Being Mean to Scabs Is Working

jeffw@lemmy.worldmod to News@lemmy.world – 977 points –
Being mean to scabs is working
motherjones.com

Drew Barrymore and Bill Maher are now not resuming their shows amid strikes.

145

You are viewing a single comment

Jenna Marbles? Kentaro Kobayashi? Pretty much anyone who got “cancelled” for stuff they said or did 10 years before?

People should be held accountable for what they’re currently doing, ruining a career for something that happened ages ago which no one at the time found wrong is just stupid.

EDIT: Meanwhile, can you tell me some other examples of cancel culture actually doing something good? Because looking at common examples it seems pretty much every time it targeted someone who actually deserved it nothing came out of that (JK Rowling, Chris Brown… even people like Hulk Hogan or Kanye West are still around and doing sold-outs)

Sounds like you're complaining about the free market. People don't like something that was unearthed about someone, so they don't support them.

It’s not a matter of “not supporting”. Marbles was harassed into closing her channel and Kobayashi lost probably the most important job of his life. Those have nothing to do with the “free market”.

Who are these people? They sound like virtual nobodies. I doubt they were 'cancelled' by anyone. They probably said something very stupid and got kicked off some social media app or other. Or, worse, *gasp* demonetized! Better get selling more Soylent.

“I don’t know them so they must be nobodies”, ok.

Did you even look them up for a second? I can remotely imagine you think that about Jenna Marbles (and I don’t think a “virtual nobody” can get a wax statue at Madame Tussauds honestly), but Kobayashi was supposed to be the Director of the Tokyo Olympics Opening Ceremony. So not really a nobody either, much less virtual since he barely did anything online.

Did you just google the first name and skimmed through the results page without even opening them?

I really don't care.

So you just wanted to chip into an argument without any knowledge whatsoever, mock people you don’t know anything about and then dip out. Peak internet discussion I guess?

I think you need to calm down.

And I think you shouldn’t be a condescending ass online, but I guess your ego doesn’t care about what others think.

I care what plenty of others think, but not someone throwing a hissy fit over me not knowing who some marble lady is.

I’m “throwing a hissy fit” over people chiming into discussions and giving their opinions on stuff they know zero about. If people are talking about something I don’t know, I either look it up or ignore the discussion.

Your comment had the same depth as a 7-years old commenting on YouTube “I don’t know who this Ukraine guy is, but if people are angry at them I guess they did something bad”. And it’s a shame because I see you usually do your research in other comments.

You're one insult away from a block. Just FYI.

I only insulted you once but whatever, do what you want, for some reason it doesn’t seem like you want to discuss in a civil manner with me specifically anyway.

"Cancel culture" is a bit of a loaded term and so the replies to you have been somewhat charged. Most people view the situations public figures find them in as just the necessary consequences of their actions. And like you, I agree that each situation should warrant a measured response from individuals based on the severity of the issue. It's okay to not want to support people you don't agree with, especially when the reason is agregious or harmful to others. The issue then is that everyone uses the same cudgel in the same manner for every crime regardless of severity.

But sure, if you don't want to support someone for even the smallest of infractions, that's your right. No one can take that from you. I may not agree but I support your right to do so. My only wish is that we at least give pause to think about the high bar for acceptable behavior we're putting on public figures. I am as much for accountability as the next person, but I also think we're humans capable of mistakes and capable of change. And right now, I don't think a culture of grace is necessarily present online. We don't have to tolerate hate or harm, but we can leave room for redemption. Maybe I'm being naive, I don't know. But that's my take.