The Chinese used to have a brutal remedy for those who transgressed the teachings of Chairman Mao. The
rebels were dragged to so-called 'struggle sessions' where they were
subjected to vicious abuse from an audience of true believers. Offenders
who failed to give grovelling apologies for their misguided views were,
at the very least, shunned by society. In other words, 'cancelled'.
Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech
Union, who receives daily requests from people who have been – or fear
they will be – 'cancelled', compares the prevailing atmosphere to some
of history's darkest episodes. 'What's
disturbing about cancel culture is that we've seen it so many times
before – in 17th Century Salem, in Paris after the French Revolution, in
America during the McCarthy era, in China in the 1960s,' he said. 'It's
as if a group of people are re-enacting some of the worst moments in
human history, but because they're not actually killing anyone they
think it's okay.'
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