Entertainment, political correctness and cancel culture

@hightor,

I don't understand why the Proud Boys using a hand gesture as a "symbol of solidarity" upsets you. Even if it is true.... so what?

Being outraged over a hand gesture is silly.

1 Reply

@maxdancona,

max, for what I hope is the last time, it doesn't upset me. I made the post because longjon claimed that it had no connection to white power. I posted two pictures which showed it being used by advocates of white power. I'm not on a witch hunt for people who think differently than I and signify it with a hand gesture. I was correcting longjon.

Quote:

The problem is where someone ezpresses an opinion on Facebook or a forum, and then it gets to the angry liberal mob who them takes it to their employer to get them fired.

It's not just a liberal thing — the same happens when angry right-wing mobs decide that someone's opinions are unacceptable. My previous response is pertinent:

Quote:

Neither our society nor our democracy are perfect and when fractious issues arise there are, unfortunately, going to be victims of various degrees of innocence or blamelessness. Yes, the 'all lives matter' incidents can be very troubling but that's what happens when a deadly serious issue is turned into a three word slogan that really needs to be explained.

The phenomenon isn't new, but social media make it much more prominent and easier to raise a stink. But I remember teachers getting reprimanded or fired for things they said in the '60s. As far as I'm concerned, it's a great argument for self-censorship on FB, or better than that, telling Zuckerberg to take his app and shove it. Old-fashioned message boards like this one are better if you want to express yourself more freely under a screen name. You know, like hightor who thinks poor lives don't matter.

1 Reply

@hightor,

1. I don't take longjon very seriously. I don't think you should either. I think he is interesting only as a counter-point to Izzy's bellicose form of political absolutism.

2. You are correct that counter-culture isn't exclusively liberal. You are correct that there are historical examples of similar trends that were targeting liberal beliefs.

3. In 2021, the most damaging examples of cancel culture are where people from the political left are censoring ideas they don't like. The people being targeted are people JK Rawlings, and James Damore who question liberal ideas on race and gender.

I am more than willing to criticize the extremism of the political right, and there are a number of ways that the right-wing is acting in 2021 that is damaging to society.

However, in the specific topic of cancel culture, it is the left that is doing the most of the canceling. When comedians and public speakers talk about not being willing to perform on college campuses because of the outrage mobs, it isn't the right they are talking about.

1 Reply

@maxdancona,

Quote:

However, in the specific topic of cancel culture, it is the left that is doing the most of the canceling.

I'm reminded of when Dr. Seuss' publisher decided to no longer print 6 of his books due to offensive content. From what I can tell, the publisher was not pressured by the public to stop printing the books nor was there any public discourse on the books before the announcement.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/07/dr-seuss-books-product-recall-cancel-culture

However, that didn't stop conservative pundits and lawmakers from claiming that "cancel culture" was responsible. Senator Ted Cruz even sold copies of Green Eggs & Ham (that he also signed himself) for $60 as part of fundraising efforts; keep in mind that Green Eggs & Ham was not one of the 6 books being discontinued.

https://www.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_604b5123c5b672fce4ebf541

1 Reply

@Rebelofnj,

For the record....I have never claimed that the right-wing in the US is any less silly than the left-wing.

Both political extremes in the US act in ways that are ridiculous.

0 Replies

I have only heard the term "cancel culture" used recently and I have only generally seen it used in reference to entertainment.

I don't think WB should scrap Pepé Le Pew from all future cartoon projects entirely. I think they should REFORM the character.

In a scene that was scrapped from the new Space Jam movie, Lebron James WAS going to call Pepé out about his inappropriate behavior towards females after Pepé admits the cat he used to pursue in the cartoons filed a sexual harassment suit against him, and after Pepé tried getting fresh with a human woman in a bar.

I am guessing they dropped this scene because they decided it was too adult for what's supposed to be a kids'/family movie.

That scrapped movie scene probably would have gone over the heads of most kids anyway.

The director who was initially working on the film wanted to include it but after that director left the project the director's replacement scrapped it.

1 Reply

I posted the thread topic on another internet forum.

I asked:

"What other changes are going to made to cartoons, and entertainment in general, because certain things aren't considered socially and/or culturally appropriate anymore?"

I was told:

"Most shows in general are making less racist, homophobic jokes and less cruel to animals."

