sally's in Macon Georgia on a Saturday night in around 1980. No Planet of the Apes but the same, "you know what, they were cool with me." Monday at the bid whist table in the break room someone who had seen me there told everyone what a terrible dancer I am, and they all laughed. That was cool too. Context, you could say it was a woke moment for Rogan. A demonized subculture that was OK with him being there. Every white person needs that experience.
Your last paragraph belongs in a picture frame on a wall where it will be reread every day. For that chance we will understand each other better.
"you could say it was a woke moment for Rogan. A demonized subculture that was OK with him being there. Every white person needs that experience."
Absolutely. One of the many flaws with the cancel culture mindset is that it demands people be perfect straight away. It's not enough to make a mistake and learn from it, even though that's one of the ways we *all* learn, any error, however long ago, is evidence that you're forever irredeemable.
I believe in a zero tolerance approach to bigotry and believe that we need to be vigilant. That doesn't mean we need to be hysterical. The SJWs are hysterical.
I find it hard to get worked up over some shock jock on Spotify or a writer of children's books making a mild remark, I have a little rule I follow: if you need to infer or embellish at all to see the bigotry then just forget about it, because there is such an abundance of the real thing, no embellishment required. And a lot of it is physical.
"if you need to infer or embellish at all to see the bigotry then just forget about it, because there is such an abundance of the real thing, no embellishment required."
A thousand times this!
Having video access to every passing comment is something we'll have to deal with better as a society in order to get along. Amplification of things on media is such a super-stimulus to many people now. Not defending Rogan, but in general I live in a state eager to let killers and felons out on the street asap out of "mercy" and "kindness" but some terrible words on the internet? - burn the witch. And the witch is never sufficiently crispy enough. However, these same standards end up transmitting to normies who don't have the wherewithal to just deal. Not everyone has the bank of Chappelle or JK or Rogan. Another aspect is prosecuting past comments in light of evolving modern moral standards. I don't see any evidence that we're getting to a sensible place there. SF schools trying to scrub "Lincoln" from their names, while eliminating advanced classes for talented kids of all hues (black included) is a giant facepalm. Who are you really helping? Telling that they got recalled.
"Having video access to every passing comment is something we'll have to deal with better as a society in order to get along."
This. And the frustrating thing is, it doesn't take much. All we need to do is normalise the radical notion that maybe you don't know everything you need to know about a situation after watching a 30 second clip!😅
Hysterics over bad jokes, incitements to violence that didn't happen, and an inability to handle scientific facts about men and women is a sign of how badly we have a case of First World Problems.
If Joe Rogan's stupid 9-year-old joke is the most outrageous thing black people have heard today, congratulations! You have finally overcome. :)
"a sign of how badly we have a case of First World Problems."
This is really it. I often think about how people living with real problems, past or present, would look at the perforative victimhood of the 21st Century.
I usually refer to TFG as "the fat oaf" because so many of his supporters like to cartoon him as having a resplendent physique.
Someone on Facebook implored me to edit out the "body shaming."
Not a chance, I replied. I was overweight once (Zoloft) and I went on a diet. There are no such simple options for the schizophrenic or the wheelchair-bound.
"Body shaming." Jesus Christ.
I wonder how outraged at Joe Rogan the Ukrainians are this week.
The "gender is a social construct" thing really cheeses me off. And some of the "intermediates" are among the nastiest people I have ever run into anywhere.
'Speech will always be imperfect. There’s always a chance we’ll offending somebody when we attempt to tell the truth. But there's also a chance we’ll understand each other better. That’s why it’s so important that we try.'
I wish this could be a public announcement in every school, every office, every place where people gather for whatever the reasons.
And I'm glad you're not dying on that hill. Whatever that was supposed to mean.
"Whatever that was supposed to mean."
😁 It just means to defend a position in a debate to the bitter end. Regardless of where doing so leads you.