Cancel Nothing

In a world...

A deep chasm of trauma strikes down the root of a restless civilization. Language has become a weapon and a thing to be policed by people subscribing to a particular ideology. The overarching Mainstream Narrative is intact and in charge of directing the discourse and what is allowable within the ideological framework. Anything that challenges the narrative is harshly criticized and resisted. What better way to keep the main narrative alive, but to try to censor, cancel, shame and mangle and descent? Progress gets slowed down when a different perspective is put into play and sometimes for the people that are a part of or in control of this narrative is a big problem.

Look around you. Do you feel as if you can speak your mind without being criticized? Do you feel like you can be a voice of dissent in a world of conformity? Although these might be more open minded and slightly rhetorical, they are questions that can say many things about the current cultural climate. How much do you think of yourself as an individual and not as part of a movement or group?

Does it fit your narrative? Are you even aware that you have a particularly limited view of the world around you?

Censorship can turn into something tyrannical and oppressive, but one censoring themselves from saying what they feel or what they think can be just as severe. If you are pressured to have homogeneous opinions like that of the current "mob" then how can you be able to freely learn and be skeptical? A healthy ecosystem thrives on the interplay between different views and opinions even if you tend to abhor the views of someone else.

Imagine the many times that you have changed your mind based on new information. Was it uncomfortable? Having a differing opinion from the status quo entails a certain amount of risk with very little reward. At this point in time, the risk may not even be worth the effort, time and energy it takes to express it.

If it is censored by a government, then you know there is something amiss.
If it is censored by a private organization, what is the motive?

It deals with energy. The mere idea of trying to silence someone can be seen as a waste of energy. Why take time out of your day or life to try to convince someone to come to your own worldview? If you are so determined to proselytize your message, you are better off preaching to a choir of like minded individuals that can fall in line with your own thinking. If you are so set to try to find others that think "like you" then you will get more of what is. Sometimes people just want their opinions and views validated in a vacuum of their own making. God forbid you experience a little bit of discomfort in trying to cope with hard truths or facts.

People are so intent on baiting you into thinking like them that if you don't you can be cast aside. A whisk and whim can have you brought down against your will with what once thought of a commendable jury of your "peers". It's a game where you are set to lose if you do not do what you are told to do. Where's the fun in a game where you can't break or bend the rules? How can progress be made if you are tiptoeing around topics and can't fully express how you feel?

If one is immediately resistant to something that goes against their ideology or worldview, then they are being controlled by their own ideas. Critical thinking goes out the window and there is a glitch the the flow of thought. Some people have been transformed into ideological mouthpieces for causes they the think are for the greater good. This can agitate people into trying to convert others that have different views and if there is resistance, then the urge to silence or "cancel" them arises. When this happens, a whole new atmosphere of conflict is born that can seriously lead to a type of mob rule. Imagine people with pitchforks.

A culture of censorship can only stagnate. If new ideas aren't allowed to organically enter the cultural conversation, then the dominant views will become more limited and tyrannical. Rules can get more rigid and punishment for going against the dominant view could quite possibly get more severe. Fear can be a good way to control, divide and conquer a population of useful idiots.

It's ironic how some people that preach tolerance, tend to be the most intolerant to those of opposing viewpoints. The idea that someone can't see what they see just confuses them and forces them to retaliate since most of them don't have the patience or time to consider a heterodox view. How far have we gone from trying to understand the "enemy"? Is there even an enemy in the first place and why would there necessarily need to be one?

If you are running an ideological software that DEPENDS on an enemy, then why not spend your time trying to investigate how this supposed enemy thinks? In order to progress with a certain agenda, one must investigate the inner workings of what makes the opposing side tick and just so gosh darn frustrating. There can be so many pertinent revelations in having a free and open mind to an opposing ideology that you may THINK is against your best interest. You may actually find that there is so much similarities that the idea of opposing or resisting it would be an inefficient use of time and resources. How much of you creating an enemy is based around ignorance and the inability to challenge a mainstream narrative?

If we take a step back from a culture of censorship, calculation, reductionist propaganda  and misrepresentation, we can allow ideas to flow freely. Any type of instinct to censor tends to create a bigger backlash and draws more attention that that being censored. It then becomes something of a shiny spectacle held against the light for more feeble and vulnerable minded individuals to gobble up with no remorse. It goes back to creating an enemy out of nothing. This is how black and gray markets are created. Anything banned or made illegal with the tactical sphere of government just creates an underground system for it to breed and most of the time create more harm considering the potential for risk and monopolization.

When something is taken away, a vacuum emerges for any type of entity to seize and take advantage of what was once there. Sometime and most of the time with a use of force.

This immediate reaction to resist something that is culturally taboo or potentially violent, says more about the reactor than the subject of the reaction. What gives anyone any right to cancel or silence anything? It's all based on context of course. If you are in a private place or residence and the owners do not want you saying certain things then there is a level of respect to that. Who are you to tell someone how to use their space? If you willingly enter or are invited into a place that you know may breed conflict, why would you even set foot in there in the first place? Do you think that you have a right to force someone to act in a certain way at their own property? If so, what would give you that right and why would it be more worth it to exercise that right than to just simply walk away?

When someone is silenced, they will most likely find a way to say what they want to say while becoming more ingrained with the idea that their message must come out because they feel like they are being repressed/oppressed.

A person so eager to expose someone that is saying something vile or distasteful is driven by the impulse to rule. To inflict their ideas and show the world why they are right. Why try to bring so much attention to a person that may be suffering just as much as you are? You can never know what kind of struggles someone is going through without having a little patience and inquisitive to understand. Most of the time a person never tries to be a dick. There are so many factors at play and ignorance is a big part of it. Do you choose to educate that person right off the bat or simply listen, accept and even walk away if you need to? There is no reason to have the idea of someone take so much space in your head and disrupt your inner peace.

Listening can be an act of love and compassion especially when we are genuinely curious on why someone believes what they believe. How can you move forward if you don't have the whole story?

When you see the inner workings of the ideological no "win win" game, you can have them play it. You can live on the edges. The outskirts and the silver linings. You can pay no mind and simple nod to what they are saying. Think of the preacher on the street that spouts about the sins of mankind. Do you stop, stare and engage or peacefully move along with a smirk on your face? It's all in your character and response ability. To be respectfully aligned with the energy in how you are feeling comes out to being somewhat of a revolutionary act. Pay no mind, move along and give attention to the things that bring growth, fruitfulness, passion and peace. No one can take away how you perceive the world. No one can steal your inner peace even if they are yelling right in your face.
DG