What it's like to be cancelled • Hacker News Board

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#71

Post by jrochkind1 » Mon, Jun 21, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

noahbradley wrote: post #33

kstrauser wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> “I was terrible to women,” Bradley wrote. “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.” This is literally the first I've heard of Bradley, and I have no knowledge of him outside of this HN post. That's a pretty self-damning quote, though.

Yep, it is. I was trying to take full ownership of what I was like and overplayed what I had done in an effort to not seem like I was downplaying it. It's dumb in hindsight but there it is.

I don't know if you overplayed it, or if if you were dumb.

You had in the past done some terrible things, you agree.

The internet these days tries to utterly destroy people for having in the past done terrible things, with no way out.

This does not in fact make it less likely for people to do terrible things; it does make it less likely for them to admit to them (even to themselves), to apologize to those who have hurt, or to do what those they have hurt need for repair and redress.

So, that's not great, all around, it's true. It's a problem. This response does not actually reduce harm, it just further treats people as disposable.

But if, say, the people you had hurt needed/wanted to hear you say it like that publicly? Then you did the right thing, you didn't do a dumb thing. You owed it to them regardless of consequences, because of the harm you caused. And I respect it. And I think you can feel good about owning up to the terrible things you did, instead of feeling dumb about it, it's the right thing to have done -- which doesn't mean you have to think "the internets" (or your friends :( ) response to you was appropriate.

I'm glad you are figuring out a way out of the hole, and I'm glad you have figured out how to stop treating people like you did in your youth. I respect the way you tell the story without trying to excuse or escape the harm you caused in your youth.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#72

Post by infamouscow » Mon, Jun 21, 2021, 6:43 PM UTC

misiti3780 wrote: post #31

kleiba wrote: post #19

I don't know the guy, and I don't know what happened. That's why I certainly don't want to side with anyone in this specific case. But boy, cancel culture and this whole social justice warrior crap makes me so glad that I moved away from the U.S. many years ago to saner parts of the world. Obviously that is going to get me downvoted to oblivion here on HN. But hey.

Why do you feel impervious to it because you do not live in the US? Cancel cultural is an internet phenomenon.

Maybe the part of the Internet that's in English. I don't see it elsewhere.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#73

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC » Mon, Jun 21, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

I think the libel and defamation laws are too slack in the US. I think Twitter and News Companies who repeat libelous and defamatory tweets about people should be liable.

Society has dealt with how to deal with people spreading rumors and falsehoods about people, and one of the solutions was libel laws. It is not surprising as the. US Supreme Court gutted those laws, and Congress gave safe harbor with section 230 to tech companies, that we have seen a huge spike in these problems.

Hold Twitter, the posters, and any retweeters jointly and severally liable and watch the problem disappear.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#74

Post by volkk » Mon, Jun 21, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

throwaway34017 wrote: post #56

I recently gave a test lecture about a topic in statistics, where I showed a meme that a statistics professor I follow shared on her Twitter feed [1]. I thought it would be safe to include as it didn't get any negative reactions on Twitter and was already being used by a professor in her university class in the US. After the talk I immediately got called out by the women's representative on the hiring commission, who…

based on the fact that you're even writing about it and really reflecting so deeply makes me think that you're probably NOT that kind of person. and that is why all of this crap is so dangerous. actual decent people are collateral damage and anyone is up for dismantling.

my question to those who read this comment is: given all that has happened regarding canceling disgusting people (i.e weinstein) and potentially more controversial ones that maybe didn't deserve it (e.g aziz ansari) is it a net negative or a positive for society?

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#75

Post by scythe » Mon, Jun 21, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

It's a little weird to hear about people being "cancelled" for things that they did. Usually, to me, "cancel culture" is the phenomenon where people are relentlessly harassed for what they said, or in some (rare) cases, where they were ("so-and-so pictured with so-and-so at such-and-such"). People getting in trouble for doing stuff doesn't strike me as a particularly new or unique cultural phenomenon.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#76

Post by tijuco2 » Mon, Jun 21, 2021, 6:44 PM UTC

He should be worried about the fact that he accepted other people telling him how to behave. THAT'S humiliating.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#77

Post by fration » Mon, Jun 21, 2021, 6:45 PM UTC

nsxwolf wrote: post #5

Be anonymous. Be obscure. Stop talking to people on the internet.

Noah Bradley did not get cancelled for online behavior, he got blacklisted in the art industry for being a sexual predator.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#78

Post by deft » Mon, Jun 21, 2021, 6:45 PM UTC

foldr wrote: post #9

I looked into this briefly (against my better judgment). He stated in his apology that he was a 'sexual predator' and that he 'pressured women into sex'. So yeah, a lot of organisations now don't want to associate with him. It's nice that he's sorry for what he did, but actions have consequences. And the line between pressuring people into sex and raping them is very, very fine.

My impression is he made himself sound worse than he really was.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#79

Post by ThaDood » Mon, Jun 21, 2021, 6:45 PM UTC

lovecg wrote: post #50

ThaDood wrote: post #10

I guess the simple rule of not being a dick still holds a little truth.

On the other hand the rule of “if you’ve ever been a dick in the past, your life and career should be destroyed proportionality be damned” seems like a societal failure.

I agree, I'm not saying you should have your entire life uprooted because you said something stupid on Twitter when you were like 13. The situation in this case is a little different. Again, don't be a dick or try to avoid it when possible and I don't think you will have to worry about being canceled.

Re: What it's like to be cancelled

#80

Post by shadowgovt » Mon, Jun 21, 2021, 6:46 PM UTC

tshaddox wrote: post #32

nsxwolf wrote: post #5

Be anonymous. Be obscure. Stop talking to people on the internet.

That's not compatible with people whose livelihood directly or indirectly relies on having a large and/or dedicated audience on Twitter or other social networks, or people who by the nature of their livelihood are public figures even if they're not active on social media. Which isn't to say that your advice is poor advice!

A YouTube personality I follow got cancelled not long ago. They responded by exiting Twitter, but there were complications. One of the things they mentioned that had never occurred to me is that as a published author, they had a contractual agreement with their publisher to maintain an online personality.

They had to come to special terms with their publisher to modify contract because the nature of cancellation is such that at the time, there was basically nothing they could say that would improve their "brand," so the purpose of the contract stipulation had become counterproductive. But as parent notes, this is a real problem some people have, depending on their profession.