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The key is that it's cancel culture. It's not a specific definable process, it's just the general cultural trend, suddenly much more prevalent, where if someone says something naughty it's appropriate not only to take it personally, not only to tell everyone how upset you are, but to try to visit consequences on them for it. There's no precise definition, it's just a vibe shift.
I don't see why cultural things are undefinable. The edges might be fuzzy, and the definition may shift in the future, but it doesn't mean we can't generally point out where those edges are in a specific time period.
"Indefinable" might be too strong a word, but he has a point. Cancel Culture isn't about a specific set if behaviors, the behaviors are a means to an end. With changing conditions the behaviors might change, bit Cancel Culture will remain the same.
There are some things in culture that are a little pointless to define because they shift so much with sentiment.
"anti-left" would be a very nebulous concept, because the views of "leftists" and those who oppose them can change drastically based on time and place.
But there are social tactics that are mostly not going to change over time. Killing political opponents is a constant through much of history, and the stated reasons for why have changed many times. But killing is killing and there is no reason to mark it as undefinable.
If there is a spectrum from "pointless to define" things like "anti-left" to easily definable things like "killing" then I believe "cancel-culture" is closer to "killing". The reasons for doing it might change, the targets might change, and the methods might change. But it is still the same underlying strategy/tactic.
The ancient equivalent of "cancel culture" is probably exile which has also been pretty popular throughout history.
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