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What it's like to be cancelled

noahbradley.com

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Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#271

Post by FemmeAndroid »

tester756 wrote: post #266
FemmeAndroid wrote: post #221

I cannot imagine a colleague writing the following and not being fired, and effectively outcast from most employers in my industry, especially when it’s happening at industry events: > I was terrible to women. > I preyed on them. I ceaselessly hit on them. I pressured them into sex. I got too drunk and did all manner of dumb things. Yes, I was one of those shitty, creepy sexual predators you hear about. I work in a f…

but where does this quote comes from?

His full apology on twitter:

> I’m sorry.

> l was terrible to women.

> I preyed on them. I ceaselessly hit on them. I pressured them into sex. I got too drunk and did all manner of dumb things. Yes, I was one of those shitty, creepy sexual predators you hear about.

> I was fucking awful.

> I am deeply sorry for everything I did. I apologize for the selfish, cruel, insensitive way I acted. It's no way for anyone to act. I'm so sorry.

> Women deserve better than selfish assholes like I was at those industry events. Everyone there deserves respect. They should be professional environments. They should be safe environments. I violated that. time and time again.

> I'm sorry, I'm sorry to everyone I hurt. I'm sorry to everyone I let down, I'm sorry to everyone.

> I want to thank the peers and friends who called me out for my bad behavior. Without people doing what you do, this sort of behavior would never even be acknowledged, much less changed. We need more people like you who are brave enough to stand up for what's right.

> I was selfish and scared and delayed a public apology for far too long. Private apologies are not enough in a situation like this. So here we are. finally. I wish that I could educate my younger self and snap him out of his self-centered hot-shot ego-trip.

> I want you to know that lacknowledge what happened, I am ashamed, and I want to find ways to repair as much damage as is possible. I will keep putting in the work I will not run. and I will sit with my shame and not turn away from it.

> I’m sorry,

> Noah

See this article reporting on it at the time with a screenshot:

https://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2020/06/noah-bradley-admi...

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#272

Post by nix0n »

overgard wrote: post #99

I've fortunately never been cancelled (I don't think I even have enough of a footprint or visibility for that to happen). From everything I've observed, the absolute worst thing you can do is apologize to the people attempting to cancel you. It's just pouring gasoline on the fire. These people will never say "oh, you learned from your mistakes, I guess I'll back off" . Most of them don't really care about the truth,…

I agree with your (and others on this post) assertion that apologizing doesn't seem to help.

But I'm not convinced that waiting silently for things to blow over actually works. Are there any examples of this?

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#273

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #211
3grdlurker wrote: post #181

We talk about cancel culture like it’s a new horrible thing that’s developed only recently but I don’t see it that way. The internet definitely amplifies the effects, but unkindness begets unkindness, and the consequences or the social cost of one’s unkindness will always catch up to an individual at some point. That said, I draw a line at defamation. When someone is accusing someone online of having committed a crim…

Like so many things, this is something that has existed forever but now it has a new fashionable name and people treat it like it was just invented.

Before the Web 2.0 internet made people’s real names so public, it was in fact quite difficult for things many people did to affect their employment. Your employer simply wouldn’t have been aware of how you were acting somewhere else outside their direct purview. Now, however, if an opponent knows that you are employed at X, they can bring pressure on X to fire you in an extremely public way, such that your employer will buckle to the social pressure lest it affect their bottom line. That simply would not have happened so often prior to about 2007 at least.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#274

Post by dcow »

PaulKeeble wrote: post #48
prepend wrote: post #11

I think the biggest problem with Twitter is that we can’t determine a denominator. Twitter knows, but we don’t know. 100 people tweeting about how this guy is bad might be indicative of a general consensus or might just be 100 people out of a billion Twitter users. People then interpret it as general consensus and pile on. We know the numerator but since we don’t know the denominator of people who didn’t comment, or…

All that happens if you voice your opinion in the opposite direction of an internet mob is you get piled on too. Anyone who has been on the internet must have experienced this more than once. Introducing some facts or measure (which is hard with twitters very tiny character limit that squashes nuance and debate) in a response is just the same thing. The internet mob is a mob and acts like a mob and its best to get ou…

You also have to blame companies/hr for being so reactive and possibly our governments for not taking action to insulate society against the impacts of internet mobs on peoples’ pursuit of happiness. The fact that 100 people on Twitter can get somebody fired just by calling them a rapist with absolutely no proof is a social/societal failure. I highly suspect ending this person’s contracts cost the companies more money than the PR/threat of loss of 100 Twitter users business. Is nobody at these companies that participate in canceling people mature enough to let the storm blow over? Which leads to the social element, good legal systems require the accusers to bear the burden of proof. I think it’s possible that there’s a legal framework by which we could consider it unconstitutional fire somebody for somebody else’s character opinion, essentially firing someone without evidence that they create a hostile work environment or are not performing their duties. Look at CA, you cant use somebody’s criminal record against them when making a hiring decision. That law exists for exactly this reason: incarceration evidently weighs an undue burden on the incarcerated as they try to integrate back into society. And thats for people who’ve been convicted. We’re talking about mob driven allegations.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#275

Post by goda90 »

JackFr wrote: post #258

I’m not unsympathetic with the author, but I have to admit I’m not completely sympathetic either. > I woke up to several people tagging me in a twitter thread for my sleezy behavior at some art events many years ago. I wasn’t that person any more and I wanted to apologize for being an asshole in the past. I had apologized privately for everything, but I hoped it might show my sincerity and commitment to being better…

> But apologizing doesn’t absolve you of bad behavior. And if someone doesn’t accept your apology (possibly believing it’s insincere) and brings up your “sleezy behavior at some art events many years ago”, calling them out and saying I’m not that guy anymore is not really owning his behavior.

What would absolve him of that behavior? Should we live in a society where every single mistake follows you forever, no matter how much you change and try to make it right with the other party?

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#277

Post by PenTest1928 »

tester756 wrote: post #266
FemmeAndroid wrote: post #221

I cannot imagine a colleague writing the following and not being fired, and effectively outcast from most employers in my industry, especially when it’s happening at industry events: > I was terrible to women. > I preyed on them. I ceaselessly hit on them. I pressured them into sex. I got too drunk and did all manner of dumb things. Yes, I was one of those shitty, creepy sexual predators you hear about. I work in a f…

but where does this quote comes from?

It's literally from Noah Bradley's public apology/announcement; he tried to get in front of the growing rumor network by publicly admitting things.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#278

Post by meinfuhrer »

xwdv wrote: post #12

If you find yourself the target of a cancellation attempt, never give in. Never apologize. If you do, the problem isn’t going to go away, it will get worse. No apology is ever enough. No punishment is ever enough. There is no way to redeem yourself in the eyes of the public. Apologizing is making yourself humbled and vulnerable to a mob that does not deserve it. You will roll over to expose your belly in submission a…

You're totally right...the mob does not accept apologies so there's no point. It's better to double down, and maintain your dignity.
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