The Age of Cancellation is reeling from a bizarre death blow. The promise of our big tech overlords was connection, information, and convenience. The reality into which we’ve been unwittingly ushered is a surveillance state where society’s most insufferable cretins are empowered to snitch on their neighbors for the crime of saying naughty words. Or for merely appearing to lack the proper fealty to the Historically Marginalized (now Contemporaneously Elect).
Consider the script for a “viral racist incident.” A person is surreptitiously recorded by their accuser, who heaps accusations upon them in an attempt to shame and humiliate them. This humiliation ritual is multiplied a thousand-fold when the video is uploaded to social media, where the frothy-mouthed mob revenges itself. The accused is fired or expelled. The accused issues a desperate apology, which is rejected, of course, and slinks into the shadows with their life in pieces. The mob resumes scrolling.
