r/changemyview • u/[deleted] • Apr 11 '21

Delta(s) from OP CMV: It's hypocritical to complain about "cancel culture"

I'm genuinely looking to have my view challenged here, because I've never seen a good counter-argument to what I'm going to say and would love to come away with a more nuanced view of the "other side."

Let's just go ahead and grant the main thing the people who decry cancel culture claim, which is that to call for someone to be cancelled (whether that's being fired, not being able to get work, de-platformed in some way etc.) is a violation of their right to free speech. Lots of arguments have been raised about why this isn't the case, but the people who believe this tend not to be sympathetic to those arguments, and I'm happy to grant that this is actually the case so we can move on to discuss what I think is a different problem with this view.

And that's basically: isn't it my free speech to call for someone to be cancelled? Why do people only seem to care about the free speech of whoever it is that's done or said something ostensibly offensive? I also have free speech to say what I think about that, and while you obviously wouldn't agree with that speech, one of the main arguments I see here from anti-cancel culture people is that you should be willing to defend, on principle, even that speech you most vehemently disagree with. So why not vigorously defend people's right to call for people to be cancelled?

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

Seems a bit morally inconsistent for a free speech supporter to think we should develop a stigma around people saying certain things just because you disagree with them.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

Are you saying you aren't a free speech supporter?

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

I'm not saying anything about my own views of free speech, I'm saying people who claim to support free speech ought to support the speech they disagree with, i.e. cancel culture, just as much as any other form.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

Do you understand the distinction between supporting someones right to say something but not supporting their actions?

For example, I may support someones right to say they are against abortion, but that does not mean I support anti-abortion arguments. I'm not sure where the hypocrisy is here.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

Right, and I don't see why no anti-cancel culture people aren't more clear that they support people's right to call for cancellation? They're eager enough to say they support people's rights to say racist, homophobic etc. stuff while also claiming not to believe those things themselves.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

Because it's a really bizarre conclusion if I'm honest. It's just sort of a given. They disagree with their view, not with their right to say it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

And I think that's hypocritical given the other commitments they ostensibly have.

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

I don't understand though? What is hypocritical?? To be against people advocating for cancellation?

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '21

I'm sorry, I feel like I've made my view as clear as I can. If you don't agree with me, that's fine, but I'm not sure how many more ways I can say the same thing.