The MezzaDigesta Volume 56
The MezzaDigesta Volume 56
July 17th, 2020: On Cancel Culture
Write that good good and the readers will come, the common adage goes. It felt good to have some new subscribers join the mix over the last week - welcome to new readers! To all the rest of you, thanks for continuing to spend a part of your week with your old pal Joe.
Similar format to last week. A longer piece at the top, followed by a couple of smaller sections, and then the three songs you should check out heading into the weekend. Let’s hit it.
X Marks the Spot
Just last week, Harper’s Magazine published an open letter titled “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate.” Penned by 153 public figures, including J.K. Rowling, Malcolm Gladwell, Salman Rushdie, and Margaret Atwood, the letter took a stand against an assault on free speech. The authors condemned a current climate over-flooded with “an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.” They claimed that the forum for open debate was quickly dissipating.
In essence, they spoke out against “cancel culture.”
On the one hand, I do sympathize with the writers’ case. At at time when the President of the United States frequently targets journalists with scorn and threatens to revoke certain “failing” media companies’ access, it’s easy to observe that free speech is under attack. If authors and writers whose careers hinge on expressing themselves and publicizing both the news and their views feel as though they are being restrained, that’s an issue. It means that they can’t adequately do their jobs.
With that said, we’re talking about super prominent figures here. In addition to the names I mentioned earlier, Fareed Zakaria, Noam Chomsky, and the recently-departed Bari Weiss are a few more of the intellectuals who co-signed the Harper’s letter. Above everything else, it kind of appears as if these writers bristle the most when their own opinions are challenged in the court of public opinion. And it’s tough to argue that people of prominence like the 153 names here shouldn’t be held to task for the controversial or problematic opinions that they may hold.
These people, whether they should or not, matter. Their opinions matter.
Let’s take Drew Brees for example. After weeks of constant public debate about the role of protesting in the fight for racial justice and equality, Brees stuck to his opinion that kneeling during the National Anthem was disrespectful to the American flag. A cancellation of the successful quarterback ensued. Brees was roundly criticized, loudly and hastily. And in response, he amended his stance. He relented on the subject of kneeling before NFL games. I’ve never seen someone do a 180 so quickly! Brees felt the heat, and he made the necessary changes. And let’s be real, my man Drew Brees probably still holds some problematic beliefs (shut up, Drew Brees), but at least now he’s been educated on what players who kneel during the National Anthem are fighting for. Progress!
And, when highly influential people hold downright toxic beliefs, it almost feels like a public necessity that they get dragged for the common good. Let’s check in on newly-minted Vibe Queen of the Digesta, shall we?
Does Cancel Culture Have a Branding Problem?
I would argue that it does. Hear me out. “Cancel culture” is extreme. It invites, or even encourages, the outright elimination of a particular target. It seeks to silence the voices of those who it has determined are in the wrong.
A lot of people who are “canceled,” though, do deserve to be questioned. They deserve to be called out. Would “cancel culture” feel a bit more appropriate if it were instead branded “call-out culture?” It just might, folks. It just might.
Let’s dive into a couple examples. Take the aforementioned Rowling, for instance. We’ll never all-out “cancel” J.K. Rowling. She’s sold way too many books and her Harry Potter creation is far too long-lasting for her to ever be fully erased. She’s simply too prominent.
But does a person of her prominence deserve to be “called out” for some of her controversial public opinions regarding transgender people and their rights? It sure seems like that’s fair game. She has 14.3 million Twitter followers. Her words impact people and influence others’ opinions. It seems to me a good thing that she has spent time putting together a lengthy essay in response to the heat her initial views generated. Being called out forced Rowling to put thought into some of the stances she has held that have offended people.
To cite another instance of some recent drama in the court of public opinion, let’s look to Bill Simmons. Simmons is a sports media giant, and my main role model whose work I look up to as I try to chart my own way on this content/writing journey of mine. Cancel culture recently caught up to my man Bill, as his hiring and promotional practices at media outlet The Ringer were called into question. Now, does Simmons deserve to be all-out “cancelled?” No, of course not. But should one of the most successful sports writers of all time reckon with hiring practices that exclude BIPOC voices from covering sports that are majority-black like the NFL and NBA? Totally. And should he be questioned for promoting mostly white podcast voices as he led the Ringer toward a sale to Spotify? Absolutely.
