The Philosophy of Cancel Culture
Strange it is that men should admit the validity of the arguments for free speech but object to their being “pushed to an extreme,” not seeing that unless the reasons are good for an extreme case, they are not good for any case.
— John Stuart Mill “On Liberty”
Doubt is an unpleasant condition but certainty is absurd.
- Voltaire
I have expressed my views on free speech elsewhere but since they are not gaining traction in that blog post, I thought I would express them in a different way here and address the growing concern people are expressing over cancel culture.
There is some discussion over whether cancel culture is even real. However, that is not what I want to preoccupy myself with in this post. It actually seems ridiculous to presuppose that the active suppression of speech in institutions is “made up” by the powerful as AOC proposed. Previously I had rarely had issues with AOC. With this, she is perhaps wrong. I hope to show you why.
In this blog post, I will use the phrase “cancel culture” interchangeably with suppressing speech, not…
