What 'cancel culture' and its critics get wrong

The problem with "cancel culture" has nothing to do with the act of cancelation.

That's something those behind the trend and those standing against it need to recognize. The effort to excommunicate from public life insufficiently "woke" (morally progressive) journalists, writers, comedians, and other prominent figures, including trying to get them fired, is likely to backfire. But not because the act of social and cultural cancelation itself is illegitimate or egregious.

All cultures "cancel" certain actions and opinions, and often the people associated with them. Ruling certain actions (and even thoughts) morally out of bounds is, in fact, a good part of what cultures do. Even liberal ones. Cultures are repositories of and communal enforcement mechanisms for upholding moral norms, and they do this by valorizing certain moral views and directing opprobrium at others. Doing so reinforces what "we" believe, thereby fostering social cohesion and helping to set moral standards and expectations for the political community as a whole.