[Ads-l] Cancel Culture

Sat Feb 6 01:37:17 UTC 2021

Although I think the point is likely valid, I did fairly quickly find an example where Donald Trump is cited as calling for subscription cancellations and then decrying cancel culture. 

A list of people and things Donald Trump tried to get canceled before he railed against 'cancel culture'
Daniel Dale
7 July 2020
https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/07/politics/fact-check-trump-cancel-culture-boycotts-firings/index.html <https://exbulletin.com/politics/192610/>

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President Donald Trump is now campaigning as a warrior against what he says is a left-wing "cancel culture" that seeks to get people punished or banished for supposedly objectionable words or acts.

…

July 2013: Trump asks people to "boycott & cancel subscriptions" to Rolling Stone magazine because of a cover featuring Boston Marathon terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
October 2013: Trump urges "everybody possible" to "cancel their subscription" to New York Magazine over an insulting tweet about Trump's marriage from Dan Amira, who was online editor at the time.

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Benjamin Barrett (he/his/him)
Formerly of Seattle, WA

> On 5 Feb 2021, at 17:18, Dennis During <dcduring at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Wiktionary's definition isn't too bad, though it also misses the direction
> of application. I don't think that someone cancelling their NY Times
> subscription is ever called 'cancel culture'.
> 
> (neologism <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#neologism <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Glossary#neologism>>,
> often derogatory <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/derogatory <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/derogatory>>) The cultural
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cultural <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cultural>> phenomenon
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phenomenon <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phenomenon>> of publicly shaming
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shame <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/shame>>, rejecting
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reject <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/reject>>, and ceasing to provide support
> <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/support <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/support>> to people, companies, stores,
> etc., deemed unacceptable <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unacceptable <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unacceptable>>,
> and calling on others to boycott <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boycott <https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/boycott>>
> them.
> 
> 
> On Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 8:11 PM Dennis During <dcduring at gmail.com <mailto:dcduring at gmail.com>> wrote:
> 
>> I don't think that the term is used equally by all sides. I don't think it
>> is used pejoratively by social justice advocates (You see what I did
>> there?). It is used by their critics.
>> 
>> On Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 2:59 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> 
>>> How about "a putative unjust or unethical partisan movement to suppress
>>> opposing political views"?
>>> 
>>> Getting  closer?
>>> 
>>> JL
>>> 
>>> On Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 2:50 PM Dennis During <dcduring at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> If it is predominantly used disparagingly about anything, however vague
>>> the
>>>> targets and however unfair the disparagement, then the intent of
>>>> disparagement is part of its meaning, as is the case for 'political
>>>> correctness', 'social justice warrior' ("SJW") and similar terms.
>>> Currently
>>>> in the US 'fascism' and its sister terms 'fascist', 'neo-fascist', etc
>>> and,
>>>> probably 'communism' and its relatives are similarly predominantly used
>>>> disparagingly. 'Socialism' not so much.
>>>> 
>>>> The phenomena disparaged by the use of the term 'cancel culture' seem to
>>>> include principally the boycotts, including secondary boycotts,
>>> facilitated
>>>> by social media, of businesses, especially consumer-oriented ones, and
>>> of
>>>> entertainment personalities because they are deemed to violate some
>>> moral
>>>> imperative, usually under the rubric of 'social justice' (a term which,
>>>> unlike SJW, is not predominantly pejorative). I think both the deeming
>>> and
>>>> the boycotting are the objects of the disparagement intended by use of
>>> the
>>>> term 'cancel.culture'.
>>>> 
>>>> On Fri, Feb 5, 2021 at 2:19 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>>> On Feb 5, 2021, at 8:36 AM, Jonathan Lighter <
>>> wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> "Cancel culture" has broadened its meaning to become "a movement to
>>>>>> suppress opposing political views.”
>>>>> 
>>>>> Or, as an alternate gloss, ‘a movement to hold individuals accountable
>>>> for
>>>>> their actions and publicly stated views’. To demote a member who has
>>>>> expressed racist threats is not precisely an instance of opposing
>>> their
>>>>> political views.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I’m also unclear on the scope--Do we really want to classify
>>>>> denazification in Germany (= 'the process of bringing the leaders of
>>> the
>>>>> National Socialist regime in Germany to justice and of purging all
>>>> elements
>>>>> of Nazism from public life, carried out especially between 1945 and
>>>> 1948’)
>>>>> merely an instance of cancel culture, i.e. the Allies’ suppressing
>>>> opposing
>>>>> political views? Maybe I’m not sure what “cancel culture” meant
>>> before it
>>>>> was broadened; it’s always reminded me of the use of “political
>>>>> correctness” to dismiss or ridicule those protesting hate speech or
>>>> threats
>>>>> of violence.
>>>>> 
>>>>> LH
>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> E.g., from Yahoo! News:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> "The former Trump and Bush adviser said the decision to root out
>>>>> extremism
>>>>>> in the military was 'cancel culture' and then disparaged Mr Biden's
>>>> pick
>>>>>> for Secretary of Defense by claiming he was likely hired solely
>>> because
>>>>> he
>>>>>> is Black."
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> JL
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Wed, Aug 19, 2020 at 2:19 PM Jonathan Lighter <
>>>> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> CNN chyron:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> "Trump Wants To Cancel Goodyear."
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> He wants us to boycott it.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> JL
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Fri, Jul 31, 2020 at 10:26 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
>>>>>>> adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Bill Mullins wrote:
>>>>>>>>> Earlier in Twitter -- Oct 28, 2016:
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> https://twitter.com/unicorninkk/status/792025338616418304
>>>>>>>>> "I hate cancel culture until I want to set things on fire! "
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Worthwhile topic, Fred. Great citation, Bill.
>>>>>>>> I initiated a germane thread back in May 2019.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> [Ads-l] Word/Phrase: cancel, cancel culture, cancellation culture
>>>>>>>> 
>>>> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2019-May/154643.html
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> The mailing list message included some tweets with the phrase:
>>> "You
>>>>>>>> have been cancelled". The precise meaning was not always clear.
>>> The
>>>>>>>> tweet citations begin on Nov 22 2008.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Dave Wilton initiated a pertinent thread in February 2020.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> [Ads-l] Cancel culture, cancel (2018)
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2020-February/156597.html
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> John Baker mentioned the Mashable.com article dated Nov 18, 2017
>>>> which
>>>>>>>> was referenced in a tweet.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2020-February/156598.html
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Dave Wilton presented a tweet together with a reply tweet that
>>>>>>>> exhibited the desired sense on Feb 8, 2017.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2020-February/156599.html
>>>>>>>> https://twitter.com/DougieFresh818/status/829410105502400513
>>>>>>>> https://twitter.com/chazzsplash/status/829410413091631105
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> The tweet found by Bill Mullins appears to be the earliest
>>> currently
>>>>>>>> mentioned on this mailing list.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Garson

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