A coroner’s report following the tragic death of a young Oxford University student has highlighted the devastating consequences of cancel culture. In recent years, despite claims to the contrary, cancel culture has been spreading. It has left a trail of lost livelihoods, damaged reputations, betrayals and abandoned friendships in its wake. However, the loss of a young man, in his prime, with his whole future ahead of him, evokes a particularly poignant sense of loss and despair. It also brings this destructive phenomenon into sharper focus.
There has been much coverage in the press and media about the circumstances surrounding Alexander Rogers’s decision to take his own life: a sexual encounter, an expression of “discomfort”, the sharing of information with mutual friends who then distanced themselves from him. At his inquest, the Oxfordshire coroner’s court heard that Alexander appeared “distraught” following a conversation with his friends who told him he had “messed up” and that they wished to distance themselves from him. He died the next day. According to the Times, Coroner Nicholas Graham said Alexander’s decision to take his life had likely been influenced by the “isolation he felt” after being ostracised.
Ostracism is a painful experience – not just psychologically but physically. To be cast out and no longer ‘belong’ provokes a strong emotional response. This can prove tough for even the most resilient of adults. For young people, in the first flush of youth, whose brains are still developing, and who are learning about how the world works, it is a very tall order indeed. Perceived transgressions often lead to a ‘witch-hunt’ where information is shared via chat groups or on social media. Persecution and shaming of the ‘target’ can easily escalate here to an online mobbing. Those carrying out the ‘witch-hunt’ may believe they are the virtuous ones, protecting minority groups from harm. However, this behaviour is described by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt as “vindictive protectiveness“. It is associated with self-censorship and with a narrow view of speech as either ‘safe’ or ‘dangerous’.
Identity politics has undoubtedly provided fertile ground for cancel culture to flourish. Again, Lukianoff and Haidt provide a useful explanation. The belief that life is a battle between good people and evil people is an example of ‘all-or-nothing‘ thinking. It can also lead to tribalism. Social psychologists warn of the dangers of dividing people into in-groups and out-groups. When you are in the ‘favoured’ group, you see the out-group as a threat. Take this a step further and it becomes easy to exclude and demonise those who don’t ‘belong’ to your group. Even those in the favoured group have to adhere to certain speech codes and behaviours or they will also find themselves excluded.
Add to this ‘concept creep‘ and the lowering of thresholds for transgressions, to the extent that even raising an eyebrow can be seen as racist, and you see how people can soon find themselves excluded, dehumanised and labelled as ‘bad’. As a result, we find ourselves living in an increasingly harsh, intolerant and unforgiving world.
On university campuses this presents a serious challenge for students. Two students, writing anonymously in the Times, explain that “Oxbridge has become an especially potent microcosm of the culture war”. One comments: “I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that as a student there I lived in fear of being cancelled. We all did. It was a subtle, low-level fear, but it was constant.” Another says: “I know more people than I can count who have been ostracised. It’s something that students now have to learn to navigate.”
What kind of society have we become when a university education requires students to navigate ostracism? Universities themselves have undoubtedly created an environment that has enabled cancel culture to take hold. Too many are preoccupied with imposing Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) policies rather than encouraging academic excellence. Students are encouraged to report microaggressions, leading them to seek evidence of offence in every encounter. Overprotection, safetyism and trigger warnings only serve to perpetuate anxiety and avoidance. If students are to flourish at university, the culture on campuses has to change.
It has not helped that the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson decided to stop commencement of the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act. Perhaps she will reconsider her decision when she receives a letter from Nicholas Graham, the Oxfordshire coroner who conducted Alexander Rogers’ inquest. Graham has written to the Department for Education requesting that its officials “address the prevalence of cancel culture in university settings”. Could this be a turning point for university campuses?
