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Comment by foldr | Hacker News Reader

> Cancel culture is not compatible with democratic norms

Look around the world at where democratic norms are actually being undone. It’s often the people who are most opposed to so-called ‘cancel culture’ who are busy with the undoing. But perhaps you are willing to be an unusually bipartisan wielder of the term and concede that the major instances of cancel culture in recent times are such things as Hungary banning pride parades, Trump bullying universities and deporting people for holding the wrong political views, and school libraries banning books with LGBTQ themes.

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Trump and the right wing engage in cancel culture. Ben Shapiro tried to cancel James Gunn, Bill Ackman tried to cancel Ivy League graduates that protested in support of Gaza, there are many examples. The American right wing simply just doesn't have the cultural cachet in major institutions such as academia, Hollywood, publishing houses, and generally in major US cities to enforce their cancellation attempts.

That’s exactly what’s changing now that the right is in power. People are already being deported for protesting in support of Gaza. We shall see how long academia is able to maintain any degree of independence. The Trump administration is not exactly being subtle about it.

> The American right wing simply just doesn't have the cultural cachet in major institutions such as academia, Hollywood, publishing houses, and generally in major US cities to enforce their cancellation attempts.

The part of this you should be worried about is that they've realized they now have enough hard power to use violence against ideological enemies instead of rhetoric.

They're being completely open that they plan to extend this treatment to native born U.S. citizens too [1].

[1] https://www.npr.org/2025/04/16/nx-s1-5366178/trump-deport-ja...

> Bill Ackman tried to cancel Ivy League graduates that protested in support of Gaza

I mean, the US government is now actively (and illegally) imprisoning/deporting Ivy League students who protested in support of Gaza, so I think "having the cultural cachet" is irrelevant at this point. They have the political power and that's what really matters.

But for a less dramatic counterexample, I'd offer something like whatever group (was it Moms For Liberty?) that orchestrated book bans in libraries nationwide.

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