Has Cancel Culture Gone too Far?

[Skycaptain]

To think that the car manufacturer SEAT branded a model the Boca Negra a couple of years ago and nobody batted an eyelid. 

[Pandark]

5 hours ago, Perspektiv said:

People with zero intestinal fortitude in times like this

It's become a cultural custom to throw away food on the "best before" date. People are discouraged to use their senses and judge for themselves. Most prefer to stay on the safe side, even if it's based off other people's guesswork. Oh the chaos that would follow if we'd stop printing best before dates.

[Guest]

9 hours ago, Skycaptain said:

To think that the car manufacturer SEAT branded a model the Boca Negra a couple of years ago and nobody batted an eyelid. 

I think the thing with Uncle Ben's, is how large of a brand that it is. Makes it easier to target it. 

 

Am surprised people aren't complaining about Lucky Charms, demeaning Irish people. 

 

Or the Pillsbury doughboy is offensive to fat and pale people. As is the Michelin man. 

 

Why stop there! 

 

I remember reading some thought a bottle of filled syrup of Aunt Jemima reminded them of a black woman with hips. That this disgusted them. 

 

If you're thinking of a black woman's hips as you pour syrup on your pancakes, aren't you the problem?

 

And when the bottle is empty, it reminds you of Ghost with Patrick Swayze? Is that a shot at dead people?

 

I don't think I could ever be politically correct. 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Pandark said:

People are discouraged to use their senses and judge for themselves

Then you're just raising a society of people who need to have their hands held all the time. Can't think for themselves. 

 

And Trump doesn't believe he needs immigrants?

 

Who do you think will still have the balls to open a business without hesitating themselves into failure?

[Guest]

Why are we arguing about a small section of internet culture? I mean you see the supposed "cancelled" people lay low for a bit then they just pop back up after their trip to rehab and a half-assed mea culpa. It doesn't matter in the long run because you can only "cancel"people who are small fish and can't erase their past deeds through applications of heavy doses of cash to the right people. 

[Charna]

No. Then again, I don't use social media anymore (only used facebook, but deleted it after their profiling got too creepy and noticeable) and outside of that bubble I haven't even heard the term.

[Pandark]

1 hour ago, Perspektiv said:

Who do you think will still have the balls to open a business without hesitating themselves into failure?

I imagine there are some parties who can afford to take risks in this market.

 

1 hour ago, MovieMadman said:

Why are we arguing about a small section of internet culture?

Simply because people feel entitled to take offense where none is given.

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, Pandark said:

Simply because people feel entitled to take offense where none is given

So you're taking offence at someone else taking offence? How does that make your position any better? I'm serious, not just trying to be picky or anything?

[Pandark]

4 minutes ago, MovieMadman said:

So you're taking offence at someone else taking offence? How does that make your position any better? I'm serious, not just trying to be picky or anything?

No, I'm trying to stop this mindless witch hunt. People destroying statues including gen. Grant is a symptom of a much bigger problem.

[KiraS]

Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima had their origins in reconstruction-era propaganda for segregation, lynching, and voter suppression. Since African-American people are facing all three problems today, it doesn't seem like a big deal to move on. Especially when the parent companies remodel their other brands on the order of once a decade. 

 

So they change their branding away from references to a pop-culture genre that largely died before most of their consumers were born. They sell more product as a result. Isn't that a win-win for big business? 

[Guest]

21 minutes ago, Pandark said:

symptom of a much bigger problem.

How did we get from a small group of whiny internet kids to an apparently big problem?

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, KiraS said:

Uncle Ben and Aunt Jemima had their origins in reconstruction-era propaganda for segregation, lynching, and voter suppression. Since African-American people are facing all three problems today, it doesn't seem like a big deal to move on. Especially when the parent companies remodel their other brands on the order of once a decade. 

 

So they change their branding away from references to a pop-culture genre that largely died before most of their consumers were born. They sell more product as a result. Isn't that a win-win for big business? 

How dare you suggest we erase history from the minds and libraries of every single living human being and book ever! HOWDAREYOU!😤😂😂😂

[KiraS]

I mean, what next, outrage that Coca-Cola stopped using 60s folk-rock for their trademark jingle? 

 

EDIT: The reality is that brands have moving away from minstrel references in their marketing since the 1950s. The entire legacy of minstrel shows, along with the sheet music and scripts of the original work is readily available through archives and published sources. It's taught in universities and as part of American history. I say that it's dead in that very few people are producing new work in that genre, but its not hard to find revivalists who perform the works in an educational context. So it's not like changing the branding yet again is going to create a historical lacuna. 

[Pandark]

Just now, MovieMadman said:

How did we get from a small group whiny internet kids to an apparently big problem?

This thread is about cancel culture. Destroying the statues goes along with it. Marginalizing this to a bunch of whiny internet kids is going to backfire. Wars have started with iconoclasm.

