Some Thoughts on Cancelling “Cancel Culture”

By
eric
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I got to thinking about “cancel” culture and why – and how – it has become so paralyzingly effective; have a listen and let me know whether you agree!

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47 COMMENTS

  1. Eric, you’re wrong about “corporations” as they were originally designed. A corporation was started as a shared-risk entity where the liability of a shareholder was limited to the amount of their investment.

    The problem is the government intrusion into the corporate structure providing a legal protection of the owners from actions made by the actors. That perversion of the original corporate model is what has led to the corporate abuses we have today.

    It’s the government installing itself into the successful and innovative invention called the corporation that is the problem. Not the corporation, per se.

  2. I used to like Reason magazine, but their constant ass-kissing of corporations and their “rights” put me off and I hardly ever read it anymore. Sure, Facebook is within its rights to throw anyone off its site for any reason, but that doesn’t make it right. It’s based in a country that values free speech and equal access, at least on paper, and it operates under special privileges bestowed by our government and got rich using infrastructure that it didn’t build and doesn’t own. If it’s not going to respect American values, it should be thrown to the wolves, i.e. libel attorneys at the very least IMO.

      • Hi Anon,

        Some inside baseball regarding Reason: I’ve written for them in the past – a long time ago. Not lately. I’ve attempted but they only seem interested in the kind of dry, programmatic stuff that sounds “academic” and may well be but which very few people are interested in reading. And – as I have tried to persuade the editor there, Katharine Mangu – if people don’t read it, what’s written is irrelevant.

  4. I’ve been thinking, which is despised by current culture, I know, but I’m addicted to it.
    What level of, and what kind of psychosis does one have to suffer to embrace the idea that because one disagrees with you they must be DESTROYED? My God, if I subscribed to such notion, there would be few left whole in my life, including a number whom I love, and have loved. For example, there has not been one women in my life that even agreed with my former Libertarian views, much less my evolved Ancap notions.
    What they are saying by pursuing such effort is “I would kill you if I thought I would get away with it. since I don’t, I’ll just destroy everything about you I can.” Why?
    I think I might know. They are in deadly fear of having their fantasy world destroyed by the truth. Anyone who disagrees with them is a threat, because they may possess some truth. Better destroy them just in case.

    • People of both genders are brainwashed into being vehement statists, they’re taught and told what to believe from a young age and they suffer cognitive dissonance when you ask them to challenge those beliefs, because they want to be right, they passed their tests and they remember what the authority figures told them to believe, and to them that must be the truth because they like to think they know truth when they hear it, and they never considered questioning or disobeying because disobeying is bad because the law is somehow inherently right and when you dont follow it the govt thugs will come with guns.

      I recommend digging into Larken Rose’s Candles in the Dark methods to practice planting those seeds in the people you recognize as having a natural inclanation towards anarchism despite being clouded by all the false bs they’ve been taught.

      I questioned and disobeyed state and school authorities all my childhood and adolescence and still suffered from believing enough of their bs to keep me distracted and miserable. My voluntaryist SO still only got me halfway to reason, researching radar detectors brought me to this here website which showed more ugly truths that I wouldn’t have otherwise been exposed to, and with that flame lit I just kept applying the NAP and basic morality and watchin Larken videos til there was no more doubt left. Everything else became glaringly obvious after that.

      Humans are superstitious though and the state’s indoctrination efforts are strong as hell. They’re the kids in class that were pressured into sacrificing their individualism for that “greater good”. The govt makes everything worse and then creates sides and pits them against one another. They’re part of a team and they think bein aggressive will make them victorious.

      Up to us to take the culture back and show them on an individual level that it ain’t the way to behave.

  5. From Lew Rockwell’s blog, I think this helps explain why Facebook, Twitter, etc. have become so evil:

    https://www.freenfair.us/free-isnt-freedom/

    It is correct, I suppose, to say that the government created the internet (although it is stupid to assume that if it hadn’t done so, nothing like it would exist). But that is exactly the reason it has become such a monster: it was founded on the statist principle that stuff should be “free.” That has carried through to the big internet platforms. If YouTube had been pay-to-post from the start, I doubt we’d be having conversations about videos being taken down.

    • Youtube, google, ‘social media’, etc. are whores for money. Do you really think they wouldn’t be selling your data if you paid them to put up videos? But as much as they want money, they always put propaganda and controlling people first.

