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1/ Many people think I claim to have been "canceled." This is not true. I've never claimed this. I chose to leave academia because I believe cancel culture was likely successful in destroying my reputation enough that pursuing a tenure track job would have been a waste of time.
2/ But I wasn't fired. My recent essay described my experience dealing with cancel culture, but I don't maintain that I *was* canceled or that I didn't receive any academic job offers last year and this year because of cancel culture. That may be the case, but I can't prove it.
3/ The worst part about being targeted for cancelation is that the effects are often hidden. There's no way for me to know how many (if any) job interviews I DIDN'T receive because of cancel culture, because NOT getting an interview isn't detectable the same way getting fired is.
4/ Cancel culture doesn't need to always end in a big obvious display for it to be real or effective. In fact, its indirect effects are worse than its direct effects, IMO, even though its direct effects are more likely to make the news because they're more conspicuous.
5/ So, was I canceled? Maybe? I don't know. Whether or not that label applies to me doesn't matter to me at all. Either way, I was targeted by and experienced cancel culture in action, and it's effect on my career was certainly nonzero, and likely quite substantial, IMO.
