Not that this isn't interesting, but I think we got off track here. My little essay was about what I considered to be the root of the problem when it comes to #MeToo and Cancel Culture. Does anyone here have anything to say on that topic?
It's a lot to unpack... but after trying to read/browse over it while formulating a response... I guess I would... generally agree with the point of view, though it seems to be casting a very broad net.
The Anatomy of a Witch Hunt makes much sense to me and the metaphors/examples seem generally on point. I like the setup in regards to how a modern day witch hunt is. There is a lot of self justification for the modern day witch hunt by labeling those who disagree with you or target "disadvantaged" groups like you say. And the targeting of these individuals has seemed to expand (no one likes Nazis or Klanners, but now it's expanded to Republicans and Conservatives and Traditionalists, it used to be that you disagreed strongly with things like Genocide, but now it's been expanded to being pro-Life, anti-gay marriage or skeptical of global warming or that health care isn't a public good etc). If you aren't
accepting not merely tolerant of gay marriage or transgendered individuals, it's not just disagreeable, it's not just
wrong, it's the equivalent of oppression... of disenfranchisement... of mass murder... of Nazi-esque behavior.
Simultaneously... while Leftists make the leap of logic from a simple stance (supporting traditional marriage, drone strikes, or gun rights, having raditionalist religious values etc) into being implicitly authoritarian, racist/sexist/xenophobic/etc you also have the social idea of how it is very human to gather up as a community to shame and confront the bully. Confronting mean bullies with bullying tactics especially as a group is a very natural thing to do.
But social media has made weaponizing it all the more easy. It's anonymous, easily accessed and can be done while your fatass is parked in front of a computer. You can throw up arguments via retweets or googling articles or astroturfing your research. You can hide in the anonymity of other groups on Facebook or Twitter etc. And if there's more of you, shouting and drowning out and shaming into oblivion people with your loud internet voice is shockingly easy to do. It's happened with hapless individuals like Justine Sacco... or the girl who made a funny face at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and it can happen to other targets as well.
The target though... has to be a known person... not some anonymous internet user like some channer or (Russian) troll but someone who has the audacity to use their real life, or has an established online persona, or a public figure or group. The leftist Twitter mob can then swarm that target... bombard them for misspeaking across social media platforms, go @ newsmedia, law enforcement, advertisers etc etc etc and get hashtags trending to increase the social media outrage.
So now you have the combination of leftist politics and its domination in politics and newsmedia and the public sector (and with how craven the private sector is) and corporations, the relabeling of counter-left individuals as being "Nazis" or Alt Right because their beliefs are synonymous with human oppression and misery and social media acting as a loudspeaker and massive enabler and lo and behold, it can act as a modern day witch hunt and has time and time again. They will find you and they will shut you down if they can.