Author and longtime Steelworkers labor lawyer Dan Kovalik joined us on KK&F this week to talk cancel culture. Why does cancel culture matter? When should people be “cancelled,” and when is cancellation harmful to the left’s political goals? You’ll find these questions, as well as Dan’s thoughtful answers, in this week’s episode of Krystal Kyle & Friends. We feel that understanding how to relate to our fellow leftists in a respectful, solidaristic way is key to gaining political power, so we were grateful to bring in Dan, who has thought and written extensively about this topic in Cancel This Book: The Progressive Case Against Cancel Culture.
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At the end of the day, why is the debate over cancel culture pertinent to our lives? Log off of Twitter (always a good idea) and you instantly lose connection to the day’s debate over who should be de-platformed, who’s problematic, and who needs to take a seat. It’s telling when this discourse distances itself from issues with real, material impact on people’s lives, focusing instead upon adding fodder to the culture wars. When people take issue with cancel culture, it’s often because this culture places heavy punishment on “saying the wrong thing.” This concept is broad: it distracts from the true principles that should drive a group to exclude an unsafe or harmful member. It lumps in genuine and harmless mistakes with words intended to make others feel unwelcome or unsafe, and those seeking to build an inclusive leftist movement should view these scenarios very differently. What Dan advocates for, both in this conversation and in his book, is a greater openness to discussing harm or mistakes not as a precursor to cancellation, but as an opportunity for learning and growth. We hope you’ll enjoy hearing his perspective, and we’re grateful to you for tuning in.
Episode 16 Audio: Dan Kovalik