      It’s the same with ALL media. Advertisements with trannies or fags or interracial couples or cripples or black power fists or stupid white men do NOT make more money. They aren’t selling products anymore, they are selling degeneracy.

      And on the topic of ‘free’, the best websites imo were always labors of love, and a rule of thumb on that was something that would load fast on dial up, had no ads (sorry Eric) and begged for no money.

  6. If we continue to play their game, we will continue abiding their rules.
    Corporations being created by the state, are the state’s willing partners. Nothing could be further from a private business without actually being a government institution. Perhaps not even then. Most government institutions bear at least a pretention of being responsive to the will of the people, though they obviously are not, while corporations don’t even have to pretend. Since the natural tendency of a corporation is to become a monopoly, which cannot occur without the state, they aren’t even required to be responsive to their customers. All these tech monopolies are not only made possible by the state, they are financially incentivized by the state to become one. They all profit from contracts with the state.
    I don’t participate in any social media. Even if they currently happen to be alternatives to censorship and culture cancellation, because they likely will become so in the future, lest they become cancelled themselves. I do all my commentary on sites like Eric’s that have an open forum. They are abundant. While one or the other may cancel you independently, they don’t gang up and pursue your destruction, except perhaps by engaging with social media themselves.
    If every one of us that protest the cancel culture embodied by social media, right left or libertarian, and stopped using them for even a week, the financial impact upon them could become quite significant.

      • This lady’s badass, I searched her name and it brought up a bunch of news quotes from Palm Beach county meetings on the masks and lockdowns. They’re just pissed cuz she’s been so vocal

    • Hi Anon,

      These things are probing efforts – how far can they push? What will the reaction be? Which is why it is so important to react with outrage and vociferous public displays of contempt for such actions. The cretins “serving and protecting” are the types of people who will put people into camps by force – and worse – if they do not learn to fear the repercussions of such affronts.

      • The powers that be tested their ability to wage war on their own citizens in ’92 and ’93 with Ruby Ridge and Waco, even as far back as 1985 when they literally dropped bombs on a house in Philadelphia. They found they could do so with impunity. Keep the beer trucks rolling and the sports ball teams broadcasting and the apathy of ‘murikans apparently knows no bounds. I think they’re ramping it up to inure the public to the violence and further condition us to subservience.

        • You left out the most outrageous display of war on its own citizens, which was not only accepted, but is now highly praised. The War Between the States. Wherein more Americans were killed, many of them non-combatants, and many of those women and children, than in all other wars combined. ‘A war we haven’t yet escaped the effects of. There is still to this day at least some vociferous opposition to Yankee tyranny in the South. Mostly because Yankee destruction of the South did not stop at the end of the war. To this very day, the South is considered the ugly stepchild of the US in Northern circles. Especially in the coastal areas of the North.

        • Yep, slow boiled frogs. Their superstitious authority taught the serfs that nukin MOVE is equally as effective as mandatory masks. And yep they want that shit nuked precisely so they can go back to watchin the game.

  8. Virtue signaling is good for business. Today’s on-the-go millennial doesn’t want to have anything to do with traditional corporations. When the company creates a “diversity and inclusion” department, they’re sending a message to the millennials of “right on, man (I mean, person!)! We’re not like those other corporations, we’re hip to your message, dude (I mean Xyrs!)!” By promoting the message the millennial wants to hear, they’re just hoping to establish themselves as a trusted brand. And just in case all that workforce automation and AI stuff doesn’t pan out, they’re going to need to hire a bunch of young cheap employees to “do the work” of the corporation. Better to get people excited about working for Woke Corp now because you don’t want to have to compete with deep pockets for talent.

    As for the masks, they’re required just because the insurance company won’t pay out for lawsuits due to someone catching a cold in your store, thanks to the declaration of a pandemic. Companies are on the hook for any judgement against them. You bet your ass the theatre is very real to the executive suite, who has to show they’re going along with the CDC recommendations, even if they all know it’s bullshit.

  10. As to libertarians defending stores requiring face diapers, etc., by virtue of them being “private businesses”, I would argue it’s *not* private business when the government decides it will close you down for not obeying “mask mandates”, occupancy limits, etc.

