{endless screaming, trillions of clown and poop emojis}
February 15, 2022 6:46 AM   Subscribe

Michael Hobbes, journalist and Maintenance Phase co-host (also ex-You're Wrong About), wants to ask: "Is "Cancel Culture" Really a Threat To America?"

Oh yeah, what kind of journalist would Hobbes be without a Substack
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs (34 comments total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wow, that dude is brave: he just slides the lid off the septic tank and happily jumps in!
posted by wenestvedt at 6:59 AM on February 15, 2022 [4 favorites]


I thought this video and also Hobbes' article on The Methods of Moral Panic Journalism both very clearly outlined some patterns that should be useful to defensive consumers of modern media/news, extending well beyond the "Cancel Culture" panic of the moment.

Not so long ago, Matt Taibbi was writing about the same theme, pointing out that the media business is a business, and that it's always had a motive to "drive engagement" (to use a modern term for it) at the expense of objectivity.
posted by Western Infidels at 7:45 AM on February 15, 2022 [2 favorites]


If I was a paranoiac I might worry that my radio is monitoring my internet usage... I wandered into the kitchen after posting this and wow, there's Jonathan Freedland talking about historical "cancel culture" on bloody Radio 4...

It may be a coincidence, it may be a response to the hysterical speech by the Tory Party chairman re: "painful woke psychodrama" looooool, either way it was weird.
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 7:58 AM on February 15, 2022 [3 favorites]


Nicely presented analysis. The connection to moral panics, both in form and in function (as they are exploited to advance political goals by the Right) is particularly interesting, not something I'd considered in those terms.
posted by biogeo at 8:00 AM on February 15, 2022 [4 favorites]


Journalist invokes Betteridge's Law; film at 11.
posted by Gelatin at 8:07 AM on February 15, 2022 [2 favorites]


I love Michael Hobbes. I'm looking forward to listening to this, even if Betteridge's Law clearly applies here. Getting to the obvious answer should be fun.
posted by eotvos at 8:08 AM on February 15, 2022 [8 favorites]


Michael Hobbes is a goddamned national treasure.
posted by Glegrinof the Pig-Man at 8:16 AM on February 15, 2022 [21 favorites]


He is great. This is great. 20 years from now it will probably be universally seen as incredibly prescient. I just wish there was a way to get literally anyone in the media to agree with this now, instead of still counting scary unmarked white vans because they sell more ads.

I love Michael Hobbes. I'm looking forward to listening to this, even if Betteridge's Law clearly applies here. Getting to the obvious answer should be fun.

If it helps, the thumbnailed introductory screenshot of the video is at least 40% made up of the word NO.
posted by Mchelly at 8:20 AM on February 15, 2022 [7 favorites]


It's not surprising that Black culture gets ripped off (again), but it is kind of funny in that terrible, screaming-into-the-abyss way how white people are doing it, often by right-wing media, tapping into audience insecurities about accusations of racism or homophobia just to make a quick buck.

I'd disagree strongly with Hobbes's claim that speech is as free as it has ever been. There is very definitely a free speech crisis looming, in that corporations increasingly mediate who may speak, often in favor of right-wing extremist and authoritarian speech that supports the interests of shareholders.

Corporate-state integration is a key aspect of classical, capital-F Fascism. We have seen bits of this in the accordant rise of corrupt authoritarian governments like the one we just barely escaped last year, and which we may end up getting again in a year or two — perhaps permanently. Remember Moonves.

In the long run, I worry more about the corporate promotion of right-wing extremist cancel culture taking on a more literal and deadly meaning.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 8:21 AM on February 15, 2022 [10 favorites]


Remember the origin of 'fake news'? Back in 2016 there was a plague of legit looking news websites with clickbaity stuff about Hillary being at death's door and other FUD. They were looking to go viral, gaming twitter bots to make them trend. Then they get the ad revenue. There were surprisingly few people involved, a couple dozen perhaps, but the impact was all out of proportion.

It was news that was fake. The authors weren't journalists and the stories were fictional. It was literally fake news.

No politician with an interest in denying reality could let a term like 'fake news' be beholden to objective truth though. It became something more subjective. 'What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening' gaslighted Trump, who seized upon that term to dismiss any journalism, from anywhere, that was insufficiently servile to him.

