Since Election Day, there have been more and more cases of cancel culture. People have been denied services, fired from their jobs, or banned from social platforms because of their political views.
When asked about the origins of cancel culture, Dr. Turek asserted that it began with Vladimir Lenin.
“[Cancel culture] came out of the Soviet Union with Vladimir Lenin. And it came with the whole Marxist movement into the United States,” Turek said.
“[It] does not want to persuade, it merely wants to punish because they view the world in just two categories. You’re either an oppressor or you’re oppressed,” he continued. “And if they consider you an oppressor, they’re going to try and actually oppress you, ironically, they’re going to try and shut you down, they’re going to try and prevent you from actually engaging in the economy or they’re going to get you fired, they’re going to hurt you in some way.”
Jenny then asked professor Xie, someone who comes from a communist country, about his opinion on the matter and how it parallels the Chinese social credit score system.
“The cancel culture that we have seen today ties [into] a lot of this violent feature in ancient ostracism, because some people, some person may be isolated, or thrown out of their professional or social circle. This could be in an online situation [or] also in the real world.”
The term ostracising, he said, is something that grew from Athenian democracy, where someone would be expelled from the city-state for angering a group with whom the person might have disagreements.
He then went on to the details of the social credit ostracisation.
Xie explained: “As someone from communist China, I see a lot of resemblance between these kinds of culture with what’s happening, what happened in China during the Cultural Revolution ... as the Chinese do under communist rule, they have instituted this social credit system, where basically you are measured ... you are measured against your attitude toward the communist party, your political view.”
Turek suggested two ways with which he believes cancel culture can be fought. The first, he said, was to not fall for the bait of their taunt. Turek insisted that people need to stay kind and respectful, remembering that every human is made in the image of God.
