Professor Hill: Cancellation Culture Leads to Totalitarianism in the United States This opinion was expressed in an interview with “Lenta.ru” by professor of philosophy from De Paul University (Chicago, Illinois) Jason Hill.
According to him, the phenomenon of the culture of cancellation can be roughly divided into two types. The first is the censure of those who deviated from the “new ethics”, which is now being imposed as the only true one. “Another form of the abolition of culture, which, in my opinion, is even more pernicious, is the erasure of history. This is a step towards totalitarianism in the West, ”the professor emphasized. In an effort to break with the racist past, American activists demolish and desecrate monuments to the Confederates and even the founding fathers of the United States.
The culture of cancellation, Hill noted, has led to people actually being judged not in the courthouse, but in the media. “People are being 'canceled' without due process of law and denied the opportunity to confront the charges brought against them. In other words, the presumption of guilt prevails over the presumption of innocence, “he said.
Along with the culture of abolition, a culture of fear is emerging, said Amanda Kuntz, associate professor of sociology at the University of Central Florida, in an interview with Lenta.ru. “People are afraid that they will not be able to express their opinions or follow their own values without someone coming in, shutting them down and 'canceling' them,” she explained.
“It seems to everyone that they have their own truth, and they do not try to understand what others are saying and what they believe. Instead of communicating and exchanging opinions, instead of really listening to what the other person is saying, people put labels on each other. And that can cause serious controversy, ”added Koontz.
A culture of revocation is a modern form of criticizing and punishing an individual or group of individuals by depriving support, judging and boycotting both online and in the real world. The reason can be either a controversial or politically incorrect statement out loud, or a text post on the Internet. This often leads to job loss, deprivation of previously received awards and the destruction of a person's reputation.
The reasons for bullying people whose views contradict the new morality have become one of the central themes of the Lenta.ru project entitled “Problems of the First World “. The materials are united by the theme of the crisis of liberal values in the Western world and the split in society. They talk about how the ideas of freedom and universal equality are turning into an instrument of oppression, and the struggle for the rights of some groups of people turns into the powerlessness of others.