Hopefully this may be the case, but it is not just students who are negatively affected by cancel culture. Academics such as Kathleen Stock and Jo Phoenix have spoken of the impact cancellation has had on their lives and their mental health. Every week the Free Speech Union reports on members of the public whose worlds have been shattered by accusations of racism, sexism, transphobia or some other offence. Regrettably, there have also been other deaths related to cancel culture. Peter Newbon, a U.K.-Jewish academic, took his life after being “remorselessly bullied” on social media and accused of antisemitism. Richard Bilkszto, a highly regarded Canadian educator, also took his life after being falsely accused of racism during a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training course. Psychologists rightly advise against attributing a single cause to suicide. However, psychologists should also be concerned about the increasing number of cases where cancel culture appears to be a contributory factor in a person’s decision to end their life.
Cancellation and ostracism is clearly a major problem in society today. Yet the needs of those who find themselves at the receiving end are often overlooked. Instead, they are labelled ‘privileged’ and, because they belong to the ‘wrong’ group, are not considered deserving of help.
It is important to understand the experiences and needs of people who have been cancelled. For this reason, Save Mental Health, in collaboration with the Free Speech Union, plans to carry out research into the effects on mental health of experiencing cancellation. We will ask members of the FSU to take part in an exploratory study. The information gathered will provide information about how people are affected, what kinds of challenges they have faced and what helped them to cope. If you are a member of the FSU, and you have been cancelled, please do consider taking part in this study. Further details will follow.
With condolences to Alexander Rogers’s family.
Dr. Carole Sherwood is a Clinical Psychologist. She is the founder of Save Mental Health, a Co-Director of Critical Therapy Antidote and member of the Advisory Panel for Don’t Divide Us.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
As a young lad, I had a bad stammer. It was hugely embarrassing and I didnt understand why I had it. It was a very tough time. I still stammer now every now and again, not often, but it does revist. It’s horrible, demeaning and dents your self confidence like nothing else will. So, No, you can never forgive them. It’s abuse and you never forgive an abuser
Muzzles are an outrage, the extremists in all of the establishments were given a free run. As an adult I found it hard enough, can only imagine how hard it was for someone so young. I have a hearing problem and lip read much of the time which presented huge problems. I walked away from many conversations after telling people I couldn’t understand them and they just spoke louder!
Thank you for sharing this, Fraser.
These records are so important for those in the future who will – will! – continue to shelter fragile liberty in their hands…
It motivates me to write my experiences since March 2020.
And thank you, Toby Young and Team, for making and keeping this space available.
Sarai qualcuno se resterai diverso dagli altri.
From Vent’Anni by Måneskin
I wouldn’t forgive them. Those people are not fit to have the care of children.
If others want to forgive then that’s up to them. I will neither forgive nor forget.
Odd isn’t it how your boy got so much hassle for not wearing a mask. I never wore a mask anywhere once, and scarcely got any trouble at all. Then again I’m a six foot bloke who does plenty of exercise and who probably looks as if he’s got plenty of forceful answers ready.
As well as having a load of other unfortunate traits, the people who hassled your boy are bullies.
And how long before some unfortunate parent posts an article: ‘Can I ever forgive them for forcing my teenage child to take the vaccine?’
As I say, I’m neither forgiving nor forgetting.
PS: hopefully your boy has learnt some useful life lessons from this debacle.
I can second that. It seems that mask enforcement here was and is solely an occupation for bullies and their by them easily identified potential victims.
Just a few days ago, I accompanied a friend to a radiology appointment in a huge hospital maskless and was never harassed, to the contrary.
I do think that the British character also plays a positive role here- politeness, reservedness, born to be mild etc- very much in contrast to the other country and people I had and have to deal with in this regard, ze Germans, who fully lived and still live up to their true character and most nasty reputation again.
Ze Germans are still ruled by a political class which tries very hard to be 110% American (left) on everything because anything else is what the Nazis do. These people have forced my 82 year old mother to walk everywhere with a N95 mask in her face which was causing her constant pain and distress and (for a time at least) managed to scare her into believing that this was actually necessary.
That’s certainly not my idea of German character.
The author is right not to hold his breath.
The world has been plunged into a kind of medical sharia. Masks and vaccines are the physical symbols of this new quasi religious law.
Their efficacy are irrelevant, their pushers don’t care about efficacy. They are tools of enforcement of and compliance to a new ideology.
