They are fired from their jobs, shunned by friends and associates, attacked by people and kosmaks in person or online. They are marginalized because they did something, said something, meant something – and joined the chorus “cancelled” cancellation culture our age.

However, once a month they all get together, over 200 in all, in a New York City caucus they call “Gathering of thought criminals“. Meetings can take place at cafes, bars, river cruises, mansions – and most discussions are uncensorable: all topics and all opinions can be discussed, no matter how controversial they may be.

However, their favorite place, according to the New Yorker, is Cafe “Olive tree”in Greenwich Village, which has a reputation as a meeting place for… politically correct dissidents, all kinds of disabled people.

The idea started with 56-year-old psychologist Pamela Pareschi, a woman, according to The New Yorker, who lived her life among the American intelligentsia, she is also a doctor of the University of Chicago. And this is not the only case of such gatherings, for several years rogue cancel culture they try to create their own “oases” where they can express any opinion that in the outside world is considered or has already been considered reprehensible and often condemned with irreversible consequences.

In fact, experts who spoke to the New York Times earlier emphasized that psychologists’ main concern is to ensure that the person affected by “withdrawal” has access to mental health care, since the experience of public contempt is psychologically harmful. “It takes a toll on you when you are constantly told in public that you are wrong and that you are doing harm,” said Kathleen Stock, professor of philosophy at the University of Sussex in England, who has come under fire for her views on gender issues. , calling himself a “gender critic”. Either way, this is a question that often dominates public debate and cancellation culture.

Two meeting rules

Gatherings of the socially excluded two unbreakable rules for everyone involved: first, each participant must be willing to agree with the people who have been “cancelled”, from elite scientists and journalists to the people “next door” – whether you live in an attic in Manhattan – whoever For their own reasons, they are outraged, in their opinion, by “the uncontrolled censorship of our time.”

The second rule to be a part of these gatherings is to please Pamela Pareschi, who, according to The New Yorker, decided to move to the Big Apple in early 2019 after years of living in the small winter resort of Aspen in Colorado.

“Dear Thought Criminals”

During a visit to New York, Pamela Pareschi received an invitation to lunch from journalist Barry Weiss, who worked for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times and now works for Germany’s Die Welt. The invitation began with “Dear Thought Criminals,” an obvious reference to George Orwell’s “Big Brother” from his 1984 dystopia. In the fall of 2020, the first of the pandemic, Pamela Pareschi, in turn, organized her first dinner, where the invitations included the same address. The habit became a monthly one and he eventually decided to move to New York.

“It’s like a refuge in an unbearable world.”

Meetings, however, as the participants themselves say, are one thing for them. refuge from an unbearable world – in their own words – that does not allow them to express themselves, a world that does not stand up to their views (already). They say it is a world that has gone in a direction opposite to their own, which has led to their ostracism.

According to The New Yorker’s Emma Green, most of the attendees at Pamela Pareschi’s rallies are on the right-wing political spectrum, although many socialists also gather. In general, however, they are politically homeless, because, apparently, their views or actions do not fit anywhere, not so much ideologically as socially.

Nanny and… Mother Teresa

Pamela Pareschi, however, something like babysitter immediate action. Not only does he give shelter to those who have been excluded from their social environment, rightly or wrongly, he is not considered at all, at least at these gatherings; at the same time, he is interested in how they live when they are in trouble. As, say, happened to the clients of the couple Michael Thad Allen and Samantha Harris, the lawyers “cancelled”, as they themselves derisively say. The client, a former Princeton professor named Joshua Katz, was fired from the university for two reasons: first, because he published an essay in which he called the anti-racist group, the Black Justice League, “a small local terrorist organization”; and second, because he was not cooperating with the university when it investigated his involvement in consensual sex with a female student many years ago.

“Even criminals deserve love.”

Thanks to this and that, Pamela Pareschi among the co-defendants has become Mother Teresa of the Canceled. In fact, one of her mottos for these gatherings is that “while none of the attendees are true criminals, even criminals deserve love.”

