Chris_Halkides
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- Dec 8, 2009
- Messages
- 12,562
scrutiny versus Stern
That punishment can take the form of someone’s being fired is explicitly brought up in the column of which this definition is a part, and firings have been discussed in this thread many times (implicit in this definition is that there might have been an actual offense but that the punishment could be more severe than is warranted). However, I did not say, nor did I mean to imply, that punishment must take this form. Nor is it the only form of punishment that Mr. Greenfield mentioned. EDT: Moreover, I would point out that the context of this discussion is Mr. Shapiro's suspension from Georgetown. Academic work can be hindered a little or a great deal from a suspension, depending on the particulars; therefore, it has the effect of being a punishment.
Oxford Languages defines to scrutinize as to “examine or inspect closely and thoroughly.” At Merriam-Webster this verb is defined as “to examine closely and minutely.” There is nothing in either definition which indicates that the outcome of such scrutiny will be either a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of the thing in question. Therefore, a call for scrutiny is not even necessarily a criticism, let alone a call for someone to be fired or otherwise punished.
Now let us contrast scrutiny with what Mark Joseph Stern helped to do regarding Ilya Shapiro. Mr. Stern has over 100,000 followers on twitter. According to Charles Cooke at the National Review, he “screenshotted and shared them, condemned their author as a racist troll in tweets that tagged his employer, insisted dramatically that he was ‘ashamed’ of his ‘alma mater…’”. In an Op-Ed in the Washington Post on 3 February 2022 Megan McArdle wrote in response to this incident, “At this late date, it seems almost unnecessary to point out that if you publicly accuse someone of racism, sexism or other similar wrongs, you are effectively calling for that person to be fired, or at the very least, to suffer some kind of workplace discipline. Yet apparently someone needs to restate the obvious.”
At Reason on 3 February 2022 David Kopel wrote, “Stern told his readers: ‘Shapiro preemptively declared that Biden's nominee, whoever she is, will not be qualified… And he doesn't see how this belief is colored by his own racism.’” The first part is patently false, and Kopel provided information that refutes the second part: “In fact, Shapiro has said that the best nominee for the Supreme Court could be a black woman—namely D.C. Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown. In a 2016 event at the University of Chicago Law School, he listed Judge Brown as among several he would consider nominating, if he had the power.”
What you wrote was not even wrong. As for your confusion, it is partially the result of making unwarranted assumptions.
Scott Greenfield’s definition was “Cancel culture is the breakdown of social norms that allow for the free speech of criticism but inhibit people from joining together with like-minded people to not merely disagree with words or ideas they find unacceptable (or perceive to be unacceptable on behalf of others), but then act upon them for the purpose of inflicting secondary punishment to their antagonists, whether based on fact, opinion or false accusation, without need for proof or due process and disconnected from the nature of the original ‘offense.’”
That punishment can take the form of someone’s being fired is explicitly brought up in the column of which this definition is a part, and firings have been discussed in this thread many times (implicit in this definition is that there might have been an actual offense but that the punishment could be more severe than is warranted). However, I did not say, nor did I mean to imply, that punishment must take this form. Nor is it the only form of punishment that Mr. Greenfield mentioned. EDT: Moreover, I would point out that the context of this discussion is Mr. Shapiro's suspension from Georgetown. Academic work can be hindered a little or a great deal from a suspension, depending on the particulars; therefore, it has the effect of being a punishment.
Oxford Languages defines to scrutinize as to “examine or inspect closely and thoroughly.” At Merriam-Webster this verb is defined as “to examine closely and minutely.” There is nothing in either definition which indicates that the outcome of such scrutiny will be either a favorable or an unfavorable opinion of the thing in question. Therefore, a call for scrutiny is not even necessarily a criticism, let alone a call for someone to be fired or otherwise punished.
Now let us contrast scrutiny with what Mark Joseph Stern helped to do regarding Ilya Shapiro. Mr. Stern has over 100,000 followers on twitter. According to Charles Cooke at the National Review, he “screenshotted and shared them, condemned their author as a racist troll in tweets that tagged his employer, insisted dramatically that he was ‘ashamed’ of his ‘alma mater…’”. In an Op-Ed in the Washington Post on 3 February 2022 Megan McArdle wrote in response to this incident, “At this late date, it seems almost unnecessary to point out that if you publicly accuse someone of racism, sexism or other similar wrongs, you are effectively calling for that person to be fired, or at the very least, to suffer some kind of workplace discipline. Yet apparently someone needs to restate the obvious.”
At Reason on 3 February 2022 David Kopel wrote, “Stern told his readers: ‘Shapiro preemptively declared that Biden's nominee, whoever she is, will not be qualified… And he doesn't see how this belief is colored by his own racism.’” The first part is patently false, and Kopel provided information that refutes the second part: “In fact, Shapiro has said that the best nominee for the Supreme Court could be a black woman—namely D.C. Circuit Judge Janice Rogers Brown. In a 2016 event at the University of Chicago Law School, he listed Judge Brown as among several he would consider nominating, if he had the power.”
What you wrote was not even wrong. As for your confusion, it is partially the result of making unwarranted assumptions.
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