Rant: Calling out a bad take on cancel culture got me blocked by 30 people in one night

So last week I posted in a local facebook group about that whole situation with the baker in Denver who wouldn't make a cake for a gay couple. I just said the guy was legally in the wrong but people treating him like a villain was overkill. Within 3 hours I had 30 people block me and like 50 angry comments calling me a bigot. I wasn't even defending him, just saying the cancel mob went too far. Learned that nuance is dead in these groups. Has anyone else been jumped on for not picking a side hard enough?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_nina24d ago

Nuance is dead" is exactly the problem, but I think you might be giving yourself too much credit here. Saying a guy who legally discriminated against someone shouldn't be treated like a villain is kind of picking a side hard, it just happens to be the side that looks like a cop-out. The whole "I'm not defending him" thing rings hollow when you're actually arguing that people who were hurt by his actions are overreacting. Sometimes the mob is wrong, sure, but in this case the baker was wrong and people have a right to be mad about it. Maybe the 30 blocks say more about how your take landed than about the cancel mob being unreasonable.

uma68524d ago

You make a really good point. It does feel like saying "I'm not defending him but..." is just a softer way to defend him while looking like you're above it all. People have every right to be angry when they're the ones being hurt, not just watching from the sidelines.

elizabethg1822d ago

The whole "I'm not defending him but" thing really hits on something I see all the time these days. It's like people try to sound reasonable by putting a little distance between themselves and the hot take, but the actual argument still supports the same side. I've noticed this same pattern everywhere, from arguments about who should wait in line at the hardware store to big national stuff, folks want the credit for being fair without actually taking a stand.