    If a store or restaurant were to openly promote *not* requiring “masks”, social distancing, etc., they’d get a good bit of business from people willing to take the relatively small risk of WuFlu in order to avoid being hassled. But…government won’t allow such a place to operate. So…to what degree is the market “free” at this point?

  11. We should never forget that our enemy is the state. Without this great evil, the size of businesses and how they are organized would not matter.
    I can’t think of a single woke issue that would have existed for long without the divisive blabbering of useless politicians.

  12. I count myself a libertarian anarchist- in general people should be free and not limited by governments of whatever flavor. Some folks point out that I cannot be since I vote and hold office- those folks are fools who assume every square peg has to fit only a square hole.

    But- (and this but is much bigger than Oprah’s hideous ass), the limitations of every philosophy become evident at the extremes. In this case the geek tragedy that is silicon valley’s leadership. Zuckerberg, Dorsey, Cook are all more powerful than most third world tyrants and a lot of second and first world tyrants. And their worldview is warped because they have succeeded so wildly that they figure that they are rightful rulers in our world. There ain’t no such animal boys.

    The most extreme illustration is the genocidal megalomaniac known as Bill Gates. The guy trying to cull the human herd with vaccines and sterilization because he thinks we’re overpopulated and trying to dim the sun and make us eat bugs because he thinks man can destroy mother gaia.

    It is long past time for us to look at our long term well being as opposed to our short term gain by refusing to do business with all of these creatures. The only ethical way we have to limit their power is to refuse to do business with them. Gates may even be beyond that point to where he is an active menace to billions of human beings like Stalin, Mao, or to a much lesser extent Hitler.

    It’s not going to be easy- it just has to be done. And it has to encompass full spectrum struggle including boycotts, competition, voting, holding office, and plain old speaking truth.

  13. There’s a name for what you’re talking about, Eric: Black Markets

    They’re an important part of free markets because they counter excessive consolidation and abuse of power. I saw someone post somewhere that our ultimate goal is to be ungovernable. That’s what the little band of misfits that make up this community are doing; refusing to submit to stupid governance.

    Bartering completely neutralizes centralized control. They can’t stop you by taking away a business license you don’t have. They can’t stop you by freezing assets you don’t use. We stop using the mechanisms they use to control us.

    Decades ago shortwave radio was a lifeline for those living in dictatorships. It was a big deal because it was impossible to jam. Then came the Internet and shortwave went away, and along with it a bulletproof way to communicate. We may need to find a new “shortwave radio” technology to ensure we can communicate, despite the technocrats best efforts to silence us. Or maybe just go back to what we know already works.

    “The chair is against the wall. The chair is against the wall.”

    “John has a long mustache. John has a long mustache.”

    • Great idea – on the bugout list, along with solar panels and battery storage. Also keeping an ongoing list of samizdat service providers (dentist, restaurant, grocery, etc.)…

    • I fully agree with all of that, Anon.

      Shortwave is conspicuously vacant these days. I scan it periodically, and there is very little being transmitted, especially in the US, so there is considerable opportunity there.

      The Wi-Fi communications system here is also the right idea.

      We truly need a decentralized internet as well, so solutions there should be sought with some urgency, now that this is all accelerating.

      • Amateur radio guys used to use something called “packet radio”. All it takes as I recall is a modem and your radio transciever. It is still a very viable thing, but the bandwidth is limited. You really can’t stream video or hi-res graphics at 9600 baud- but bulletin boards with text and classifieds are absolutely doable.

        • Yes, I’ve heard of this! The whole internet used to be “dial-up” and limited to such speeds. No reason things can’t begin in an independent way with such technologies, and building from there. Text messaging can be encrypted and relayed in a similar way, through P2P wireless networks of such devices.
          If you’ve ever used text browsers such as Lynx or w3m, it’s actually pretty cool, and devoid of the flood of useless ads and video garbage that you receive from graphical browsers.

        • Packet stinks though. Still using the Bell 212 modem protocol. There are much better ways to send messages, although more real-time than automatic.

          Here’s an overview of some of the narrowband digital text modes, geared to emergency communications nets:
          https://www.jeffreykopcak.com/drive/ham_radio/digital_modes/vhf_uhf_nbems_an_introduction_using_fldigi_and_flmsg_presentations/vhf_uhf_nbems.pdf

          But more than that there are hams adapting 5 GHz wifi equipment for long distance data linking, flashing “mesh” firmware onto consumer routers, and tunneling “backhaul” data though Internet connections in hybrid networks.

