Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: The Joylessness of Cancel Culture - Michael Brown

  1. #1
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    16,271
    Thanked: 14129
    Blog Entries
    1

    The Joylessness of Cancel Culture - Michael Brown

    By its very nature, cancel culture is joyless and lifeless. It is built on negativity, criticism, and fault-finding. In the long term, it cannot be sustained.

    Cancel culture produces death rather than life and fear rather than faith, stifling creativity and suffocating free expression. As expressed by John Cleese of Monty Python fame, "I mean, if you're going to come out with something really interesting artistically it's going to come out of your unconscious, and if you're having to edit everything you say before you say it then nothing it going to happen creatively — and also things that are rather lovely and funny in ordinary conversation, they're not going to happen either, because everybody's thinking 'Ooh, somebody might [be offended]'."

    The latest intended victim of cancel culture is Clint Eastwood, based on a joke he made back in 1973 -- yes, 1973 – during the Academy Awards.

    As reported on Fox News, "The clip in question comes from the 1973 Academy Awards in which actor Marlon Brando famously refused to accept his award for best actor in 'The Godfather' and instead sent a Native American activist on stage to lament Hollywood's treatment of American Indians by the film industry."

    The activist, Sacheen Littlefeather, said that, regretfully, he could not accept the award, explaining, "And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry, and on television in movie reruns, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee."

    When Eastwood came to the podium to present another award, he quipped, "I don't know if I should present this award, on behalf of all the cowboys shot in all the John Ford Westerns over the years."

    And for that, Eastwood has now been targeted (not that he will care, especially at this stage of life).

    To be sure, our treatment of Native Americans over the centuries has often been shameful. And without a doubt, there has often been a stereotyped, negative portrayal of them in our movies, especially in past decades.

    But to make an issue out of a joke Eastwood cracked in 1973 is to put the absurdity of cancel culture on fall display.

    Back in 2003, Frank Rich, best known for his very liberal writings for the New York Times, published an article titled, "Why Liberals Are No Fun."

    In it, he wrote, "Despite their domination of the entertainment industry, liberals barely have a foothold in the part of show business they are most exercised about. Barbra Streisand may have a contentious Web site, but Rupert Murdoch has an empire. As David Brooks put it recently in Mr. Murdoch's Weekly Standard, Democrats are in 'despair that a consortium of conservative think tanks, talk radio hosts and Fox News -- Hillary's vast right-wing conspiracy -- has cohered to form a dazzlingly efficient ideology delivery system that swamps liberal efforts to get their ideas out.' This week brought the news that Rush Limbaugh had even infiltrated ESPN's 'Sunday N.F.L. Countdown' as a new cast member. And so liberals plot and dream, with the undying hope that their own Rush or O'Reilly or Hannity might turn up as miraculously as Lana Turner supposedly did at the Schwab's Pharmacy soda fountain."

    So, he asked, "How can Democrats be so ineffectual in the media in which they would seem to have a home-court cultural advantage? The talk-show playing field is littered with liberal casualties: Mario Cuomo, Alan Dershowitz, Phil Donahue. Why waste money on more broadcasting flops? The conventional wisdom has it that liberals will never make it in this arena because they are humorless, their positions are too complicated to explain, and some powerful media companies (whether Mr. Murdoch's News Corporation or the radio giant Clear Channel) want to put up roadblocks."

    In the end, his conclusion was that it might simply come down to show business, with some of the conservative hosts being better showmen.

    But the lack of humor cannot be downplayed, along with the lack of nuance, especially in these days of cancel culture rage, in which songs like the Rollings Stones "Brown Sugar" must now be dropped, because of its lyrics about slavery.

    As the Stones' iconic guitar player Keith Richards commented, "I'm trying to figure out with the sisters quite where the beef is. Didn't they understand this was a song about the horrors of slavery? But they're trying to bury it. At the moment I don't want to get into conflicts with all of this."

    Today, jokes can't be funny, lest someone be offended (whereas, for centuries, the offense was understood as part of the joke, as we all laughed at ourselves). And there can be no nuance in a message, lest someone misunderstand the meaning, thereby putting everyone in fear of saying one wrong word.

    Today, one cannot tread too carefully, which will result in smaller and smaller circles being drawn until only the tiniest, super-elite segment remains in good standing.

    The key to overcoming this stifling, suffocating atmosphere is to reject the superior moral standing of the elitists, telling the few that we, the many, will not be intimidated or manipulated by them.