After all, her big fear, she confided to The New Yorker’s Emma Green, was “the public notoriety people get when they’re successful,” referring to “smear campaigns.” These were, after all, the reasons that prevented her from fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming an actress – a delusion that comes with fame and public exposure. However, she was turned into a psychologist and, in fact, a researcher studying the social dynamics of ostracism. It was she who coined the term “security” – a culture or belief system, as scientists say, in which security (including “emotional security”) has become a sacred value, meaning that people are reluctant to make compromises required by other practical and ethical issues. Some of her colleagues with whom she collaborated on this study are also members of the annulled congregations.

In addition to Mother Teresa, Pamela Pareschi is described by her peers as “strangely very sexy; she is the intellectual dark web’s most profitable bride.” (ps The intelligent dark web is a term used by critics of identity politics, political correctness, and cancellation culture in Western universities and the media.) Of course, Pamela Pareschi insists that gatherings are not for … mating, they are purely social and nothing more.

Multiple “undo” control

However, the guests of these gatherings dispose of their social, professional or other ostracism in different ways. On this broad spectrum, others accept any criticism and try to be reborn; others stick to their views and become even stronger behind them. For some, the annulment is … a medal, a testament to bravery, for some, years of therapy, litigation, reflection.

Help “veterans” “canceled recruits.”

However, at Pamela Pareschi’s meetings, a new society is being created. “Veterans” support and advise “newbies” public revocation so that they don’t live a life of anger, bitterness, and finally an additional revocation, the worst of all: self-revocation, the one that follows expressions like “I see you and I’m disgusted now,” said her co-editor Pamela Pareschi.

However, they all insist on pointing out that human societies have entered into social contracts precisely in order to tolerate all opinions, which in itself sounds dangerous due to the blurring of borders and red lines. “thought criminals” they discuss this issue in detail.

Harvey Weinstein, for example, is a redline, as is Quillette editor Jonathan Kay. As Pamela Pareschi herself said, he would not be welcome at such a gathering. In addition, as mentioned earlier, the second rule of attending such meetings is to please the hostess. The rule that the “veterans” willingly accept when adding a new member is that in order to be here, he has the seal of Pamela.

oases of “cancellation”

Nick Gillespie, editor-in-chief of the ultra-neoliberal magazine Reason, complains that in New York “everyone is talking about how capitalism is bad, or that America is the most racist, sexist and homophobic country in the world”, which makes him feel marginal. ., at least ideologically.

Websites, media and podcasts for the “cancelled”.

On the other hand, journalistic media have also been created to act as a “special purpose lawyer for the ‘cancelled'”, such as Quillette, an online publication that acts as a free speech advocate and has become a haven for the ‘cancelled’ who want to stop ranting. and, of course, express your pain.

In fact, the publisher of Quillette (which is French for a plant that is pruned to put down new roots) Jonathan Kay says to the New York Times that his website is not a free vine. “Withdrawal is like autism – it’s a spectrum. And we are much more interested in the opposite end of the spectrum, where there are people who have been charged with much less serious things, and then they hardly rise to the criminal level.

Another example is Dave Rubin, who founded the media organization Rubin Report. “My show has become a hub for people who are misunderstood or ‘canceled’ or people who need to be ‘cancelled’ in order to honestly express themselves,” he told a New York newspaper. “Suddenly, all these people who were condemned by the media came to my show and we became normal friends,” he said.

At the same time, Bridget Fetasi is the host of the Walk-Ins Welcome podcast, which she calls, according to the New York Times, “an island of inappropriate toys.” “I don’t consider myself “cancelled”; basically I accept myself to be ready to sit down and interact with the ‘canceled’.” I am their ally.”

Loneliness and… courage

However, they all participate in rallies, media or podcasts mainly because of the loneliness that their opinion brings. Also, as British comedian Andrew Doyle said, the social cost of linking to the “cancelled” may be greater than the “cancellation” itself “People are silent,” he told the New York Times.

Some of them believe that if you are not subject to “cancellation”, nothing will be written in you. This sounds bold, but behind it lies the arrogance that our opinion, in addition to natural respect, should be heard. All of them – and all of us – must constantly reflect on this, on the boundaries of our common coexistence.