‘Cancel culture’ cry echoes hysteria of decades gone by
We’ve all been hearing a lot about‘cancel culture’ recently.
Apparently, right-wing commentators are finding it impossible to have their voices heard.
The claim is that they’ve been rendered mute by a prevailing intolerance, now widespread on college campuses and elsewhere.
The victims, more often than not, tend to moan at great length about being silenced either in their three-hour radio shows or over double-page spreads in their Daily Mail columns. Silenced? Really?
It all rather echoes the tabloid hysteria a few decades back when we were warned that a plague of ‘political correctness’was upon us.
The tabloids screamed warnings about council commissars descending on every toy shop in the land to rip much-loved playthings from the hands of babes, simply because the toys mocked minorities with racial epithets.
Black bins bags were to go. No more blackboards. And the nation’s youth was to be encouraged to adopt homosexuality immediately.
It was all nonsense, of course. Much of it made up in the editorial offices of The Sun newspaper.
But, for a while, it produced a kind of frenzy
Folk who’d never heard the phrase, suddenly found themselves tut-tutting about“political correctness gone mad”.
And yet, society now finds itself in agreement that people with physical and mental disabilities should be respected not mocked.
It’s a good thing to have diversity in the workplace
We have discovered that equal marriage doesn’t undermine the foundations of society. And we’ve realised too that black bin bags are still around.
Back to‘cancel culture.’The Prime Minister has decided that there should be a‘free speech champion’to investigate any attempts to impose a collective view on campuses (as if there’s ever been a collective view about anything on college campuses).
But wait – just as he’s calling for more free speech, he also wants to prevent anyone“re-writing history”.
Now I worry when people say we can’t re-write history.
As Churchill (and many others) have said: it’s the victor who writes the first draft. It’s the duty, surely, of further generations to interpret.
When the Museum of the Home in London recently conducted a survey to decide whether patrons thought its slave-trading founder Robert Geffrye should continue to be honoured with a statue on its front facade, the answer came back:“No’. Put him inside with a plaque explaining how he acquired his wealth.”
It seemed a thoughtful and considered response to the question asked by the museum directors.
But the culture secretary was having none of it. The views of the museum and its visitors were to be ignored.
He ordered that the statue stay put. And he went further, summoning 25 of the UK’s biggest heritage bodies to a summit to tell them“to defend our culture from... activists constantly trying to do Britain down.”
I’m sure Mr Geffrye would have been pleased that, three hundred years on, no one in government is trying to“cancel”his legacy.
This week’s Reader’s Pic comes from Frances Carnie who snapped this shot at Glen Turret reservoir on Saturday.
She said:“The weather was cold and alternated between snow and bursts of sunshine
“I know there is not much colour in it but I thought it gave an idea of cold and moody weather.”
You can email photographs to news@ strathearnherald.co.uk or post them on our Facebook page.
Please include your name, address, contact details and a short description or information explaining where the picture was taken.
The Strath’s first drive-in is set to air at Comrie Croft later this spring.
A variety of films will take to the big screen from May 7 to 9.
Organisers Strathearn Arts and Comrie Croft have announced the programme, which includes The Greatest Showman, Bridesmaids, Skyfall and Bohemian Rhapsody.
Strathearn Arts development manager Phil Mestecky said the line-up should have something to suit everyone - from classic children’s films, comedy, tense adventure dramas, family favourites and plenty of opportunities to belt out your favourite tunes from the safety of your car.
Movie fans are being encouraged to subscribe to a mailing list so they can be notified first when tickets go on sale.
Phil said:“We are determined to make this a truly memorable event for all of our community in Strathearn so, in partnership with Comrie Cinema Club, we’ve set aside a limited number of community priced tickets for each of the screenings.”
Tickets will be released first to those on the mailing list and will be restricted to those who are resident in the PH3, PH4, PH5, PH6 and PH7 postcode areas.
Phil thanked sponsors Comrie Cinema Club, Crieff Hydro, Miller Hendry, MESH and Can Do Crieff.
Contact info@ strathearnarts.org for more information or phone 01764 655556.