Set and Setting: Timothy Leary’s Essential Safety Measure for Trying Psychedelics
- Alexandra A. Smith
Cancel Culture Would Have Killed The Beatles
Cancel Culture Would Have Killed The Beatles
The Fab Four Wouldn’t Have Made It Out of Liverpool in Today’s Cancel Culture
John Lennon hit his girlfriends. That’s an unfortunate, but known fact. Lennon himself admitted it in interviews and even wrote about it in the song “Getting Better”: “I used to be cruel to my woman/
I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved”. The truth is enormously disappointing to fans who believed the man was a saint—as someone who always promoted peace and love and lived by that creed. He was definitely no saint.
It’s likely that The Beatles would have broken up or, at the very least, that Lennon would have been forced to leave the band.
Lennon changed, though. He righted himself and became a beacon of non-violence. How did he do that? My personal hypothesis is that he did it through intense self-reflection brought about by intensive LSD experience . It doesn’t really matter so much HOW he did it as it does THAT he did it. He denounced his former ways, admitted it publicly, and became an international icon of peace, love, and non-violence.
In today’s world of cancel culture, this incredible personal transformation likely would not have happened. It’s much more likely that The Beatles would have broken up or at the very least that Lennon would have been forced to leave the band—and it’s difficult to imagine (no pun intended) that The Beatles would have achieved the same level of success or been nearly as fab without him.
Robert Whitaker
In June 2021, Winston Marshall of the folk-rock band Mumford and Sons left the band after facing intense pressure from virtue signalers calling for his head. What did Marshall do that was so awful? He tweeted praise for the author of a book about antifa, the far-left militant collective. The woke mob eviscerated him for this and directed so much hatred toward him and the band that he, a founding member, felt he had no choice but to leave the group. This happened without asking Marshall any questions or giving him a chance to clarify himself. He later expounded on his comment and said that he wasn’t endorsing any right-wing ideology, but rather expressing a distaste for political extremism on either side. The current political atmosphere fostered by the left doesn’t ask questions and doesn’t consider context. It is anti-intellectual and intolerant–two attributes that classic liberalism used to disdain.
Given the intensity of the bile directed at Marshall for such an innocuous comment, it’s safe to assume that a young John Lennon would have faced even more pressure from the mob and would not have been able to continue in his role with The Beatles. It’s also likely that this
The cancel culture of today would have ruined The Beatles as we know them and destroyed John Lennon’s life.
would have occurred early in the band’s career. When exactly is anyone’s guess, but it would almost certainly have happened before The Beatles ever left Liverpool. With no doubt, the cancel culture of today would have ruined The Beatles as we know them and destroyed John Lennon’s life, never giving him the chance to self-correct, and the world would be a lesser one without all the fantastic music that Lennon created with and without Paul, George, and Ringo.
Is this what we want? Certainly, hitting women is bad. Violence in general is a bad thing. There is, however, already a system in place to punish and, in some cases rehabilitate violent offenders. Is it necessary to publicly humiliate and beat them down relentlessly? Might the efforts to destroy a person’s livelihood be too severe?
C. Elliott
Last year Marilyn Manson was accused of abuse by his former girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood, the actress best-known for her role as the android Dolores on Westworld. Immediately following the allegation, his label Loma Vista Recordings issued a statement saying it would no longer work with the artist and would cease to promote his latest record. He was also dropped by his manager of 25 years as well as his talent agent. Additionally, his roles in forthcoming TV shows were cut.
The “Believe Women” mentality is extremely dangerous because, of course, some women do lie.
With “Believe Women” as its justification, the mob pounces on anyone accused. The “Believe Women” mentality is extremely dangerous because, of course, some women do lie. People lie. When one allegation is made against someone, it seems to release a torrent of allegations that results in a pile-on effect. There is no leadership. No one stops to ask, “Wait. Are we doing the right thing here?” It’s madness.
In cancel culture, facts are not considered. An individual doesn’t have to have done anything wrong to be the target of the woke mob. All it takes is one allegation from one person, usually a woman, to move the mob to attack.
C. Elliott
Our society is currently in the third wave of feminism. The first wave of feminism occurred in the late 19th century and confronted legal issues like securing the right to vote. The second wave of feminism began in the early 1960s and focused on a wide range of topics from workplace rights to domestic equality to sexuality. Each of the first two waves of feminism were completely reasonable and necessary. However, the third wave of feminism has no focus. It’s simply hate– misandry (a concept that should be a household word by now). It seems determined to tear down the patriarchy by any means necessary.
Fortunately, however, the end of these misandric days is in sight. The recent Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial was encouraging—not just in terms of the verdict, but in the public sentiment as well. Many more people—many more women even– sided with Depp than Heard. This could very well mean that the spell our society has been under the past five years or so is finally starting to wear off.
But we were talking about John Lennon, weren’t we? Lennon was guilty of hitting women. He should have faced consequences, but never did. Ideally, he would have been arrested and spent some time in jail. That seems reasonable, doesn’t it? If that had happened, The Beatles would have just taken some time off, maybe missed a few key gigs, but they still would have been able to conquer the world with their creativity, acumen, and charm. Isn’t that a better outcome than destroying John’s life and breaking up the band?
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