Cancel culture

Daniel wanted to watch the Life of Brian last night, something he hadn’t seen before, so we all sat and watched it together. Ben and I have seen it several times and it’s a classic, timeless film that seems to get more funny with age. There was lots of laughing out loud so I think the kids enjoyed it.

I follow John Cleese on Twitter and today he tweeted that he’s pulled out of giving a talk to the students at Cambridge Union this week to boycott them for cancelling people. He doesn’t say it’s a boycott but it seems obvious that this is what he’s doing. Here’s the tweet:

Louis de Bernières, author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, wrote a letter to The Times today urging everyone to boycott institutions that practice cancel culture.

I’m a big fan of Fawlty Towers and remember the scene where Basil Fawlter does his Hitler impression. Here’s the clip:

This is comedy. Not everyone finds the same things funny and some people may be offended by some comedy but the world would be a dull place if we banned it all out of fear of causing offence. This is what Totalitarian regimes like the Taliban and ISIS do not free-thinking institutions in a democratic society. What is happening to us?

I also follow Ricky Gervais on Twitter and he tweeted something apt recently:

5 thoughts on “Cancel culture”

  1. hear hear; I’m not a fan of twitter and Cleese can be hilarious and a plonker, often at one and the same time but he’s spot on. I’m cancelled too it seems, not that my then public (year 11 at school, circa 1973) is likely to be likely to remember.

    1. And yes, I agree with you about Twitter. I notice people like John Cleese tiptoe around many issues in their Tweets now because so many people have been banned from the platform.

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