ULTRAS

The so-called cancel culture is a repeat phenomena in human history.  It has manifested itself many times before in different forms.  It is not ideological in the true sense of being a comprehensive vision of a current or future society a la liberalism, conservatism, socialism, communism, fascism or other such political ism’s.

It is instead an extreme moralism centred on a narrow range of required mores.  Examples of past extreme moralisms include those of the Crusaders, the Puritans, the Calvinists, the Red Guards and many others.  The cancel culture folks have a lot in common with witch burners and in current times the young men and women of Isis.

 They are not Marxists.  Karl would be very bewildered by the cancel culture people and would have struggled mightily to have fitted them into his essentially classical economic perspective.  That is partly because their high moralism is in fact an extreme version of liberalism.  It is notions of diversity or inclusion carried to uncontestable absurdities.  I like to call them ultra liberals or Ultras.

Like all extreme moralists the Ultras are constantly on the search for transgressors.  The transgressors are the THEM; they are the wicked people.  Of course like with the Red Guards the ranks of THEM keep getting larger and larger.  A person who is one of US today suddenly finds himself an outsider no matter what his or her ideological pedigree.  Liberals accordingly are in much greater danger from the Ultras than Conservatives who are “bad” ab initio.

The law prevents the Ultras from burning wicked people at the stake.  They have a contemporary version of witch burning which is shaming on social media.

Their victims also often react in the way that past victims of extreme moralism have reacted.  Even if it is not a matter of pleading for their lives to avoid being burnt at the stake or forced to crawl across field of sharp stones on all fours, it is a matter having their careers destroyed and being cast out of comfortable positions in the universities or the entertainment industries.  Accordingly in order to avoid being thusly destroyed victims try desperately to acknowledge their wrongness, to repent, to plead for another chance ... This often becomes very cringe worthy which is the saddest part of extreme moralissm because it just strengthens the bulliers.  The only proper response is that of brave people like Meghan Murphy who stand up and talk back to the Ultras.