Echo Chambers and the Ability to Think
Cancel culture, which is the silencing of individuals with controversial opinions is a phenomenon that I dearly hope my children will never participate in. I find it juvenile, childish, and a by-product of an impulsive society used to enforce conformity. The brave new world of instant gratification and herd mentality is not conducive to democratic ideals, even for those hungry for change, or potential revolution. Debate, balanced engaged thought, and the spread of ideas are what bring change. Divergence from intellectual conformity and diversity are as glorious as the vast array of beauty in the world. It’s not something you can fake or buy. In some circles, it has to be earned.
Some of my favorite thinkers penned a letter in Harper’s magazine about cancel culture that I wholeheartedly agree with. Gloria Steinem, Salman Rushdie, Malcolm Gladwell, Margaret Atwood (you’ve shaped my mind for over 30 years!) voiced a concern that I’ve been observing for years, intellectual conformity. Are these individuals established? Perhaps. Wealthy? Maybe. The irrefutable fact is that these people can think. They have diverse experiences and valuable input. Perhaps they became valued, established, and wealthy precisely for their unique ability to think and shape our world. Is the possibility of well-earned respect, experience, and the fruits of those labors so bourgeois and repugnant now?
For those of you who don’t know, a ‘fatwa’ is a religious ruling decreed by an Islamic authority. The Ayatollah of Iran issued a fatwa to execute Salman Rushdie for writing the Satanic Verses. Suffice it to say, the man might know a thing or two about intellectual freedom, censorship, and critical thought. Rushdie’s Midnight’s children is a phenomenal piece of classic literature in line with 100 years of solitude as far as I’m concerned. The one time I was fortunate enough to hear Mr. Rushdie speak in Portland I was not disappointed. I don’t see a difference between cancel culture or a fatwa. Perhaps it is my lack of intellectual sophistication. I don’t think they are like apples and oranges. The lack of intellectual range and pandering to the masses by the right and left is getting people killed daily, including children. Conformity of thought, at all costs, is not an idea I want to associate with or a place I would want to raise my children.
I’m extremely familiar with the line that differentiates moral high ground and hate speech. I have my triggers which I still have to check, particularly violence against women and children. The caveat is: you know it when you see it. You learn to smell the ill will, hatred, or fear of the unknown. The freedom to reason and come to my own conclusions is what I truly believe what people want the world over. This moment, with all its pain and sacrifice, can be used to get it right. Each country can define its narratives that fit their history, culture, and institutions to maximize inclusivity.
Conformity is required by the right and the left and leaves no room for subtlety, intellectual disagreement, or spirited debate. That is what this country and the world needs more than ever, the free exchange of ideas to further the progress of the human condition. What can the training of police officers in Germany teach us here? What can the US teach Europe or the Philippines about military tactics without being outwardly confrontational? What is the future of manufacturing in the context of such global shifting consciousness? Our planet is our home not just for utility and exploitation.
Cancel culture will not solve these questions. Broad coalitions of experienced thinkers willing to engage in an open public debate will push our growth globally. So please, Libertarian, Republican, Undecided, Democrat, Liberal, scientist, historian, lawmaker, set the world alight with your minds and ideas about governance. Please elucidate my mind with possibilities in a world so intent on the stifling of creativity. Leave agendas aside and push for growth. Blind loyalty will be the death of a democratic society. There is a potent strain of real anti-intellectualism that is twisting the truth to suits its ends. Yet our whole world is built on the shoulders of scientists, artists, thinkers, and writers who were shunned, ostracized, and left penniless. People that could think. It’s an essential life skill along with the tolerance of opposing, challenging intellectual ideals.
Finally, J.K. Rowling? Really? Not Stephen Miller, the entire staff of Fox News, Kanye West in his MAGA hat co-opting a BLM march, not Mitch McConnell, or Jared Kushner but J.K. Rowling? That is a worthy way to spend time and resources and effect real change. Feel free to cancel me. I’m off to skulk and reread Midnight’s children in my quiet depression. I’m so excited to have Kim K.’s sex tape on display when she meets heads of state. With a combined worth of 1.3 billion and a lifetime of committed service to causes both foreign and domestic, I’m sure they will eradicate child poverty forthwith! I knew we should have joined the Flying Spaghetti Monster Church. Perhaps they even have a local militia? Death threats welcome.
‘Associate yourself with people of good quality, for it is better to be alone than in bad company.’ — Booker T. Washington
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Go forth break bread: Make these pastry parcels. Roll out the puff pastry really thin. I miss get togethers. My dream soundtrack added Harry Connick Jr., ‘I Could Write a Book’ to it’s ever growing library. I crushed on Harry so badly in high school.
