The Canceling of the American Mind

Discussing the important issue of lack of discourse on hot topics in today's western culture, The Canceling of the American Mind is a fair and balanced review of the phenomenon.

The focus is on how the types of attacks that result in cancellation of individuals on the right and the left create an environment of self-censorship in an unhelpful way. It further describes the 2 main tools in cancellation: The Perfect Rhetorical Fortress and the Efficient Rhetorical Fortress. How both are used and the problem with both.

You may see negative reviews about this book, calling it ahistorical (which is completely incorrect in this reader's view) and biased. There is a very thorough discussion of the history of cancel culture and it's foundation with many explicit examples that clarify each of the points made. Regarding the allegation of bias, I would expect that from one reading it from one particular viewpoint, because the extreme bubble that exists in academia would blind those people from even seeing what is going on. Those within the bubble have no idea how little viewpoint diversity they are exposed to simply due to the nature of their environment.

There are sections of this tome which are hard to stomach for people on either side of the political aisle, but as a person who has been politically neutral for most of my life, I would definitely say these areas are handled in a balanced and appropriate fashion. This issue is NOT occurring equally for people on both sides, nor is the current situation a minor issue. There is currently complete silencing of anyone whose viewpoint doesn't align perfectly with the ruling regime. It's extremely disappointing to see those in academia not standing against this in vastly larger numbers and signals a death-knell for our society and western civilization as a whole.

Well worth a read, but if you go in defensive about it, consider yourself completely captured by “the ideology of the day.” Desist in thinking of yourself as a free thinker or defender of alternative viewpoints. You are already part of the problem.