Someone else told me:

"Cancel culture has been around for centuries in one from or another, the only thing new about it is the term. While you have two side eternally trying to cancel each other out, it's just been heavily politicized these days where you have one side trying to play the victim card by accusing the other side of trying to cancel them out."

This same person said:

"The term cancel culture has been heavily used by the right in recent years, with many conservative politicians now using it (including Trump), to scare people into supporting them, and generating sympathy towards them. Like a lot of things that become popular, the term is being abused and thrown around at everything."

1 Reply

@JGoldman10,

Quote:

Someone else told me:

"Someone else" knows what he's talking about. In the electronic age a catchy phrase can be spread around the world with a click, but there's a long history of artists and intellectuals shunning each other and their representative schools of art and literature. maxdancona points to the Red Scare in the '50s. I remember in elementary school when they'd have us "Trick of Treat for UNICEF" (do they still do that?) and UN-hating conservatives wouldn't let their kids participate. Consumer boycotts — "Don't Buy Grapes" — are another example. They just didn't have the saturation potential that these social fits of pique do now.

Have you followed the news about the novelist Phillip Roth's biographer? Stop the presses!

0 Replies

@Rebelofnj,

Rebelofnj wrote:

WB did rework Pepé Le Pew's character a few years ago so that he was a James Bond-style spy who chased after an enemy fox spy. It worked out better than expected.
[Youtube]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lJkOXEYhEUQ[/Youtube]

Was Pepé still chasing after females and imposing himself on them when they didn't want anything to do with him as a spy?

0 Replies

@JGoldman10,

Quote:

I am guessing they dropped this scene because they decided it was too adult for what's supposed to be a kids'/family movie.

And yet characters from very R Rated films will make appearances in the sequel. I doubt most young kids today have seen A Clockwork Orange.
https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3658587/space-jam-new-legacy-trailer-pennywise-king-kong-joker-others-cheer-lebron-james-video/

Quote:

That scrapped movie scene probably would have gone over the heads of most kids anyway.

Most animated films and children's films today do still have scenes that kids wouldn't understand. Pixar's Soul has brief scenes mentioning famous people in history (Carl Jung, Nicolaus Copernicus, George Orwell) that most grade school kids wouldn't know about yet. The famous people actually do play a role in the story, especially in the climax.

2 Replies

@Rebelofnj,

It was banned over here until after Kubrick’s death.

Something about it struck a nerve with British scallies.

0 Replies

@Rebelofnj,

Hi Rebel. I know that about the new Space Jam movie. People were talking about the Droogs making a cameo in the movie.

1 Reply

@JGoldman10,

I get the feeling that you still will not see Space Jam 2 in theaters, despite talking about it for months (maybe years?), and you will claim that you are too busy in July as your excuse for not seeing a 2 hour film.

2 Replies

@Rebelofnj,

Not really interested in seeing it. There's too much going on in the new movie I don't agree with.

I don't have time and money right now to go see that movie in theatres anyway. I'm very busy dealing with a LOT of personal business right now.

I was more hyped to see the original when it came out.

2 Replies

@Rebelofnj,

I moved on from talking about the movie.

0 Replies

@JGoldman10,

Yet you’ve spent months on end talking about it.

Why not get excited about a forthcoming release you actually intend to see?

That’s what most people do.

0 Replies

@JGoldman10,

JGoldman10 wrote:

Not really interested in seeing it. There's too much going on in the new movie I don't agree with.

Having not seen the movie, how do you know there is anything you don't agree with?

3 Replies

@engineer,

I'm guessing he is using the trailer for Space Jam 2 to form his opinion.

He did previously said he didn't like Frozen based on his pastor's factually inaccurate review of the film (apparently, the pastor said the film was somehow about transgenderism?) JG himself never watched the film or the sequel.

1 Reply

@engineer,

I've read about it, seen images from the movie online, seen videos in which the movie was discussed and seen trailers for the movie.

I've seen, heard and read enough about it to formulate an opinion about it.

There are certain types of characters who make cameos in it that I don't like, like characters like horror films, and characters from R-rated movies like the Droogs from A Clockwork Orange, and characters from shows like Game of Thrones. That's not something I agree with as a Christian.

0 Replies

@Rebelofnj,

The Frozen movies, like a LOT of cartoon films Disney makes, glorify witchcraft. I am not interested in them.

1 Reply

Entertainment, political correctness and cancel culture

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know