Public Apologies and Cancel Culture

[Sage]

So the great white male doesn't get to walk on water anymore and has to watch what he says...boo hoo. Funny that the ones that complain against cancel culture are often those that have issues with racism, homosexuality etc... Generally the same people don't seem to have great issues either when it comes to canceling islam...

End of the day, it can be a thin line between free speech and hate speech and I for one have no issues with people not feeling so free to make racist/homophobic/misogynist remarks in the workplace as in the "good old days". The pendulum swings and while it may swing too far on occasion, it's nothing compared to what minorities/women have endured in the past and it's long overdue.

I guess you’re also looking forward to the time when all non Dalit Indians are forced to apologise for the privilege that the caste system has afforded them?

Or muslim men for the continued oppression of women and religious minorities that Islam allows men to benefit from.

I do agree with one concept. If we are going to proceed with smashing traditional societal structures, at the very least we should start with the most oppressive.

[Coolboy]

It's a discussion forum. Why are you partaking in a discussion?

Discussion should be over topics worth discussing...

[Coolboy]

it’s become a big problem in the United States, especially if you work at government or public institutions. My father works at a University in California. He can and would lose his job if he posted online in support of any number of conservative topics. If I went back to America I would not be allowed to work in my field if I was vocal about my political beliefs as a libertarian (anything less than a progressive is not welcome), so I’ve learned how to pretend to be progressive over the last 15 years. It’s not fun and it’s a big reason that Trump got so much support. He gave voice to a growing anger of people who felt they weren’t allowed to say what they believed.

Unfortunately some of those voices are also crazy, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a real cancer that’s growing in America

It's one thing to say there is excessive political correctness in America and another thing entirely to use that as an excuse to paper over the glaring problems of Trump.

Just because there may be to much political correctness does not mean the opposite position, Trump's ideology, is alright. You hinted as much, although I suspect some may not get it.

[Tandy]

I think 100% people shouldn't make racist/sexist/homophobic/etc comments. If I say something that offends someone I hope they'll politely show me how I hurt them so I can try and avoid it. I get too passionate sometimes when I discuss issues (I apologize for that), and I grew up in the 80's and some of our vocabulary is not unknowingly offensive. I make mistakes sometimes. If those hurt people I'm truly sorry and want to do better.

But not everyone's like that, and we all have to live together. You can only change yourself. Changing other people requires some kind of violence, and using violence to cut out hate just makes things worse. For everything there is an equal and opposite reaction. Trump's whole persona is an awful personification of this.

We've come a million miles over the last 2-3 decades in respecting people who are different from ourselves. I think the stragglers will be won over, but it will be with love (maybe firm love), not with punishments and fear.