    For my part, as a follower of Jesus, it is love that compels me to honor and respect others and to interact graciously with those with whom I differ. And I would never intentionally insult someone or cause them pain or shame. If I have a blind spot, I want someone to point that out and help me to grow in sensitivity.

    But I will not, for one moment, bow to a suffocating ideology that cancels and destroys all dissenters and silences all dissent. Neither should you.

    And along the way, remember to smile. And laugh. It will do you good.

    The Joylessness of Cancel Culture | Ask Dr. Brown

  2. The Following User Says Thank You to fuego For This Useful Post:

    Valiant Woman (10-26-2021)

  3. #2
    Good points. The democrats that spawned "tolerance" can't tolerate anything.

  4. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to FireBrand For This Useful Post:

    A.J. (10-26-2021), fuego (10-17-2021), Romans828 (10-27-2021), Valiant Woman (10-26-2021)

  5. #3
    Senior Member Valiant Woman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Broken Arrow, OK
    Posts
    4,301
    Thanked: 4090

    Quote Originally Posted by FireBrand View Post
    Good points. The democrats that spawned "tolerance" can't tolerate anything.
    Exactly!

    The LGBT's said the only thing they desired was to live their lives without being bothered. But, they lied, and now they want society to bow to their demands of acceptance and be allowed to indoctrinate our children.
    When your praise match your prayers, the answer will come.
    https://www.facebook.com/Valiant-Wom...1103844642026/

  6. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Valiant Woman For This Useful Post:

    A.J. (10-26-2021), FireBrand (10-26-2021), fuego (10-26-2021), Romans828 (10-27-2021)

  7. #4
    I agree with Dr. Brown.

    Another great example of "cancel culture" is the right's treatment of Colin Kapernick.

  8. #5
    So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    7,824
    Thanked: 7519
    Quote Originally Posted by njtom View Post
    I agree with Dr. Brown.

    Another great example of "cancel culture" is the right's treatment of Colin Kapernick.
    Of course the guy pops up everywhere so no not cancelled at all.

  9. #6
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    16,271
    Thanked: 14129
    Blog Entries
    1
    I'm not aware Kap ever got cancelled. Like you said John, he kept going strong.

  10. #7
    Kap was his own undoing. He knew the risks and saw fame and glory on the other side of football. He can whine all he wants to but really, who is listening? And why would they?

  11. #8
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    16,271
    Thanked: 14129
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by FireBrand View Post
    Kap was his own undoing. He knew the risks and saw fame and glory on the other side of football. He can whine all he wants to but really, who is listening? And why would they?
    Kap made a lot more money doing what he did than if he had continued to play football. His Nike stuff increased after the started doing that. He had already become a marginal player. The NFL didn't cancel him, he just did his kneeling thing after he was already going downhill. If he hadn't done what he did, he'd still not be in the NFL any longer. He wasn't that good any more. I think he was already riding the bench, and behind another QB that wasn't any good himself.

    And as far as being 'cancelled', not for his stance but for his actions while at work, an employer has the right to do as they see fit if it affects their bottom line, or thinks it is. The kind of cancelling that happened to Kap if you're looking at it from an employer's standpoint is the same kind of cancelling you would get if you started disrupting your workplace. The kind of cancelling going on now is just over beliefs. Kap wasn't cancelled because of what he believed, but how he was executing his protest. And you want to talk about cancelling, look at what happened to Brees when he said something against it. Now that was the kind of cancelling that's going on now. It got so bad Brees did a fake turnaround to the point of absurdity to try and show he wasn't 'racist' for not agreeing with Kap.

  12. #9
    So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    7,824
    Thanked: 7519
    Quote Originally Posted by fuego View Post
    I'm not aware Kap ever got cancelled. Like you said John, he kept going strong.
    Oh look, a Netflix series.

    When American football star Colin Kaepernick took the knee during a national anthem, he became an overnight symbol of the protest and division over race in the US. He has now worked with Netflix to show what set a sport-mad teenager on the path to becoming a civil rights standard bearer.
    Colin Kaepernick: Netflix drama follows the birth of a protest figurehead - BBC News

    Not quite cancelled.

  13. #10
    Administrator fuego's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Posts
    16,271
    Thanked: 14129
    Blog Entries
    1
    Quote Originally Posted by John View Post
    Bingo. Exactly.

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
You can stop worrying about unexpected, expensive repair costs with an extended service plan for your Volkswagen. Many vehicle repairs can cost thousands of dollars in unexpected expense, now may be the time to consider an extended service plan for your vehicle.