Are Thesauruses Cancelled?

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To me, specific language is important.

The word 'cancelled' is really vague and I think it's deliberately so.

It can cover things from:
Retired/Resigned/Sacked/Unpopular/Criticised by someone/Criticised by own creator/Out of print/Turned Off/Changed by Creator

If you were to use any of those words/phrases though, it wouldn't sound nearly as extreme or interesting.

Some words which also match and do sound pretty extreme:

Boycotted/Ganged Up On/Censored

Let's not mistake any of these circumstances.

I don't think it's ok to boycott a piece of art or a creator then spread mass stigma against people who choose to engage in it. I think it comes out of a sense of 'if you watch it you endorse it' and reducing a work of art/entertainment to its problematic aspects.

I don't believe in state censorship either. I think if you can find a publisher or similar for your work, you ought to be allowed to publish/produce it. And if you're unable to do so for any reason, you ought to be allowed to try your hand at self-publishing etc. But nobody has to engage with it!

But I don't think that is what is happening in all cases. And I think a lot of the first list are not only ok but inevitable.

And the changed by creator thing? That's creative freedom too. If Mattel wants to produce bloody Apple Space Alien rather than Mr Potato Head that's up to them.

I think calling it all cancelled can lead to knee-jerk reactions, defensiveness and panic. The world changes, always has done always will do. People have different tastes. Creators change their works or regret them.

Were Oliver Twist and Frankenstein (1818) cancelled in the 19th century? Dickens regreted the anti-Semitism in Oliver. Shelley went so far as to publish another version of Frankenstein. Are the originals cancelled? I'd say no.

Artistic freedom is important but so is audience freedom. And when it comes to mass media or products like toys, companies will make what sells - that's how capitalism works so criticising the left is a bit silly.

Any kind of propaganda doesn't like subtleties.

I think people deserve second chances, not instant ruin.

Then say 'banishment' or 'sent to Coventry' or 'mass boycott'.

I agree.

I don't agree that someone deciding to improve themselves is the same thing as that.

See how slippery the word 'cancelled' has become? It can mean both.