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The debate about whether cancelling people is good or bad can't be settled because it operates on an ethical theory of either utilitarianism (it has good/bad effects) or rules (bad people should have bad things happen vs. people shouldn't be mean).
These always go in circles.
These always go in circles.
The better question views ethics as a process of transformation through practice. We should do what grows us into the kind of people we should want to be, and shouldn't do things that build up bad character.
The question of "how does cancelling transform us?" is much more useful
The question of "how does cancelling transform us?" is much more useful
The "virtue ethics" framework is particularly well-suited to twitter, where the effects of things in the outside world are typical minor, but people's character changes profoundly as a result of how they participate on here.
Also @prisonculture is a gift and a gem and we all will be better people if we actually grapple with the radical implications of prison abolition, rather than just adopting it as an aesthetic or a policy position.
