Thread by @MikeIsAHuman

Time for the cancel culture thread!

Grab some popcorn folks, and let's get ready to rumbllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeee!

Okay, from this point on, I'm gonna be more serious. Just had to break the ice on this sensitive subject somehow. Let this be a warning that from here on out I'll be discussing a lot of real-life topics one could consider triggering, so no shame if you want to sit this one out.

So, first off. Cancel culture. What do I think of it? Is it good, is it bad? Has it gone out of hand?
Put simply, no, I don't like it. I don't really hate it either, but generally I'm not a fan of mob mentality, so I do see a lot of flaws with it.
However, and stay with me here:

As I hinted at earlier today, I find a lot of the anti-cancel culture crowd to be tinged with hypocrisy. As well as plagued with a lack of clarity on what kinds of actions are "forgivable". Put simply, I don't think that the issue is as black-and-white as is commonly presented.

Before anyone accuses me of pulling a Boogie and fence-sitting on the subject, allow me to explain myself. I've got a few real-life examples, basically all of which are relatively recent since the subject itself has gotten a recent surge in infamy.

This past week, Twelve Forever creator Julia Vickerman was outed as a pedophile with damning evidence to corroborate this. To my knowledge, she's made no attempt to disprove this. It's relatively safe to say she's been "cancelled" in the eyes of the Internet.

Flashback to May, ProJared was also "cancelled" for cheating on his wife and pedophile allegations, which had varying levels of evidence.
This week, he comes out with a statement with evidence to negate some, not all, of these claims, and most are quick to rush to his defense.

Keep in mind, back in May he had no evidence to corroborate his side, nor did he ever indicate we would ever hear his side. Yes, he should've been asked for his side from drama channels, but like I've said before, silence can be just as damning as saying something you'll regret.

It got me thinking: Hypothetically, if Vickerman was to release a statement, providing evidence that her Tumblr was hacked and she has no memory of the other incidents, would the people that were so quick to cancel her suddenly turn around and hate cancel culture? I think so.

(Keep in mind, this is purely hypothetical, I have no reason to believe her based on what we know now. I just needed an example.)

And therein lies the hypocrisy I tend to sense from most of the anti-cancel culture crowd. How they'll immediately turn their back on said culture as soon as anything comes about that could potentially prove them wrong.

On that note, Zoe Quinn!

Before I say anything regarding this...controversial figure, I'll be candid, I don't know EVERY detail of the story, so if I get things wrong, that's on me. I have no stakes in this story, so I have about the least bias imaginable in this situation.

To those uninitiated, a few days ago, her former boyfriend that she alleges abused her, killed himself as a result of the severe mental issues he was dealing with. However, many have martyred this man (Alec Holowka) as a "victim of cancel culture" because of...

Quinn's tendency to lie in the past and not going to the police with evidence of this supposed abuse. Her abandoning her Twitter didn't help her case in the eyes of this anti-Quinn crowd. So, did Quinn fabricate a story with the purpose of cancelling this man?

It's impossible to say at the moment, and likely ever, since he's dead. Though it's important to keep in mind that his sister has corroborated that Alec did have mental problems in his life and likely did channel that into abuse of others...

As well as to not use his death to harass others. Link to that can be found here:

pcgamer.com/night-in-the-w…

First off, I find it ironic a lot of the people continuously harassing Quinn are blatantly ignoring this request. You see, a lot of Quinn's detractors are from the Gamergate crowd, who are more often than not happy to tell those they disagree with to kys.

Now, this is not to say that there aren't legitimate criticisms of Quinn out there or that everyone who hates her is a Gamergate bro-flake. But, like I've also said before, delivery is everything when it comes to criticism, and if you can't conduct yourself maturely, you lose.

And also, the anti-Quinn crowd who hates cancel culture is now trying to cancel her, more lovely hypocrisy, but moving on.

What's the purpose of all these stories? Well, it's to show that cancel culture is a fluid idea that, gasp, has times where it's applicable and times where it's not. I don't want "You're just trying to cancel someone" to become the norm whenever someone is rightfully criticized.

You wanna know why a lot of harassment and abuse cases don't get reported to the police? Because the victims are afraid that people will doubt their stories on principle. By saying "all cancel culture is bad, there's no good use for it", this harmful mindset is perpetuated.

And if ALL cancel culture truly is bad, there needs to be a clear-cut definition of what's forgivable in the eyes of the public. Otherwise, and I hate to break it to you, it's going to continue. No matter how many hashtags you spread trying to stop it, you can't stop an idea.

I'm not saying that's good or bad, I'm just stating the inevitable. There's no "one person" to blame for all of this, it's just the natural stepping stone that humanity took when social media became a thing. Black Mirror predicted this shit in 2016, just saying.

Bottom line, just as we must not be quick to cancel anyone for any little thing they do wrong, we must also not treat the very idea of cancel culture as one that's completely worthless and has no weight. No one is ever, and I mean ever, entitled to your forgiveness.

Allow people to grow and change, sure, but if a person is a repeated offender that shows no sign of changing no matter what reasonable criticisms are thrown at them, then they're not worth your, or anyone else's time.