This week's Economist makes a good point about "cancel culture."
"Illiberal progressives think that equity requires the field to be tilted against those who are privileged and reactionary. That means restricting their freedom of speech, using a caste system of victimhood in which those on top must defer to those with a greater claim to restorative justice. It also involves making an example of supposed reactionaries by punishing them when they say something that that is taken to make someone who is less privileged feel unsafe."
The editorial makes a good point about how liberals should listen to the other side and call out extremist points of view on their own side as well as the other, so that proper and productive debate can happen rather than each side becoming entrenched in ever-diverging points of view.
"Aspects of liberalism go against the grain of human nature. It requires you to defend your opponent's right to speak, even when you know they are wrong. You must be willing to question your deepest beliefs... Your loved ones must advance on merit alone, even if all your instincts are to bend the rules for them. You must accept your enemies at the ballot box, even if you think they will bring your country to ruin."
This reminds me of the Aristotelean quote "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
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