'Fake news' stopped being about literal fake news. This is what's happened to 'cancel culture'. It started as a term used to shun rapists. Now it's being used by flapping heads on TV with a candy fetish to bitch about a marketing campaign as if the fucking world is ending because the green chocolate isn't sexy enough.
posted by adept256 at 8:27 AM on February 15, 2022 [24 favorites]


I'd disagree strongly with Hobbes's claim that speech is as free as it has ever been

Really? Because - in the now - just about anyone can become a media personality and grift themselves an incredibly large following. Even the ones who are/were deplatformed still managed to garner attention.

So - any village idiot now has a virtual soapbox and can find/collect like-minded masses with more ease than ever before at any time in history.

(Apologies - on re-read, I see that your premise is that it is far-right/racist/facist views that get platformed, because apparently they are better for the "bottom-line" - I would suggest that the leaders/owners of these organizations are also far-right/etc - and they push their agenda, on-top-of-their-baseline profit motivations)

Do I want governments and corporations to crack down on free speech?

No (because that will open another can-of-worms-entirely) - but, I despair for the lack of intelligence, critical analysis and media awareness of the average person. Unfortunately, the older I get - the less concrete or definitive anwsers I have - about any particular topic... (better education - media and propaganda awareness courses?)

Having seen and experienced so many things over the decades, one can become inured to horrors, cynical, jaded and stuck in "analysis paralysis".
posted by rozcakj at 8:38 AM on February 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


I was unfortunate enough to catch a moment of Sebastian Gorka on Newsmax Sunday night. He was equating Dwayne Johnson retracting his support for Joe Rogan to the Ministry of Truth in 1984. It was fucking surreal.
posted by Saxon Kane at 8:39 AM on February 15, 2022 [4 favorites]


I miss him on You're Wrong About. The guest hosts have been good but he and Sarah had such great chemistry.

I'd disagree strongly with Hobbes's claim that speech is as free as it has ever been. There is very definitely a free speech crisis looming, in that corporations increasingly mediate who may speak, often in favor of right-wing extremist and authoritarian speech that supports the interests of shareholders.

The existence of platforms where normal people can reach mass audiences is a very recent phenomenon, but you're looking at the present situation as if it was the eternal default state and corporations tightening their grip is the aberration. But this is exactly backwards. Until very recently mass communication was entirely mediated by the giant corporations who owned and operated the TV networks, newspapers, radio stations, etc. We're seeing the end of this weird blip where the Internet and social media platform afforded regular people more and further-reaching free speech than ever before in history, and a return to the old norm of information being controlled.
posted by star gentle uterus at 8:52 AM on February 15, 2022 [11 favorites]


Mel Gibson, who was arrested for DUI, was recorded making an anitsemitic rant as well as sexually harassing one of the arresting officers during the arrest, has a restraining order placed against him by his partner for abuse, was recorded threatening her in a violent, racist rant, bought an island in Fiji that was stolen from its rightful native owners, was found to be hiding funds in offshore accounts, claimed Rhodes scholarships are an instrument of Marxism, saluted Donald Trump at a UFC event, was banned from driving in Ontario after a different DUI, was arrested again for DUI, made and then doubled down on a variety of homophobic comments, made homophobic comments in front of Winona Ryder, also asking if she was "an oven dodger", has a reputed pattern of Holocaust denial, has repeatedly included homophobic and antisemitic tropes in his films, and honestly, a bunch more similar bullshit, will be seen on the big screen in the next two years in Every Other Weekend, Lethal Weapon 5 (which he is also directing), Bandit, Hot Seat, Father Stu, On the Line, Agent Game, Boys of Summer, and Panama, will be starring on television in the John Wick spinoff, The Continental, as well as playing the title role in TV series, Cormac and is also directing both a reboot of The Wild Bunch and a sequel to The Passion of the Christ.

Absolutely any discussion of cancel culture needs to explain how the second half of that makes any sense after the first, or I just don't even give a good goddamn.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:06 AM on February 15, 2022 [62 favorites]


a sequel to The Passion of the Christ.

The Post-coital Cigarette of the Christ?
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 10:10 AM on February 15, 2022 [15 favorites]


a sequel to The Passion of the Christ

Easter Monday
posted by snofoam at 10:18 AM on February 15, 2022 [8 favorites]


a sequel to The Passion of the Christ.