Like with most religions, it is a collectivist ideology, created by people who wish to impose themselves on us and dominate us.
They exploit our fear of death and offer redemption through submission. Wear a mask, take our jabs and you will be saved from death.
They also exploit our need to be part of something bigger and more meaningful through some form of self sacrifice. The irrationality is in fact an essential part of this. There is a strange nobility to irrational faith.
There is no other way to explain the succes of something that is otherwise so completely useless and pointless.
Putting implementation and enforcement of the nonsensical “preventative measures” in the hands of the ignorant, the bigoted, and the very often amateurs in industry, commerce, public service and everyday normal life was, and still is, licenced sadism.
It’s now obvious that politicians don’t care about anyone but themselves. Watch the following video to find out what George Osborne is up to.
Why Do Politicians Retire So Rich?
youtube watch?v=yHJYjc2r2aI
Godfrey Bloom Official
Yellow Boards By The Road
“But what can I do? I am just one person”, said 8 billion people …
Thursday 4th August 11am to 12pm
Yellow Boards
Junction A321 Wargrave Road &
A4 New Bath Road
Twyford, Berks RG10 9PN
Stand in the Park Sundays 10.30am to 11.30am – make friends & keep sane
Wokingham
Howard Palmer Gardens Sturges Rd RG40 2HD
Bracknell
South Hill Park, Rear Lawn, RG12 7PA
Telegram astandintheparkbracknell
True forgiveness can only come after repentance. I’ve seen little signs of repentance.
The bastards can repent all they want, I’m never forgetting and certainly not forgiving.
I’ve just finished reading The Psychology of Totalitarianism by Mattias Desmet, and what has been made even clearer to me, despite already knowing that masking was enforced as a psychological tool, is that the population adopted masks as a group-signifyer. The mass formation psychosis which I believe was knowingly put upon the population (how can SPI-B not have known that this would have been the outcome of the governments’ actions, unless they really are more ignorant than they let on) essentially created two tribes: those in the grip of the psychosis, and that smaller group who were not.
And just as we have seen in countless times in history, there is absolutely no tolerance for those who don’t perform with religious zeal, the rituals of the tribe – masking being the most explicit, amongst others. And when I say no tolerance, the totality of the psychosis is such that even an exemption is seen as a gross dissent/offence against the religion. All rationality, nuance or compassion is thrown out of the window seeing as the collective group is all that matters – the individual a pesky notion that’s best done away with. I imagine everyone at ‘Lockdown Sceptics’ has been shouted at or threatened for not masking at some point? This enraged policing of others is not normal, rational behabiour.
As Mattias Desmet sums up in his book, in times of mass formation psychosis it’s incredibly important that folks stand up for the sanctity of the individual, even if they are very small in numbers. Such psychosis and totalitarianism isn’t sustainable, and eventually things fall apart and people regain their senses. But it’s important that there is always pushback throughout the dark times as to hopefully banish the illness sooner rather than later.
Thank you Sir very well put. I too have Mattias Desmet’s book. I haven’t read it yet as I have lots of books on the current madness that I’m wading through but really looking forward to The Psychologically of Totalitarianism.
I’ve been listening to Prof Desmet’s conversation with Chris Martensen on the Peak Prosperity podcast (this after his chat with Bret Weinstein).
I was struck by a point he made in this that I haven’t really grasped before: that the greater one’s expertise and training in a discipline like science, the more humane and humble one becomes. He likened it to the Eastern training in martial arts where you study the techniques and then sort of forget them. Sounds like many of our purveyors of The Science are pretty superficial, unless I misunderstood the point he was trying to make.
He made it sound almost religious -( but we should be careful how we use that term because religiosity has become an unfortunate manifestation in the public’s observation of anti -COVID rituals.
I’ve not heard that interview, although I think perhaps you might be referring to something that Desmet expands on in his book regarding that a real expert trancends the mechanistic way of thinking and working; i.e. learned intuition takes over.