I have a lot of worries about cancel culture in its current form. I worry about how the practice of “canceling” people plays out for adolescents, for instance. Without the proper life experience or developmental perspective to fully process what a “cancelation” truly means, I shudder at the thought of what cancel culture might drive some teenagers to do. This New York Times article does a good job of illustrating a few real world examples. The piece mentions one high school girl in particular who had been “canceled” at school:
Months went by. Toward the end of sophomore year, she reached out over Instagram to a former friend, asking why people were not talking to her. It was lunchtime; the person she asked was sitting in the cafeteria with lots of people and so they all piled on. It was like an avalanche, L said.
Within a few minutes she got a torrent of direct messages from the former friend on Instagram, relaying what they had said. One said she was a mooch. One said she was annoying and petty. One person said that she had ruined her self-esteem. Another said that L was an emotional leech who was thirsty for validation.
“This put me in a situation where I thought I had done all these things,” L said. “I was bad. I deserved what was happening.”
I worry about how cancel culture sweeps people up who have no business being swept up in it. This piece in The Atlantic details a number of cases in which people have been prematurely canceled. One incredibly unfortunate such case involves a man who worked for the San Diego Gas & Electric company. On his way home from work, he was goaded into making a sign with his hand by a driver following him. He didn’t know what the sign meant, and felt pressured to do it by the aggressive tactics of his pursuer. Two hours later, his supervisor called him and asked him about the white supremacist gesture he had made that was now circulating online. A few days later, he was out of a job entirely.
Cancel culture in its current, extreme, hyper-polarized form has a lot of issues. It doesn’t invite nuance, and it encourages the heavy-handed elimination of people and opinions without proper discussion or consideration. At the same time, questioning controversial ideas and beliefs is a necessary and healthy exercise in a world of free thought and speech. That’s why I believe the re-brand makes a lot of sense. “Cancel culture?” Ehhh, maybe not. But “call-out culture?” Now we’re talkin’.
Sports are Just Around the Bend
The return of sports is imminent, with regular season baseball games set to commence on July 23rd and the resumption of the basketball season scheduled for a week later on July 30th. The number of active COVID-19 cases in the country is only continuing to increase, so it’s a weird time for sports to be returning. Let’s take a temperature check on both, shall we?
Basketball
With the hoops restart only a couple of weeks away, players and coaches have flooded into Orlando and are now securely locked in the NBA Bubble at Walt Disney World. While almost all players for contending teams have made the trip, some notable teams (including the decimated Brooklyn Nets) are missing key pieces. Some other thoughts:
While on premises in the Bubble, players are strictly prohibited from leaving or bringing guests on site. As such, they have much more free time on their hands than they normally would during the course of the season. If you’re an NBA fanatic, you absolutely have to follow the NBA Bubble Life account on Twitter for the latest on how the players are getting on in Orlando. Players learning how to fish? Players learning how to golf? J.J. Redick shotgunning beers? NBA Bubble Life has got it all.
Speaking of being strictly prohibited from leaving the Bubble, any players who break this rule have to quarantine in their rooms and away from team activities for 14 days. Hilariously, there is actually an anonymous “Snitch Hotline” where players can be reported for violating lockdown protocol. Who’s gonna be the first jealous competitor to report LeBron for a fake violation?
Earlier this week, Russell Westbrook became the highest profile NBA star yet to test positive for COVID-19. Westbrook has some leeway to get healthy and cleared before the season starts back up, but other players might not be so lucky. Let’s say Giannis tests positive in a few weeks’ time. Playoff series are about two weeks long. If Giannis tests positive and the Bucks lose, how can we feel comfortable with the season’s results?
