I often say that the woke do not want to win intellectually or academically, they want to win socially. The perfect example of this is *NOT* cancel culture, it is the phenomenon of the "call-out." Sometimes people think call-outs and cancel culture are the same thing and that’s not quite right. So, lets briefly explain both call-outs and cancel culture and how they are different, then I'll explain what call-outs are, how they work, and how to deal with them.
Good advice. When there are pile-ons I love it when I see screeds of "call outs", challenges, tired tropes and debunked myths trotted out but receiving zero replies. Life is too short to waste time engaging with bad-faith actors.
And if you can take away their power to intimidate you, to scare/coerce you into compliance, than you will have removed whatever power they held over you.
I've always used the solution of pointing at the person, calling him to the attention of friends, and then all of us laugh at him...been working for me since 1976.
A childhood of being unpopular, of being mocked, of making it easy for them by being clumsy etc, while also knowing your parents love you and you are smart, really goes a long way to insulate one against this tactic. Because you know better than to care-at least very much- if they all think you are evil, or stupid, or whatever. You get a sense that your inner self is ok no matter what these conformist idiots think!
This is a very good illustration of the effect of social media. Before social media you have to convince your friends to physically travel to the rendezvous point and mob your target. There is travel cost, hospital cost, weapon cost, etc. With social media coordinating a pile on is so easy.
Online Cancel Culture is a trial run for the real life of removal of persons. If they can successfully cancel someone online without pushback then they can do it in real life where it means imprisonment or worse and not just a loss to online access or a job.
Hello, Wokal! You ended your Post #6 with the following statement: "how do we deal with deconstruction? How do we push back on it when we see it, and what tools do we have at our disposal to prevent the slide into relativism and nihilism that deconstruction pulls us toward?"
I was really looking forward to it, but it seems that you lost interest or got derailed into another topics. Are you going to close the topic of Deconstruction? Of course, this is your substact and you can do whatever you want. However, if you want to achieve your initial goal, a little bit of continuity would be helpful!
Good advice. When there are pile-ons I love it when I see screeds of "call outs", challenges, tired tropes and debunked myths trotted out but receiving zero replies. Life is too short to waste time engaging with bad-faith actors.
And if you can take away their power to intimidate you, to scare/coerce you into compliance, than you will have removed whatever power they held over you.
I've always used the solution of pointing at the person, calling him to the attention of friends, and then all of us laugh at him...been working for me since 1976.
A childhood of being unpopular, of being mocked, of making it easy for them by being clumsy etc, while also knowing your parents love you and you are smart, really goes a long way to insulate one against this tactic. Because you know better than to care-at least very much- if they all think you are evil, or stupid, or whatever. You get a sense that your inner self is ok no matter what these conformist idiots think!
Another winner, Wokal.
In my readings of CRT studies and books, I found one that presented almost a perfect distillation of what is so pernicious and wrong about it. I wrote about it here: https://ashleybrookslawrence.medium.com/the-perfect-microcosm-for-all-that-is-wrong-with-crt-389528f2e884
I think it's a useful illustration (pun intended).
You are so insightful. Thank you for this.
This is a very good illustration of the effect of social media. Before social media you have to convince your friends to physically travel to the rendezvous point and mob your target. There is travel cost, hospital cost, weapon cost, etc. With social media coordinating a pile on is so easy.
Online Cancel Culture is a trial run for the real life of removal of persons. If they can successfully cancel someone online without pushback then they can do it in real life where it means imprisonment or worse and not just a loss to online access or a job.
Hello, Wokal! You ended your Post #6 with the following statement: "how do we deal with deconstruction? How do we push back on it when we see it, and what tools do we have at our disposal to prevent the slide into relativism and nihilism that deconstruction pulls us toward?"
I was really looking forward to it, but it seems that you lost interest or got derailed into another topics. Are you going to close the topic of Deconstruction? Of course, this is your substact and you can do whatever you want. However, if you want to achieve your initial goal, a little bit of continuity would be helpful!
Thanks for all the great work!