Metadata
- Author: Robert Henderson
- Full Title:: The Atavism of Cancel Culture
- Category:: 🗞️Articles
- URL:: https://www.city-journal.org/cancel-culture
- Finished date:: 2023-02-02
Highlights
People enjoy coming together against a perpetrator.
Cancel culture allows people to identify who is loyal to their movement. Highlighting the supposed wrongdoings of others forces people to respond
Those who ask for evidence of the alleged wrongdoing, question the severity of the transgression, or debate the propriety of cancel culture risk revealing themselves as unfaithful to the cause
This is perfect for social coordination because it creates disagreement about whether the person should be exiled
You could be next” does not register for most people because it’s just a set of words. But the social rewards of status and in-group camaraderie instantly resonate