This is a tough thread to read. I only made it through the first few pages so sorry for jumping in out of context at the end.
Using "woke", "PC", "Cancel culture" as expletives does not highlight anyone's points, it just makes you sound like you've bought into a political culture and won't take in any new opinions or information. It sets up an argument, not a discussion.
Cancel culture, has swept into our lives quickly because of social media. It's leaving behind victims that may or may not deserve a second chance. Many, even the American political left, have warned that cancel culture will overreach, and it has happened. Does that mean that every person that has been "cancelled" has been unfairly cancelled? Definitely not. Deciding to hate cancel culture and everything about it seems as naive as those who buy in 100% and want every person who's said something offensive to be cancelled.
The biggest problem with hating on PC, wokeness, etc is that you can lose your ability to see reason when someone challenges social convention. Many normalized behaviours in our cultures will offend someone in way that only they can understand. Looking at what we do that offends someone should be okay to discuss, review and change if necessary. It's okay to be open to change.
The example of offensive jokes said in public, or comedians pushing boundaries, cannot be equated to a person facing prejudice in their everyday life for the colour of their skin, sexual orientation, gender, etc. As a straight white cis male I will never understand what it's like go through life where you can't even go to a store without being treated differently. What I can relate to, with a father that is less than 5' tall, is that your short jokes were not brushed off.
Now a company deciding to change its name (or Netflix dropping movies from a "cancelled" actor), why can't they? Let's say the "slutz" part of Gearslutz offends 3% of the population, why should anyone demand that that they limit their business to 97% of possible patrons? Or if Netflix spends big money on the rights to a show or film, the lead actor gets "cancelled", they realize they won't get enough viewers to cover their investment, why not drop the show?
I really don't understand why a lot of people seem to get offended at what I consider trivial things. But I'm an electronics nerd who is terrible with words. I really don't understand cancel culture, PC, wokeness. But my wife tells me "words matter". She's a high school vice-principal. She sees what words do. I'm a Telecom tech, I turn things off and turn them back on again.
Bottom line, it's okay for me to not understand why we have to consider our words. There are people that study psychology, social norms, gender issues, races issues, etc and it's okay for them to be smarter than me when it comes to their area of expertise. There are way too many people out there (not referring to anyone here) that will read some half baked article on an alt-right website and proclaim themselves experts and dismiss the opinions of those with PHDs because they're the "elite" or something like that.
If Gearslutz changes it's name, none of your freedoms will be hurt. You will be okay.
