Reposted by Jill Anderson
Jill Anderson
@jillian6475.bsky.social
266 followers 303 following 1.2K posts
historian. poetry, libraryish; working on mid-20th-century girls' art-career fiction. Central PA. Increasingly un-sold on microblogging.
historian. poetry, libraryish; working on mid-20th-century girls' art-career fiction. Central PA. Increasingly un-sold on microblogging.
![The incident fits a broader pattern in the discourse around 'free speech' and 'cancel culture':
[Section highlighted]
whatever comes from the top down is freedom; whatever comes from the bottom up is bullying and censorship.
[End highlight]
When Macklemore is dropped at the behest of the billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft, it's an exercise of the freedom of businesses to 'demonstrate their values' by deciding whom to platform. But when Ed Sheeran's fans decide not to buy tickets to his performances, or even demand refunds, it's bullying, mob behaviour. Since most people are not billionaires and do not own stadiums, they can exercise meaningful power only collectively. The collective exercise of power must therefore be demonised.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ybkylffhwhn2an2ic2lxh76k/bafkreifpdv74ajtas7sepr67o7cd5g2er47mv23tpoll2ddie7ri44wjge)
