{
    "href": "/post/2021/09/20/beating-back-cancel-culture/",
    "relId": "2021/09/20/beating-back-cancel-culture",
    "title": "Beating Back Cancel Culture",
    "author": "pmjones",
    "tags": [
        {
            "href": "/tag/social-justice/",
            "relId": "social-justice",
            "title": "Social Justice",
            "author": null,
            "created": "2021-09-20 13:41:14 UTC",
            "updated": [
                "2021-09-20 13:41:14 UTC",
                "2023-08-15 14:21:29 UTC"
            ],
            "markup": "markdown"
        }
    ],
    "created": "2021-09-20 13:40:51 UTC",
    "updated": [
        "2021-09-20 13:40:51 UTC"
    ],
    "markup": "markdown",
    "html": "<p>Some high points from <a href=\"https://quillette.com/2021/01/27/beating-back-cancel-culture-a-case-study-from-the-field-of-artificial-intelligence/\">a successful virtual beat-down of SJWs</a>:</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><strong>Know what to expect.</strong> The cancel crowd has its own bullet-point playbook. And they\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll respond aggressively to any symbolic act that threatens their status, or erodes the impression that they are the ones calling the shots. Remember that behind the social-justice veneer lies the brutal logic of power and ego.</p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>To maximize the pain you feel, they\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll tag activist groups on social media to inflate their numbers and reach.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p>They\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll bombard every organization you\u00e2\u0080\u0099re part of with demands to censure, discipline, disown, fire, or expel you\u00e2\u0080\u0094often phrasing their appeals in the passive aggressive guise of \u00e2\u0080\u009cconcern\u00e2\u0080\u009d and \u00e2\u0080\u009cdisappointment.\u00e2\u0080\u009d</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p>At other times, they will insult, taunt, and, threaten you in a manner resembling middle-school children having a recess meltdown.</p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>In my case, the ringleader called me \u00e2\u0080\u009ca full on misogynist and racist,\u00e2\u0080\u009d \u00e2\u0080\u009cshameful bigot,\u00e2\u0080\u009d \u00e2\u0080\u009chypocrite,\u00e2\u0080\u009d \u00e2\u0080\u009cclueless,\u00e2\u0080\u009d \u00e2\u0080\u009ctone-deaf,\u00e2\u0080\u009d \u00e2\u0080\u009csnowflake,\u00e2\u0080\u009d and \u00e2\u0080\u009csoulless troll.\u00e2\u0080\u009d</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p>She assailed my \u00e2\u0080\u009cprivilege and patriarchy,\u00e2\u0080\u009d \u00e2\u0080\u009clack of basic empathy and ethics,\u00e2\u0080\u009d and \u00e2\u0080\u009czero self-awareness.\u00e2\u0080\u009d</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p>She also questioned whether I\u00e2\u0080\u0099m really a human, and called on NeurIPS to ban me, and for my department to expunge me.</p>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p>Her goal, in short, was to ruin my life.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n</li>\n<li>\n<p>The cancelers will dig up anything they can from your past. And if they can\u00e2\u0080\u0099t find any, they\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll make it up.</p>\n</li>\n</ul>\n<p>This will all seem terrifying, but much less so if you realize that you\u00e2\u0080\u0099re just the latest victim in what is basically a mechanical and dehumanizing process. Insofar as you don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t actually get fired from your job or suffer some other equivalent setback, these are all just words, and they don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t define who you are.</p>\n<p>...</p>\n<p><strong>Don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t back down. Don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t apologize.</strong> Don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t make clarifications, and don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t try to appease the mob. All of these will only be taken as concessions, and embolden the mob to demand more. The real Achilles\u00e2\u0080\u0099s Heel of the cancel crowd is its short attention span. Once they bully someone into submission, they move on to the next victim. It\u00e2\u0080\u0099s a system designed for quick wins. If you don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t back down, they\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll raise the pitch as far as they can\u00e2\u0080\u0094but eventually they\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll be at a loss for what to do next, and all but the most fanatical will lose interest. The few that remain, now bereft of their backup, are just what you need to teach all of them a lesson, as we did in my case.</p>\n<p>...</p>\n<p><strong>Turn their weapons against them.</strong> You may find this to be the most controversial principle, but it\u00e2\u0080\u0099s also arguably the most crucial\u00e2\u0080\u0094as the cancelers won\u00e2\u0080\u0099t stop until they fear that they\u00e2\u0080\u0099ll endure the same consequences that they seek to impose on others. In my case, I watched as investors and customers leaned on the ringleader\u00e2\u0080\u0099s company to rein her in. Even companies that posture heavily in the area of social justice don\u00e2\u0080\u0099t actually want to be stained by the disgraceful behavior of mob leaders. Indeed, I have no doubt that it was an ultimatum from her employer that finally led the ringleader to stop her Twitter outbursts and apologize publicly to her victims, for all to see. Some will say that once we resort to this step, we become as bad as the cancelers. But that\u00e2\u0080\u0099s a false equivalence. The cancel crowd tries to ban people because of their views. We try to stop bullying\u00e2\u0080\u0094behavior that is reprehensible regardless of ideology.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>(Edited for formatting.)</p>\n<p>See also the <a href=\"http://paul-m-jones.com/post/2018/09/21/social-justice-attack-survival-guide/\">Social Justice Attack Survivial Guide</a>.</p>\n"
}