          Problem is, none of it can be encrypted (legally), and hams are fiercely Stasi when it comes to violators of the rules (unless it’s their buddy).

          • “… hams are fiercely Stasi when it comes to violators of the rules…”

            Man, you got that right! Those fox-hunters live to catch anyone not in lockstep!

    • Shortwave radio is still around; I listen to it every night. It’s merely under most peoples’ radar now that we have the net.

    • Short wave radio could become an essential means of communication if the situation gets really bad, i.e., sites such as Eric’s are shut down. My short wave radio has a rechargeable battery that can be charged either by a solar panel or a hand crank. Both are built in to the device. Technically, an FCC license is required to transmit over a short wave radio, but if the Nazis cancel the internet as a means of communication for us, licenses be damned.

      • Completely agree. The FCC made ham licenses much more attainable by dropping the morse code requirement. But if the SHTF, licenses be damned. Study like a motherfucker for the exam so you know your enemy. Then use the knowledge to survive.

  14. ‘Economic federalism’ is most egregiously violated by quasi-monopolistic Big Media. The worst of the worst, Facebook, just announced a fresh jihad against Climate Crimethink:

    (Bloomberg) — Facebook will begin labeling some user posts that mention climate change in the same way it has annotated posts discussing elections and Covid-19, a sign the social network is taking climate-related misinformation more seriously.

    False statements about climate change reviewed by Facebook’s fact-checkers are flagged, but unlike Covid-19 misinformation, climate posts are not typically removed.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/facebook-label-climate-change-posts-110000858.html

    Faceborg’s warmunist fact-checkers are like the purblind zealots who put Galileo on trial in 1633 for his outrageous, heterodox belief that Venus must travel around the Sun, passing at times behind and beyond it, rather than revolving directly around the Earth.

    JUSTICE must be rendered:

    “We pronounce, judge, and declare, that you, the said Galileo … have rendered yourself vehemently suspected by Facebook of heresy, that is, of having believed and held the doctrine (which is false and contrary to the Holy and Divine Sciences) that global warming is a myth.

    “We order that by a public edict the posts of Galileo Galilei be flagged, and We condemn thee to indefinite banning by this Holy Fact-Checking Office during Our will and pleasure; and as a salutary penance We enjoin on thee that for the space of three years thou shalt recite on video once a week the Seven Climate Change Psalms.”

    Repent, heretic!

  15. Eric,

    Much to unpack here, and I have to go to work at my employer corporation in a minute.

    Suffice it to say, truly, you’ve argued for another form of decentralization, and that is key to so many doors leading to freedom.

    My observations are, and this may be oversimplified, that if one simply ignores Twitter, (yes, just that ONE social medium), that this “wokism” mostly disappears. I will never represent my burgeoning business on Twitter, and thus it will never be attacked by the woke mob. If the news could ignore Twitter (but they work for the same team), most of these woke “outrage” stories would be pleasantly invisible.

    As far as corporations go, whether or not they are supported by the nominal government, they often grow large enough to become a government of their own. They begin to control supply chains and even suppliers themselves, and competition is squelched. One answer to that is… You guessed it! Decentralization! If your business can become it’s own supplier and deliverer, for example, it is then unstoppable, until the “actual” government starts kidnapping and caging you…

    I have more, but those are my quick thoughts.

    • It didn’t work for Ford. At one time, I think until sometime in the 1960’s, Ford was 100% vertical. It owned the iron mines, the ships that carried the ore, the foundries, the glass maker, carpet maker, even the tire maker for their new cars. They bought nothing from another company. Competition with those that didn’t encumber themselves with such drove them out of the concept. Especially when their competition started buying overseas.

      • The Chicago Tribune newspaper used to be completely vertical too. They owned their own forests (mostly in Wisconsin), paper mill, the shipping fleet, printing plant etc. I suppose the idea is you can get stability over costs. I think the problem is that stability doesn’t come cheap since you get to the point of not being able to lower your expenses any further. It doesn’t really save money long term and it is a lot of capital involved.

        • Rich,

          The idea here isn’t about being economical, though a “vertical” business, as you call it, SHOULD be. It’s about resiliency. It’s about being a badass mother, who don’t take no shit, outta NOBODY! 🙂

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