The insatiable appetite in activism culture (on & offline) to cancel people for making mistakes is toxic.

Demanding unwavering perfection (from birth?), strict ideological purity & conformity to very specific lingo in order to have a community voice is— fundamentalism.

A

I have had everything— from a 14-million person religion (Mormons) to random Internet Cancel Brigades— attempt to “cancel” me.

In my experience, the cancel-ers are never actually concerned with the alleged (or imagined) “offense” or behavior.

The goal of cancelling is not to criticize an actual act.

Instead, the goal is to build a case of the person’s essential “badness”—in order to silence them.

This is why you often see hypocrisy & “cancelers” doggedly pursuing issues they don’t care abt in any other context.

It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean no one should ever be accountable for anything. Of course it doesn’t. Community accountability is crucial to healthy, thriving groups.

But, the goal shouldn’t be to ostracize (or excommunicate ) the person, it should be to grow.

And, of course, certain people put themselves up to formally be in charge of, or represent, other people— like politicians— and they are rightfully held up to a higher standard of public scrutiny... so we can kick them out (vote) if they don’t do what we want to see them do.

Regular people don’t have constituencies.

We don’t need Internet Cancel Brigades riding the World Wide Web day & night making sure people adhere to the ONE TRUE WAY of behaving (theirs).

We just don’t.

Early on I figured out a pretty easy detection system to figure out who is offering constructive criticism/ genuine feedback (important to listen to) & who is just part of a haterbrigade (important to ignore)— they show up in other contexts, not just to pile on or concern troll.

If, like the random lady who keeps a folder on her desktop of comments I made 6 years ago to use every time she gets mad at me on the Internet, they ONLY show up when drama is brewing — you know which basket they belong in & you know what their motivations are.

The people who do engage in other contexts give legitimate feedback (usually privately, if they are earnest— but not always) are really important to listen to.

What they want is the OPPOSITE of cancellation— they want you to BE better & have a bigger platform & voice.

When attacks & Cancel Brigades come from other feminists or progressive people (as opposed to blatant trolls) they are particularly hurtful to the individual, but also harmful to the movement as a whole.

Vigilante justice is dangerous.

Do we want a culture of no forgiveness?

Do we want a culture where every thought, argument, comment, mistake you’ve ever made is not part of *discourse* but another snapshot to be used against you in Random Internet Stranger Court?

I don’t.

Fundamentalism fosters fear, ignorance & stagnation.

It’s not healthy.