My reply to all those fans of cancel culture

My reply to all those fans of cancel culture like Andrew Azzopardi and the Commission on Gender-based violence and Domestic Violence who embrace it as a way to ostracize boycot or shun those whom they decide have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner is:

I am absolutely horrified by cancel culture. I was a victim of it myself and still am. To make matters worse this country has the sort of culture that encourages the dictum “Don’t speak up because if you do they will make you repent it and you will suffer.” Being a woman in this country believe it or not makes you a better victim of cancel culture. As long as I am acting speaking or writing in a way which offends the narrative and the mainstream then the ostracizing boycotting or shunning are guaranteed.

We are currently living in this scenario of cancel culture. Even freedom of speech and freedom of expression have become its victims.
Cancel culture is not just a matter of holding an opinion. There are certain topics which can be debated. Others cannot because truth is neither a theory nor is it subjective especially since we are living in a world of half truths. We can disagree and remain friends when the topic is Jurassic Park but not when the topic is human rights.

I am aware of the importance of discernment critical analysis and calling out abhorrent behavior but this must neither float through a hypocritical aura nor through cancel culture.

Moreover all too frequently cancel culture feels like something else. I see cancel culture as a misplaced form of aggression a superiority complex a tyrannical longing that passes for kindness or someone acting out of anger at themselves for actions they have taken. I think to myself “Where is this coming from in these people who are all in favour of it?” Is it connected to any rage at those whom they consider to be a threat to humanity? Is it a disconnection with any sacred activism or the perception that “I am sacred but you are not?” or “I am much better than you?”

Or is it an unresolved issue within you: some long-buried resentment looking for a place to take root? It almost seems as though by canceling someone else I’m trying to cancel that old content. If we want to maintain the cancel culture in our society we need to be very aware of where our own urges to cancel originate.

And where were all those journalists who today speak against cancel culture when there were attacks against others who were victims of cancel culture? Where are they when Christians are being cancelled? Where were the Government Commissions created to safeguard women when I was being canceled out? Where are they when the LGBTIQA+ culture is cancelling our students? Where were they when the non-vaccinated were being shamed and ostracised because they refused the vaccine?