Culture is Cancelled

There’s a thought experiment from Paul Graham’s blog post What You Can’t Say where you ponder if there are any opinions you hold that you would be reluctant to express in front of your peers. Why would one be reluctant? Surely, it must be for fear that your peers would find fault with your idea and indicate that in an awkward way — maybe one that would cause a hostile environment or make you feel like an idiot.

Whether anyone in the conversation realizes it or not, this is a mechanism that results in certain ideas being pushed out of society. When people are reluctant to express certain opinions, those ideas become less prevalent. Consider the millions of conversations that happen each day, made increasingly easier with the advent of social media and communication technologies. If certain beliefs are met with discomfort, people will be decentivized from bringing up those ideas.

There are lots of entities in a society, and it makes sense that the goals/ideas each hold will often clash. Surely someone saying “I’d like to discuss the logistical implications of me murdering your family” to you would not be treated with grace. Why? Well, because you like your family and don’t want them murdered, so the belief that this person has expressed is very far away from your own. The conversation would likely become more hostile, and in the future, people would know not to bring that topic up, and the idea would be slightly more removed from society as a whole.