Republicans are trying to outlaw wokeness. Literally.

[DonViejo]

How the right is trying to “cancel” left-wing speech.

By Sean [e-mail]@vox.com Mar 11, 2021, 8:00am EST

We’re in the midst of something like a moral panic over so-called “cancel culture.”

As I noted a few months ago, there’s a rising contingent of thinkers — on the left and right — who believe a culture of censoriousness has engulfed intellectual life over the last few years.

To state the obvious upfront, it’s a genuine problem, although I don’t think it’s quite the existential threat some have suggested. And I consider it a debate not so much about the right to speak, but rather about where to draw the boundaries and what sorts of social sanctions are permissible when those boundaries are transgressed.

But when the topic is broached, it’s almost always framed as a left-wing problem. This is somewhat misleading. The left, of course, has its excesses, and there are very real efforts to not only suppress unpopular speech but also to punish violations of new orthodoxies.

There is, however, an emergent cancel culture on the right, one that is every bit as pernicious as what we’re seeing on the left, only it hasn’t received nearly as much attention. Whereas the left is mostly exercising cultural power on campuses and social media, the right is introducing legislation (here and here and here) intended to stifle left-wing speech in public schools across the country.

more
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/22311009/cancel-culture-republicans-wokeness-free-speech

[Wounded Bear]

1. I don't think I'd call RW cancel culture "emergent"...

they've been at it for many years.

[Azathoth]

2. "Whereas the left is mostly exercising cultural power on campuses and social media"

This part isn't exactly true. Cancel culture has most definitely spread out of the academy. Its influence is felt across most social and employment sectors, where it usually impacts those lower down the food chain rather than the fat cats on top.

It also isn't just a social activity, at least in other Western countries outside the US. Jordan Peterson became a thing because of his vocal opposition to a proposed Canadian law that would not only cancel, but criminally punish, people who referred to someone using the wrong gender pronouns. The UK, notoriously, passed laws providing criminal punishments for "grossly offensive" speech.

So while it's fine to point out that the right has gone cuckoo bananas over this issue, pretending that it's just an obscure fad confined to a couple college campuses on the left doesn't fly.

[Politicub]

6. Most large corporations are adding employees who are concerned

with diversity and inclusion. D&I traditionally lived in a corner of H&R, but now companies are adding c-level executives with staffs whose job it is to promote equity and inclusion throughout the organization and all of its practices.

[RAB910]

3. Remember when the right tried to cancel NFL players?

They are as dishonest as they are anti-American

Plus I don't like how the evil people on the right are trying to demonize the term "woke" like they did liberal. They are truly immoral disgusting creatures. Our nation would be better off without them

[Politicub]

4. This isn't going to go well for the right. They may pass laws banning

speech or behavior, but they can’t hide themselves away from popular culture. Liberals dominate in the social sphere.

Higher-ed scholarship only is perceived as having a liberal bias because it does not trade in the mythologies of the right. Scholars research in an objective way because that’s about the only way to conduct research that you can publish.

There are right-leaning profs on college campuses. And they can be selective in what they teach. But even they would run out of material if they relied on skin-deep conservative sources. I suppose economic theory would be ripe for right-wing indoctrination. And probably some law programs. But for the most part, probably not. Oh, and the college republicans, which are mainly filled with people who are conflicted about their preconceptions and what they learn.

It took me a few weeks to have the scales removed from my hillbilly eyes after I started college. I wasn’t conservative in any sense, but I was indoctrinated in fundamentalist religion, small-town social toxicity and relentless homophobia. What woke me (30 years before people were running around decrying woke-ness) were general-ed classes and reading primary sources, not from professors who led discussions about material.

And I loved it. And felt alive and voraciously hungry to learn more.

On edit: There’s more to be hopeful about. People majoring in education are exposed to learning as a way of achieving social liberation, and the praxis brings it outside of university walls.

[cyclonefence]

5. The term "cancel culture" is misleading and just plain inaccurate

What's being "canceled" are privately-owned commodities, being removed or modified by private owners of the property. Nobody is "canceling" anything in the sense the Repubs want us to believe. Capitalists are merely responding to pressures of the market, which is how this is supposed to work, isn't it? Do the Repubs think the government ought to have oversight over private business decisions? Geeze.

Actions have consequences. You'd think the party of bootstraps and personal responsibility will be all in favor of that.

[thucythucy]

7. "An emergent cancel culture on the right"?

Tell that to the Dixie Chicks.

"Emergent" my a$$. The right has been attacking free speech since before I was born.

[bullwinkle428]

8. Is this a surprise, after trying to outlaw kindness? (Georgia prohibiting the

delivery of food and water to those waiting on line to vote)

[Initech]

9. This would be an instant free speech case.

And quite the interesting dilemma for Trump's SCOTUS, but even I would think that they would side with the 1st amendment on this one!

[haele]

10. There is no Cancel Culture. There is a growing Consequence Culture, though.

All actions and activities have consequences, good and bad. If a culture wants to be Just and Ethical, the consequences for actions must be acknowledged in that manner. Ifa culture wants to be Winner take All, the consequences again will be acknowledged, but in such a chaotic way that will never be completed until the "last man standing" in effect clears the board and leaves the "game".
The Right's view of "winner takes all" logically has the consequences that only "one" reaches the end, and then it'd "Game Over" - but there would be nothing left for the rest of the world.
Woke-ness (which is not a term I particularly like, it's just too precious) is just another way of saying this is the Real Life, not just one person or group's fantasy.

Haele