[Guest]

Okay but how do get from toppling statues to war? I mean there's been statues that were toppled during the relatively peaceful end of in communism in Eastern Europe and as far as I can remember there were no statues toppled before the Civil War. The French Revolution began because of a lack of food and opulence by the ruling class. But of course if you  believe in the equality of all people before the law there is and should be a healthy dose of iconoclasm because most government structures and government officials are enforcing a system of inequality, if not de jure then de facto. So at what point do we no longer allow the memorials of a war fought over an immoral system to stand? I'm for all statues that glorify war to be removed from the public sphere and to be placed in museums. It's time we got over all this. 

[KiraS]

7 minutes ago, Pandark said:

This thread is about cancel culture. Destroying the statues goes along with it. Marginalizing this to a bunch of whiny internet kids is going to backfire. Wars have started with iconoclasm.

Such as when the good people of New York City, having received a copy of the Declaration of Independence, melted down a statue of King George III to make musket-balls? 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, MovieMadman said:

I mean you see the supposed "cancelled" people lay low for a bit

If this is due to someone getting butthurt over nothing, the fact one can have that level of power over their lives, is sad. 

 

[Pandark]

16 minutes ago, MovieMadman said:

I mean there's been statues that were toppled during the relatively peaceful end of in communism in Eastern Europe and as far as I can remember there were no statues toppled before the Civil War.

In Western Europe there were.

 

15 minutes ago, KiraS said:

Such as when the good people of New York City, having received a copy of the Declaration of Independence, melted down a statue of King George III to make musket-balls? 

No, that's just being resourceful.

[KiraS]

Ah, so a riot involving the iconoclasm of a ineffectual king of questionable mental health is justified by history, but the actions of city councils empowered to make decisions about the allocation of city-owned lands is not? 

[Guest]

Just now, Pandark said:

No, that's just being resourceful

Oh, so it's all contextual. If it comes down to reminding people of atrocities and where their place in society should be, it's okay. But if you need bullets go for it. ( I am assuming you know that 90% of the monuments were erected after approximately 1900 right? And another building spurt happened in the late 50s and 60s).

Anyways back to cancel culture: what if it is someone who has used their power or presence in the public eye to commit serious crimes like Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein? Haven't they surrendered their right to be heard?

[Guest]

But isn't "canceling" them just a grander way of plugging your ears? 

[KiraS]

"Cancel culture," primarily consists of people exercising their freedom of speech to criticize people in the public eye. Conservatives certainly do it as well, and are much more effective at organizing boycotts and negative review campaigns. My objection is that tweet storms about celebrities really don't do much other than create bad publicity. And it does little to help the rest of us. 

[Pandark]

10 minutes ago, KiraS said:

Ah, so a riot involving the iconoclasm of a ineffectual king of questionable mental health is justified by history, but the actions of city councils empowered to make decisions about the allocation of city-owned lands is not? 

I thought they were resisting independence, so assumed melting their own statue to defend the empire. But honestly my knowledge of US history is limited.

 

13 minutes ago, MovieMadman said:

 

Anyways back to cancel culture: what if it is someone who has used their power or presence in the public eye to commit serious crimes like Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein? Haven't they surrendered their right to be heard?

No, they get to have a trial like any other criminal.

[Guest]

Yeah cancel culture seems to be a type of purity test that if you don't pass you don't gain access. That's why I don't put much faith in it being much of a thing, just a fad like the Intellectual Dark Web a few years ago. You can fool some of the people some of the time but not for long.

[KiraS]

I'll repeat what I said up-thread. I really wish people who invest so much into tweet storms about celebrities got something like a swear jar instead and donated the cash to an organization that provides help to people dealing with these issues in everyday life. 

[erf]

.

[Mostly Peaceful Ryan]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/media/splash-mountain-disney/index.html

 

It appears that Splash mountain in disney, will be rethemed. This makes me really sad as that was one of my favorite rides as a kid that I remembered riding with my Dad. I am not sure if the new retheme will be better, but my nostalgia for this ride will probably make it so I will prefer the original. 

[Guest]

Cancel culture reminds me of PETA calling to rename fish, sea kittens.

 

Mind you, would have brought an inappropriate level of humor to shark attacks. 

[Guest]

On 6/23/2020 at 5:13 PM, MovieMadman said:

But isn't "canceling" them just a grander way of plugging your ears? 

Sure, if by plugging one's ears, you demand others to as well. 

 

Oh. And a passionate social media post to ensure it is viral and viewed by millions. 

 

And the news compounding the now destroyed reputation through the mud. 

 

I don't think collective ear plugging is as damaging as being accused of guilt without due process. 

[Guest]

What happened to just disagreeing?

 

Why does one have to cancel, death threat and destroy anything that doesn't align with their own sensitivities?