Writers of all kinds high and low, full of sense or nonsense and judicial office holders of all kinds appear to be high on the target list of those who operate and/or support what`s now commonly termed cancel culture. Of the former the person with the highest profile is probably J. K. Rowling because she dared to say what others have feared to publicly admit that there are two sexes and that so called trans women have the potential in some cases to be an actual physical danger to women notwithstanding the fact that in essence they are in opposition to what she and others consider the fruits of the women`s liberation movement. At the opposite end perhaps of this literary spectrum has been the recent announcement by Puffin, publishers of the works of Roald Dhal, a notorious antisemite and world famous author of children`s books, that some of his language is now unfit for young human consumption. Cloud-Men have become Cloud-People in "James and the Giant Peach". In The Witches, there are no longer any old hags – only old crows. These are just two of the hundreds of changes that have been made to the author’s stories. To the criticism from many quarters the publisher replied by saying that it had taken such actions so that (Dahl) “can continue to be enjoyed by all today”. An extreme result of similar perverted thinking was that the outstanding author Salmon Rushdie had his life almost cancelled by his fanatical Islamist assailant`s dogmatic beliefs. The common factor between Puffin and him was that authors` words must not be heard; they must be muted by killing the author or substituted by what a publisher considers "acceptable".
The treatment of the judiciary of the words they utter in a professional or private manner, certainly in the case of magistrates, falls within that black to white spectrum where even that phrase itself is regarded by some as suspect. I have recently commented on the remarks of District Judge (MC) Stephen Leake. We will probably never know if or what "advice" he has been given or if any at all by judicial authorities. This is a classic mirror image of cancel culture insofar as any comment is kept secret and out of the public domain. Last week Just Stop Oil offenders were praised by District Judge (MC) Wilkinson as he sentenced them. I, along with some other commentators, have questioned the appropriateness of these remarks. Once more any official response is cancelled at least to us the public. Instances as above have been reported in the press; often the local press but old fashioned press reporting is a dying occupation thus denying a wider public of what they have a right to know. However much as judicial authorities mouth the slogan that magistrates are members of the judiciary their treatment by said authorities is far from equal with their seniors when they are thought to have transgressed. Unlike their seniors such deviations whether in the courtroom or without are displayed in a public place albeit in an edited form such as has put Dr Ian Haffenden JP in an unenviable position. He was not cancelled but put in the spotlight: to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction to quote a rather clever fellow called Isaac Newton.
To be cancelled has this week become for me something personal. Yesterday Blogspot, the hosts of this site on which I have commented for 10 years, informed me that a post of 09/04/2019 "MEANS FORM MEANS NOTHING" had been reported to them as it "was flagged to us for review. We have determined that it violates our guidelines and deleted the post." I had been cancelled almost four years after publication of the supposedly offending material. After I objected to this action the post was re-instated. If any reader agrees with the objector perhaps he/she should delete this address from bookmarks.
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