Cancel Culture, or Conversation Culture: What Really Helps Society?
As a listener of the LIVE Without Borders podcast, you’ve already heard me talk about how the ancient philosophy of Stoicism offers guidance on how we can live the good life in the modern world: How to be less stressed; a better listener; more productive.
But Stoicism is about more than improving ourselves on an individual level, it’s about improving our communities and being an active member of society. This is what Kai Whiting and his co-author, Leonidas Konstantakos, chose to focus on in their new book Being Better: Stoicism for a World Worth Living In.
Kai is a researcher and lecturer in sustainability and Stoicism who currently lives in Lisbon, Portugal. You can chat to him on Twitter. Photo courtesy of Kai.
“Basically what we said in chapter seven was, ‘What's good for Sparta is good for the Spartan. So what's good for your community is good for you,’” Kai says.
Kai, who recently joined me on the podcast to talk about Stoicism, is an British researcher and lecturer in sustainability and Stoicism currently living in Lisbon, Portugal.
His book is filled with interesting examples of people living out Stoic principles, which are benefitting society on local and global levels. For example, the story of Chobani yogurt founder Hamdi Ulukaya, who employs refugees, offers paid family leave, and gave part ownership of the company to workers.
Listen to the podcast to hear Kai and I covered a range of topics, including what it means to be a good global citizen, and how silencing people hurts society because nothing gets solved if we pretend things we disagree with don’t exist.
“It's only in Socratic dialectic, or, in dialog, that you and I find the answer to a very complicated question,” he says. “It's through the tussle; it's through what I call ‘the virtuous dance’ to know not only what is true, but what is reasonable. Because truth obviously matters, but also, how do I respond to that given truth?”
Kai argues that cancel culture actually robs people of the opportunity to exercise the four Stoic virtues: justice, self-control, wisdom, and courage. If we push away anything we don’t want to hear and stay in our bubbles, we’re not growing as human beings and we’re not affecting the positive change in the world we say we want to make.
“That doesn't mean we give license to anybody who wants to talk, but it does mean that we don't sit there and say, for example, ‘I feel triggered, therefore we should cancel it.’”
Kai compares today’s cancel culture to the exile Stoic philosophers faced in ancient times.
“You are no longer anybody. You're no longer important. If you die, that's fine…Cancel culture is a bit like that,” he says on the podcast. “Publicly it’s, like, ‘We don't mind if you lose your job; we don't mind if you lose your following; we don't mind if you lose your name in the circles that matter to you.’...It's literally losing your identity because people forget.” Read Kai’s full article on cancel culture.
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