Baseball
The shortened baseball season is set to begin in just a few days. In lieu of a proper spring training as is customary, professional baseball teams are training and holding inter-squad games at their respective stadiums nationwide. Here are some bullet points on the restart:
While most prominent NBA players are taking part in the completion of the season, a number of big-name MLB veterans are sitting this short season out entirely. Buster Posey, David Price, and Felix Hernandez are a few who have already announced their plans to sit out. I wouldn’t be surprised if more names join the list in the days to come - Mike Trout, the best player in baseball, has repeatedly mentioned how uneasy he is about playing in the current conditions.
In their hyphenated preparation sessions for the season, teams have had to cancel workouts and scrimmages due to delayed testing results and unclear information from the MLB. Baseball players, ever the routine-oriented bunch, have been forced to tweak their training frequently as they adjust to this new normal.
MLB teams have to adhere to their local markets’ rules about group activities and being around other people as they prepare for the season. This has forced certain teams, such as the Nationals and Dodgers, to train without their full complement of athletes, while teams in less strict cities have all hands on deck.
All in all, it’s just weird. Sports are returning, but in severely restricted forms. For diehard fans of live entertainment and competition like myself, it’ll be so great to have these mainstays back - something to watch again, something to distract us from more sobering things, something to talk about with friends. At the same time, I can’t help but feel queasy about the return - that it all could go wrong in the blink of an eye. And I also can’t help but feel like the results, with their shortened seasons and fragmented rosters, will seem different than usual.
As a fan of two teams, the LA Clippers and Dodgers, that both have great chances to win it all in their respective sports, I’m hopeful that potential victorious results will come with the requisite feelings of elation and achievement. At the same time, I’m decidedly prepared for a world in which victory feels a bit less significant.
The Record Refresh Corner
If you haven’t checked out my new podcast yet, I honestly don’t blame you for it - there’s a lot of media out there competing for our attention nowadays. Who am I to expect people to give Joey Mezz a shake over Joe Rogan or Michael Barbaro?
With that said, my co-host Chris and I are really starting to get on a roll. If you at any point in your life have fallen in love with any of the following albums, I’d highly encourage you to give us a go:
The Strokes, Is This It
The Beatles, Abbey Road
Kendrick Lamar, good kid, m.A.A.d city
No Doubt, Tragic Kingdom
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
More to come, with a new episode dropping weekly on Tuesday mornings. Here’s the link to our show on Apple podcasts.
3 Song Recommendations from your Old Pal Joe
1) Amy Winehouse - You Know I’m No Good (Remix) feat. Ghostface Killah
For the unfamiliar, I cap off each edition of the newsletter with three song recommendations for your pleasure. Hopefully you pick up a jam or two for those summer playlists.
Anywhom, here’s a remix of an Amy Winehouse classic featuring the great Ghostface Killah on the track. It also happens to foreshadow the album for next week’s Record Refresh episode!
2) 070 Shake - Guilty Conscience
Not much was good about former presidential candidate Kanye West’s 2018 album Ye - all things considered, it was a pretty disappointing effort. However, one thing that did stand out on the album was the voice of a singer named 070 Shake on the track “Ghost Town.” Unknown to me at the time, I was impressed with the way her presence on the song cut through the rest. Here’s a standout track from the singer’s 2020 debut album, Modus Vivendi.
3) Jessie Ware - Ooh La La
Here’s my very sad Jessie Ware story: On November 1st, 2017, I showed up to work at 8:00 am and got laid off from the job I had held for over 4 years. Later that day, I went to a friend’s apartment to watch Game 7 of the World Series, only to watch my beloved LA Dodgers crumble at home against the villainous Houston Astros. This was a bad day. To cap it all off, I went to watch Jessie Ware perform at The Independent in SF. I was emotionally a wreck, a shell of a man. I was on the verge of tears throughout the show. I don’t really remember her performance that well, but I’m sure she was great.
Welp, that was depressing. It was a memorably bad day for me! So it goes. Anyways, Jessie Ware recently released a new studio album, What’s Your Pleasure? Ware has quietly built an impressively deep catalogue of smooth pop hits, and this album only adds to that work. Ware is on a tear. Here’s a song I really like from the new record.
Let’s wrap here. Until next time, my peoples.
Hugs and kisses,
Joey