JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie, Margaret Atwood and 147 other authors, scientists and teachers have expressed their dissatisfaction with the cancel culture, which is gaining increasing attention as a result of, among other things, the Black Lives Matter protests.
The term cancel culture is used when famous people are boycotted after controversy with unpopular opinion. Also episodes of series that are no longer shown, such as the episode of Little Britain in which a character with blackface (a black face painted) was shown, falls under cancel culture.
“The free exchange of information and ideas, which keeps liberal society alive, is further limited every day,” the Harper’s published letter.
The signatories notice that there is an increasing intolerance with regard to differing views. “It seems like fashion to publicly shit and exclude people. It is becoming increasingly common to call for retribution when someone says or thinks something that could not be done.”
There are fears for the career prospects of, for example, authors and journalists who often share controversial ideas in their work. “If we don’t stand up for what our work depends on, then we shouldn’t expect that from the public and the state.”
Authors themselves had to deal with cancel culture
Rowling, Rushdie and Atwood have had to deal with cancel culture.
Harry Potterauthor Rowling was recently discredited by several statements about transgender people and sex. For example, she shared on Twitter the opinion of some researchers that young people with mental problems are now receiving hormones too easily and that sex-changing operations are recommended too quickly. “While that may not be the right thing.”
Atwood faced a fuss in 2016 when she publicly endorsed an open letter. In it, the Canadian University of British Columbia was asked to argue why it fired the writer and teacher accused of sexual harassment Steven Galloway.
Rushdie was criticized for his book The Satanic Verses, which according to critics the Prophet Muhammad would have misrepresented.
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