Essentially his argument is that a mechanistic way of thinking/working is an unintended consequence of the enlightenment, which leads to an overly-rationalised mindset which is often at the core of totalitarian states; think technocracy/eugenics etc. I think he’s essentially arguing for a more intuitive and less mechanistic form of scientific and social enquiry, which he argues can only be only achieved from true mastery of ones craft. This particular part of the book rang true with me as i’m a woodworker for a living, and can see how working purely intuitively is the ultimate aim when practicing something like I do.
I admire your stand and applaud your stepson for making his own difficult decision. It is abhorrent to me that schoolchildren should be forced to act and look like, well, slaves. Every time I see a school bus go by with its masked passengers fills me with sadness and anger. If these ‘authorities’ that impose these mandates bothered to do their own research, bothered to do some of their own thinking even, they would find plenty of studies that show the utter ineffectiveness of masks. Let’s not forget for one moment, it is all about control and fear.
And so say all of us! Face knickers? Sick symbols of subjugation!
“If these ‘authorities’ that impose these mandates bothered to do their own research, bothered to do some of their own thinking..”
They don’t care they are bully boys drunk on their newly created power and they are loving every minute of it. Evil pure evil.
I never wore a mask. I was rarely challenged but if I was, I responded with a polite “I’m exempt” and was never turned away. It did cause me occasional anxiety but it was much easier as an adult woman than as a child or young person. Reading Arthur’s story, I’m full of sympathy but also full of admiration that he stood his ground, particularly against his bombastic headmaster, who really should have known and done better. So bloody well done and bless you, Arthur; you’re stronger than you might think.
I have never worn a mask. I was politely challenged once in a clothing store and I did declare myself exempt. All subsequent challenges were in “health care settings” – ain’t that an oxymoronic use of words – and once or twice I declared an exemption. And then I did some thinking. The answer was sod any exemption, I’m not wearing a bloody mask. My logic was that using the exemption get- out was in a way complying.
By God did I have some stand-offs and the worst were hospitals. Anyway I just thought bollox, I’m not backing down. I didn’t and got my way. Actually on a few occasions I challenged staff – “are you refusing treatment because I won’t wear a mask?” And thereafter I refused the mask excuse and just baldly stated ‘I don’t wear masks.’
Firkers!
To the author of this piece:
Many thanks for a heart rending article and a tip o’ the hat to your brave stepson. Good lad.
You are made of the right stuff and like you I never wore a mask on any occasion during the whole of the Covid fiasco. I was only challenged on one occasion, and that was by a woman in the local park cafe, who was both visored and muzzled. I told her to mind her own business and get on with making the coffee, which she duly did.
My younger son (now 31) has a mild stammer. It never held him back …. he too is handsome, sporty, clever and has a very successful career.
The country (the Governing Class and most of the brainwashed population) don’t care about Arthur ….. but you and your family obviously care a great deal. So in the long run, I’m sure he’ll be fine.
We in the Control Group are rooting for him.
I cannot forgive my professional body, which annually has a week of ‘Giving voice’ to highlight communication difficulties faced by a large number of our fellow citizens.
The Royal College of Speech & Language Therapists did absolutely naff all to stand up to the muzzle zealots.
It was predictable to so many without any training that muzzles impaired communication, yet the RCSLT chose to support the narrative.
I’m pretty much a lone voice in my profession.
Bravo Arthur & family.
Poor lad. Still they do say what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Hopefully your stepson is made of tough stuff and this has made him tougher. These people are just bullies – come the revolution……
My daughter-in-law had to take our grandson to the local A&E with a small injury. They have reimposed the mask mandate and have worn the rag for several hours on a hot day, she felt faint and had to go outside to recover. Do not NHS staff suffer having to wear these useless rags all the time? Or are they so imbued with the protective nonsense that they wear them with the pleasure of doing the right thing?
The stupid ones suffer silently because they believe this helps others. The not stupid ones just suffer, probably fumingly. In any case, it’s abuse. That stupid/ gullible people can be fooled into harming themselves doesn’t make it right.
The short answer is no, you absolutely can not forgive them – the utter swine are beneath our contempt.
Never forget, never forgive.