Future suggestion: Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything....

[Mr. P]

Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything About Race, Gender, and Identity.

I just found this title through a review in Skeptic Magazine. It has great reviews and seems to come from two authors that are left leaning, favoring traditional liberal sentiments. The cancel culture and the Uber PC crowd has got me down. Since I abhor the far right, I have found it challenging to also have what I feel is an equal ignorance on the side I lean toward. Let's see what these folks have to say.

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/ ... l-theories

[Taylor]

The goodreads article linked squanders language. In particular,there is presented a strange mismatch of the word
“liberal”.

Cancel culture is directly from “liberal” economics, the market place of ideas.

Liberal Democracy has to be viewed by the same lens. In the U.S. we squander the identity of the word “liberal”. This is something I have been trying to wrap my mind around...Where did these ideas of cultural appropriation, gender identity, body shaming, political correctness, racism for whites only, etc... come from?

It’s the fruition of libertarianism.

Political correctness is pushback on extreme individualism. In the broad sense of usage of the power of P.C. Culture . I have disagreements with the minuti of pc culture, often I have an abhorrent reaction to the use of political correctness and the canceling of persons or organizations for what may seem to be petty thinking, then I consider...is there something deeper here? , invariably it is some form of libertarianism that is running deeper. That’s when I side with cancel sentiments.

Libertarianism ideology allows for so much of what is ailing society that I cannot emphasize it enough. The PC crowd is equally guilty, they refuse to recognize the eyeball deep relationship that they have with libertarianism as well. You see, they confuse the word “liberal” as well. It seems to me that too many people ignore sympathy, the most gracious aspect of liberal economics. Sympathy, the most gracious aspect of democracy. Sympathy, is the reason why America is a republic. But the P.C. Crowd, fails to recognize that the rise of pc culture was simultaneous to neo-libertarianism... hence their hypocrisy.

Your challenge Mr. Pessimistic...If you choose to accept it is to quantify within yourself the dual identity that lurks within. Are you a libertarian or are you for labor? Are you a New Deal Democrat or are you a methodological individualist?

What magnetic force could possibly be drawing you too the center?, when there can be no center.

Intellectual claustrophobia is an idea worth consideration. Left wingers, right wingers, centrist must be plagued with doubts. But let me ask you... do you have doubts about god?, have you concluded your thoughts on the subject?.

Civil society is no different, come to a conclusion, stand up for the ideas that make the most sense, be gracious and above all else vigorously defend reason. Particularly during these seemingly unreasonable times.

Finally I’d like to add.

I have been thinking about and studying toxoplasmosis. I think that there is a strong link between neural parasites and libertarian behavior but I’m learning also that there are ties between a broad spectrum of bad thinking and toxoplasmosis.

[Mr. P]

I am just suggesting a book kid.

[DWill]

I think it's a good suggestion, Mr. Pessimistic. The term "cancel culture" is invoked too freely to really mean much, but I'd agree there are excesses of "wokeness" (there's another one). It would be worthwhile to look at whether this is only excess, or something more fundamental, as the authors seem to be saying.

[Mr. P]

I follow this guy on YouTube that has very interesting commentary on current events. Name of the channel is Beau of the Fifth Column. Seems a very bright dude.

A recent post was on cancel culture, and the way he explained that it has ALWAYS existed (and how it's not by any means a construct of the left) made me smile.

Cancel culture has always existed. Except in the past, you were canceled for being gay, being black, being a single mom, being an atheist or an accused commie. No, cancel culture is not new...it is just working against those that were using it before. And they don't like the way it feels...at all.

[DWill]

These two words--cancel culture--have struck a chord, though, so I wonder just what it is that's made them resonate so strongly. As I said, I recognize what seem to me excesses of woke attitudes, and those excesses appear to be part of what conservatives--and hey, now liberals!--are talking about. I'm interested in how we all process threats. In my processing, I don't see cancel culture as the big threat, unless maybe it does spread so widely as to become an actual culture. I see conspiracy thinking from the far right as the big threat, one that has already spread widely, and I have to think that the Capitol riot demonstrates that I'm on the right track.

I've heard from a couple of people who disagree. For them, socialism, and what it brings with it, such as cancel culture, is the great threat, despite the attempted takeover of the Capitol.