There's this great lil' quote from Louis CK that goes, "The only time you should look in your neighbour's bowl is to make sure that they have enough. You don't look in your neighbour's bowl to see if you have as much as them." What a beautiful sentiment.
But what if you haven't eaten in three days and your neighbour happens to have eight full bowls, and is only eating out of one? What then?
Here's my theory: cancel culture is a symptom of wealth inequality in a pay to win society. Get a hefty speeding ticket? The poor single mother working two jobs to make ends meet will probably lose her license over an inability to pay. The rich dude can cough up a few hundred bucks for the ticket, less than he'd spend on drinks at tomorrow's party, without flinching. Hit a guy while speeding? The poor lady goes to jail, maybe because her public defender worked directly with the prosecution so that he could get the case resolved ASAP. If the dude's rich and can throw a couple hundred thousand bucks at a lawyer, he'll maybe get a weekend of community service.
Politics are play to win, happiness is pay to win, and justice is pay to win. The rich get to coast through and use their money to grease the tracks of liberty and freedom. The rest of us get to stand on the railway ties and face the train head on.
Thus cancel culture. The vast, poor masses are used to seeing people at the top of the food chain get away with what they want. We have very little say or influence on what goes on behind closed doors or how the upper-class are treated. Despite the sheer mass of the masses, we're just along for the ride and don't have much say in the destination. And, just maybe, it's starting to piss us off.
So what can we control if climate change policy, corruption laws, and voter manipulation are out of our reach? We go after public figures for moral transgressions.
Apparently Louis just announced a new comedy special, and people are up in arms about it. How dare he? Especially after what he's done (re: the masturbatory thing).
And I get it. This rich asshole treated some women without any respect, and kinda violated his position to take advantage of them. And you know what? He should be punished for it. He should face the consequences of his actions, without a doubt. I'm not going to download that special. But does that mean he should never get to practice his craft and provide for himself? If someone angers the crowds, are they relegated to poverty and begging on the streets?
Someone once said that after you've been cancelled, you have no recourse. Stay silent and you're complicit and guilty. Make an apology, and you're insincere. Speak out and try to create change, you're just trying to cover your tracks.
So what's left, then? What does one do after the cancellation hammer deals its mighty blow to ego and career and wallet? Should Louis ever be able to perform again? What do we expect from him, beyond the initial fall from grace and into shame?
Maybe nothing, because that's all we want to see: the fortunate fall to our level and languish there and validate all of our own failures and obscure existence? We want to see the pain. See them suffer. I'm not advocating that people like this should get a slap on the wrist and be on their way. There must be a path to redemption after defeat. But if the system fails to level fair justice, we're left with emotional justice. But instead of scales of justice, that woman with a blindfold is just holding a tray of shots.
If you want to get kinda tinfoil-hatty, part of me wonders if cancel culture exists because the Powers at Be decided this would be a good and inconsequential avenue for distraction, rather than affecting actual change. Can't upset the established balance of wealth and power, so sacrifice comedians and athletes and actors to focus the rage in an ineffective direction.
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My boss said something. "I'd tell you Merry Christmas, but we aren't allowed to say that any more!"
POOF! That's all I needed to complete a psychological profile of the man. Obviously he's extremely right wing, only watches Fox, loves Trump, is anti-vax, anti-tax, climate denier, pro life, and believes everyone on the left are sheeple idiots.
Like, holy shit. Where does all of that came from? How do I extrapolate that entire character assessment from one comment?
Media, that's how. Just as right wing media depicts progressives as touchy-feely communists eager to give their rights away, so does the left wing paint conservatives as self-absorbed, religious fruitcakes. This door swings both ways, simultaneously.
I've been living with a relative the past few months, and the guy watches a whole lot of CNN. A lot. So much. I can't stand it - every piece of news is breaking, every headline is all caps on a red background, and every opinion is stated as fact.
The latter really drives me crazy - the modern tone of opinion commentary lacks any sort of self awareness. I feel like I'm back in Sunday school as a child, where I'm being spoken down to with total kindness, while spouting opinions and personal values as objective fact. There is no debate of ideas or acknowledgement of nuance. I am right. The other side is wrong. There is no in-between, so pick your side and mind the gap.
Remember, folks. Facebook isn't in the business of connecting friends, the NFL isn't about athletics, and journalism isn't about the news. They're all about selling advertisements. Consume, consume, consume. Consume the content, consume the ads, consume the products. As much as I hate to say it, advertising makes the world goes 'round. And it's making me feel kinda nauseous.
I know and kind of agree with where my boss is coming from. I've worked on a lot of Holiday(tm) campaigns where I haven't been allowed to mention or allude to Christmas. It's a thing. Is it because the holiday is under attack? Probably not. Is it because no one wants to offend anyone? More likely.
For the record, when I was in New York I had a shopkeeper wish me a Happy Hanukkah, and I'm still buzzing from it. I thought it was fantastic. I'm not Jewish even a little bit, but I love that someone wanted to extend the joy their culture gives them to a philistine (or gentile, in this case) like me. Why not? Couldn't the world use more joy, no matter the flavour? Why not wish someone a Merry Christmas, and be okay with them not returning the sentiment?
So, sure, I get the Merry Christmas thing, and I'm otherwise kind of progressive. I'm pro-vax, anti-Trump, and believe in progressive values. So why can't I extend my own values to someone else to build a favourable judgement before I know them better?
Because we're all worked up. Outrage sells on Fox as much as CNN or Facebook or Reddit or Twitter or whatever. Errybody likes drama, and that's become the vocabulary of our society.
Goddamn, this is all getting tiring and it's so transparent. Follow the money, folks. Because if there is a God, that is it. And we all must partake of the holy sacrament.
-Cril
Everybody had a hard year
Everybody had a good time
Everybody had a wet dream
Everybody saw the sunshine
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Everybody had a good year
Everybody let their hair down
Everybody pulled their socks up
Everybody put their foot down
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Yeah, I've got a feeling
A feeling deep inside
Oh yeah, oh yeah
Beatles - I've Got a Feeling