The Ghosting of the Christ
posted by Mchelly at 10:26 AM on February 15, 2022 [7 favorites]


Absolutely any discussion of cancel culture needs to explain how the second half of that makes any sense after the first, or I just don't even give a good goddamn.

Canceling literally doesn't work or exist, especially after a period of time. Especially if you are a white dude with money.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:31 AM on February 15, 2022 [9 favorites]


hobbes and marshall were terrific foils in "you're wrong about". I'd say that's where the moral panic interest arised, in their satanic panic, trafficking, and other stories. i kinda wish he'd find a way to coattail her into more prominence (i mean, if she needs/wants the work/recognition).
posted by j_curiouser at 10:39 AM on February 15, 2022 [3 favorites]


Metafilter: endless screaming, trillions of clown and poop emojis.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 11:25 AM on February 15, 2022 [3 favorites]


a sequel to The Passion of the Christ.

Passion Harder? Christ Harder?
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 11:26 AM on February 15, 2022 [8 favorites]


Seriously though, Michael Hobbes is a goddam national treasure.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 11:29 AM on February 15, 2022 [3 favorites]


Christ II: Electric Boogaloo
posted by supermedusa at 11:54 AM on February 15, 2022 [3 favorites]




a sequel to The Passion of the Christ


I'm hoping it's a whole Assumption-themed FVM* situation

*Flying Virgin Mary
posted by thivaia at 12:23 PM on February 15, 2022


a sequel to The Passion of the Christ

I'm hoping it's a whole Assumption-themed FVM* situation

*Flying Virgin Mary


Knowing Gibson, it's going to be a religious themed period piece patterned after the police station attack in The Terminator.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:17 PM on February 15, 2022 [2 favorites]


Fuuny story about Jim Caviezel, the actor who played Jesus. He's become a speaker at QAnon conferences.

During his address, the actor recited lines Gibson’s character, William Wallace, delivers to Scottish soldiers in his Oscar-winning 1995 film “Braveheart.”

“Fight, and you may die. Run, and you’ll live — at least a while,” Caviezel recited.

“And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you have been willing to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that you can take our lives, but you can never take our freedom!”

Video from the event shows the large crowd cheering enthusiastically, before Caviezel ominously states: “We are headed into the storm of all storms. Yes, the Storm is upon us.”


So he's a fully pilled qanon weirdo. That's going to make interesting press for the sequel. They may have to find an actor who's not going to blow it all with qanon rants. And when that happens, well, they just CANCELLED JESUS.

I also heard this story that Jim thought he was given the gift of tongues, and could speak any language, but if he was asked to speak german, he just says german sounding gibberish. He might not be OK.
posted by adept256 at 2:10 PM on February 15, 2022 [6 favorites]


I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Michael Hobbes!! So happy to see this! (PS Michael if you're reading this, and I ever bump into you in Seattle, prepare for an earbending - I need your thoughts on So! Many! Things!)
posted by tristeza at 3:26 PM on February 15, 2022 [2 favorites]


“And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you have been willing to trade all the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance to come back here and tell our enemies that you can take our lives, but you can never take our freedom!”

And then they cut his wiener off.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 3:27 PM on February 15, 2022 [1 favorite]


From that Variety article:
"[Mel Gibson] never fully recovered his stature from the fallout, though his 2016 war film “Hacksaw Ridge” was nominated for six Oscars, including best picture and best director for Gibson."
Yep, a mere husk of his former self.
posted by theory at 3:46 PM on February 15, 2022 [10 favorites]


Totally here for the Michael Hobbes love and "sequel to the Passion of the Christ" jokes.
posted by alex_skazat at 10:15 PM on February 16, 2022 [2 favorites]


a sequel to The Passion of the Christ.

Passion Harder? Christ Harder?


More Passion, More Christ.

oops that's a different film, sorry
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:06 PM on February 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


Passion of the Christ 2: Just when you thought it was safe to go back on the water
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:03 AM on February 21, 2022 [1 favorite]


I'm looking forward to the Apocalypto 2: 2 Fast 2 Burn. Where Diego de Landa and Pope Pius IV are the bad guys who do everything possible to destroy the cultures vaguely represented in the first one.
posted by eotvos at 8:19 AM on February 21, 2022


CloneChrists: An Ecumenical Matter
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:22 AM on February 21, 2022


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