https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/26/opinion/democrats-republicans-wokeness-cance l-culture.html

"A Harvard/Harris survey in February asked, rCLDo you think there is a growing cancel culture that is a threat to our freedom or not?rCY By 64-36, a majority of voters said they thought there was. Republicans see a threat by 80-20; independents by 64-34, but Democrats were split, with a slight majority, 52-48, saying they do not see a threat. This basic pattern is observable across a number of issues."

What I think is most telling here is that independents apparently believe it exists and, by a majority very close to that of all voters, believe it is a threat to our freedom.

"...classic liberal values that are under siege from all sectors of the political spectrum, left to right, including: freedom of speech, thought and association; academic freedom; due process; and personal privacy."

(OMG, I might be a "classic liberal"!!!)

Something else that has come up lately... when it comes to Princeton students, Aaron just might be right after all:
"You may be wondering what exactly people mean when they say, rCLdefund the police.rCY Yes, we mean literally abolish the police." He lists reasons which, even if you agree with, you cannot deny what he says here in plain English - "ABOLISH."

"Wokeness is kryptonite for the Democrats. Most people hate it, other than the progressive activists. If you just look at AmericansrCO policy preferences, Dems should be winning big majorities. But we have strong negative partisanship, and when people are faced with a party that seems to want to defund the police and rename schools, rather than open them, all while crime is rising and kidsrCO welfare is falling, the left flank of the party is just so easy for Republicans to run against."

rCLThe younger generation (wrongly) perceives free speech as hazardous to minority rights. Activists have figured out that they can have disproportionate influence by claiming to be physically endangered and psychologically traumatized by speech that offends them.rCY

The people demanding the diminution of "essential freedoms: have learned how to package their insistence in effective ways -- "I donrCOt care what the speakerrCOs intentions were, what the speaker said has hurt my feelings and ought therefore to be prohibited.rCY

Some here have said that cancel culture does not even exist, but even James Carville disagrees:

https://www.vox.com/22338417/james-carville-democratic-party-biden-100-days

"Wokeness is a problem and everyone knows it. ItrCOs hard to talk to anybody today rCo and I talk to lots of people in the Democratic Party rCo who doesnrCOt say this. But they donrCOt want to say it out loud... because theyrCOll get clobbered or canceled. "

But James, how can they get canceled when cancelling doesn't exist!

He also talks about how using phrases like "communities of color" and other jargon is not using the language of the voter but, instead, is talking "around" (and I would add, "above") the voters, and puts those using such language in danger of being unappealing to voters. "...large parts of the country view us as an urban, coastal, arrogant party, and a lot gets passed through that filter.... itrCOs a real phenomenon, and itrCOs damaging to the party brand."

And even Carville notices that some party candidates are running as "out-and-out socialists": "...we canrCOt say, rCLRepublicans are going to call us socialists no matter what, so letrCOs just run as out-and-out socialists.rCY ThatrCOs not the smartest thing to do. And maybe tweeting that we should abolish the police isnrCOt the smartest thing to do because almost no one wants to do that."

I also like how he apparently gets upset near the end and appears to move away from the message he starts out with, i.e. he doesn't believe that "wokeness" or "cancel culture" is a good thing, but that shouting people down is still OK. I guess you cannot look too woke when you are yelling at everyone.

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