
Cancel culture takes the fun out of life, says comedian John Cleese - RickJWagner
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-john-cleese/cancel-culture-takes-the-fun-out-of-life-says-comedian-john-cleese-idUSKCN24M2QV
======
nkurz
Cleese's 1987 monologue on "extremism" is delightful and well worth the two
minutes it takes to watch:

 _What we never hear about extremism is its advantages. Well the biggest
advantage of extremism is that it makes you feel good because it provides you
with enemies. Let me explain. The great thing about having enemies is that you
can pretend that all the badness in the whole world is in your enemies and all
the goodness in the whole world is in you. Attractive isn 't it? So if you
have a lot of anger and resentment in you anyway, and you therefore enjoy
abusing people, then you can pretend that you're only doing it because these
enemies of yours are such very bad persons, and that if it wasn't for them
you'd actually be good-natured and courteous and rational all the time._

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNhPMQnWu4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLNhPMQnWu4)

------
WorldMaker
I came up with a good analogy the other day for "cancel culture" as a renewal
more than a destructive tendency, and it's an analogy baked into the name so
partly intended despite easily forgot. We already have a "cancel culture":
every season we cancel a few TV shows so new ones get a shot. In more than a
century of radio and TV show cancellations we haven't yet run out of "fun",
have we? We keep finding new sources.

This other sort of sociopolitical "cancel culture" seems nearly as effective
(or not) as radio/TV cancellation: shows still show up in rerun in syndication
sometimes, it doesn't stop (and isn't really intended to stop) people with
tapes/DVDs at home from enjoying rewatches. Even early shows in TV show
history were sometimes re-edited for syndication to remove jokes intended for
a live audience that didn't always land or that needed a context that
syndication could not provide. (Today sometimes shows going to syndication
need re-editing because the show doesn't have the rights to original broadcast
music.)

While there are of course extreme proponents of "cancel culture", a lot of it
does boil down to certain forms of "audience" dissatisfaction and a request to
maybe air a new "pilot", see if a new series is waiting in the wings ready to
wow the audiences. That's not to take the "fun out of life", but to find new
sources of fun in life.

~~~
bmn__
The analogy sucks because there's a huge disconnect between how you portray
cancelling and what happens in reality.

------
GreeniFi
I don’t live in a culture where culture wars are a big thing, probably due to
prosperity and a high degree of homogeneity. But because I consume US and UK
media, I’m aware of the term “cancel culture”.

The questions I have are:

(1) Can someone direct me to evidence it actually exists in a way that was
tangibly different to the past? I have a suspicion that a large part of power
is about whose voice gets heard, and someone was always getting “cancelled”. I
ask this question as the demographic that complains most about cancel culture
(mine incidentally) is quite narrow!

(2) Is “cancel culture” an aggressive form of product-market fit? Ie if your
wares aren’t attractive, you’re forced to iterate (twitterate?) those views
until they find a market.

~~~
true_religion
Personally, I don’t believe it is any different now than it was before. The
issue is that it’s not liberals and progressives being ostracized anymore.

20 years ago, we had Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the army, which was cancel
culture written into institutional policy.

40 years ago, people were “cancelled” merely by being born dark skinned, and
by law would never take prestigious jobs, or even eat in the front of a
restaurant, or walk around after dark in certain towns.

Now conservatives are feeling the heat of American culture, which has always
been direct prescriptive when it comes to right and wrong, in or out. It’s not
that anything has changed, but you are hearing new voices calling out in
complaint.

~~~
gremlinsinc
Also don't forget red scare / mccarthyism. Cancelled any semblance of
socialism being instituted, even though universal healthcare was called for by
many leaders back in the 50s/60's including Eisenhower and JFK.

------
dtech
Is cancel culture a real thing among comedians, as in are there real-life
examples of comedians who got canceled because of edgy jokes?

Lewis C.K. and got cancelled because of unwanted sexual acts, similar to other
actors. It had nothing to with his humor or acts.

~~~
DanBC
And it's hard to describe Louis CK as "cancelled" when he's still touring to
packed audiences.

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-
entertainment/2020/03/11...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-
entertainment/2020/03/11/louis-ck-new-standup/)

------
luckylion
Went to the Front Page, quickly got cancelled. I guess Cleese might be hitting
a nerve.

~~~
CompanionCuuube
It'll take more tries, but eventually the fourth one will stay up.

