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On the Media

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4.6 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 December 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Should we cancel the word “cancel”? On this week’s On the Media, find out who benefits from the newest culture scare, and a history of "cancellation." Plus, hear how three women reporters covered the Vietnam War against all odds.

1. Michael Hobbes [@RottenInDenmark], co-host of Maintenance Phase, on the anecdotes that fuel "political correctness" and "cancel culture" panics. Listen.

2. Erec Smith [@Rhetors_of_York], associate professor of rhetoric and composition at the York College of Pennsylvania, on his experience being "cancelled" within an academic context. Listen.

3. Clyde McGrady [@CAMcGrady], features writer for The Washington Post, on the derivation and misappropriation of the word "cancelled." Listen.

4. Elizabeth Becker [@Elizbeckerwrite], author of You Don't Belong Here, on how women journalists covered the Vietnam War in groundbreaking ways, and yet were forgotten by history. Listen.

Music:

Middlesex Times by Michael AndrewsBubble Wrap by Thomas NewmanYou Sexy Thing (Remix) by Hot ChocolateJohn’s Book Of Alleged Dances by Kronos QuartetCarmen Fantasy by Anderson & Row

Transcript

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0:00.0	On this week's on the media, an epidemic of cancel culture, or maybe an epidemic of whining about cancel culture, depends on who you ask.
0:09.2	What are the statistics indicating that speech is less free now than it used to be?
0:14.2	We're in like a free speech zanogen.
0:16.2	Tracing the origins of the term cancel culture, as frequently happens, leads back to black Twitter.
0:23.0	It was mostly used to express disgust or disdain for some celebrity who did something that you didn't like.
0:30.0	Like, eh, I'm done with this person, I don't deal with them that canceled.
0:33.0	Plus, a new book about three women journalists of the Vietnam War, each combating more than what they faced on the front.
0:41.0	But there too, they created rules for themselves that enabled them to do what they needed to do.
0:47.0	The photographs have to capture their eyes.
0:50.0	She uses her teeny little body like an acropath.
0:53.0	Crawls in the mud, gets unusual angles, and gets those eyes.
0:57.0	Stick around.
1:00.0	From WNYC in New York, this is on the media.
1:03.0	I'm Brick Gladstone. Recently, we've gotten used to things being canceled.
1:08.0	The Summer Olympics, the Eurovision Song Contest, keeping up with the Kardashians, all canceled.
1:15.0	My New Year's Eve party, also canceled.
1:18.0	But of course, that's purposely misleading.
1:21.0	In 2021, when you hear the word canceled, you're not thinking of TV shows or sporting events.
1:27.0	Since its earliest references in black popular culture, more on that later in the show,
1:32.0	the turn has morphed into a fully loaded linguistic weapon.
1:37.0	Just aim and shoot.
1:39.0	Don't think this cancel culture won't come for you too.
	...

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