Can the Left Tolerate Dissent?
The cohosts of F–king Cancelled say the quiet part out loud: a left that condemns internal dissent is a dead end for democracy.
Everyone says cancel culture is dead. If so, its ghost seems hell bent on repeating political habits. (Erik McGregor / LightRocket via Getty Images)
Clementine Morrigan and Jay Lesoleil, the Montreal-based cohosts of the podcast F–king Cancelled, have had a front-row seat to the secret the Left dares not name: the tendency toward deplatforming and cancellation. Through their podcast and Substack writings, Morrigan and Lesoleil have reflected on their experiences at the sharp end of this culture. What earlier generations of the Left would have recognized as dirty pool is now often celebrated as political virtue.
In a wide-ranging discussion with Jacobin’s Meagan Day, Morrigan and Lesoleil discuss identitarianism, mental health, emotional maturity, and the institutionalization of cancellation politics. Throughout, they are careful to spell out the costs that purity politics and a tolerance for cancellation impose on the Left’s organizing ability and democratic health.
Meagan Day
There’s a considerable contingent on the Left convinced that cancel culture is a phantom conjured by the Right — that it isn’t real and never was. So, I’ll put the question to you: Is cancel culture real? Did it happen? Is it still happening?
This article is for subscribers only. Please login or subscribe to access our full archives and beautiful print and digital magazine starting at just $3 a month.