Rowan Atkinson Says Cancel Culture “Like Medieval Mob Looking For Someone To Burn”; Hints At ‘Blackadder’ Revival

By Jake Kanter

 

AP

 

Mr. Bean and Johnny English actor Rowan Atkinson has bemoaned the rise of cancel culture, comparing keyboard warriors to a “medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn.”

 

In an interview with the Radio Times, the multi-hyphenated British star blamed social media platforms for increased levels of polarization, which he said makes him fearful for the future of freedom of speech.

 

“The problem we have online is that an algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating a simplistic, binary view of society. It becomes a case of either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us, you deserve to be ‘cancelled’,” Atkinson said.

 

“It’s important that we’re exposed to a wide spectrum of opinion, but what we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn. So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.”

 

Full Story: https://deadline.com/2021/01/rowan-atkinson-cancel-culture-mr-bean-blackadder-1234664901/

dead on.  Social media is the evil of modern society. 

1 hour ago, snoop1130 said:

“It’s important that we’re exposed to a wide spectrum of opinion, but what we have now is the digital equivalent of the medieval mob roaming the streets looking for someone to burn. So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.”

 

He did an excellent speech, published on YouTube:

 

 

The issue is that with freedom of speech, which should be everyone's right there comes an equal right for others to disagree and to protest. He has spoken out about J. K. Rowling's bizarre rants against transgender women. It is her right to believe as she wishes and to state that belief, but it is also the right of the transgender population and those that support them to protest using their threat to boycott her products.

generation SNOWFLAKE in action, vomit

Multi-hyphenated? Is his name not Rowan Atkinson?

15 minutes ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

generation SNOWFLAKE in action, vomit

 

You can see how a statement like that is just as toxic and divisive, right?

Though I am a lifelong democrat, I am not liberal, and about as un PC as they come. I despise it. "Tell it like it is, and call em like you see em", is my motto. This is a rich topic. I think it represents alot of what is wrong with contemporary culture, and especially America today. It is a major form of weakness, when you allow yourself to be easily offended, and take everything personally. Granted, there are things that can be perceived as offensive, but allowing yourself to be offended by tiny little things people say and do is a bit much! But, the people who are offended daily, by things others say, are just weak, and would benefit by growing thicker skin. Life can be rough and caustic at times, and for those of us who have grown thick skin, it is like water off a ducks back. No big deal, at all. Think what you want to think. It just does not mean anything to those with self esteem, and a sense of who and what they are. Granted, these are just my opinions, and some will take offense to them. LOL. 

 

Clint Eastwood said it is a part of what is wrong with people today. When he was growing up, it was totally cool to make fun of people, call them names, and we all just dealt with it. Think of a giant like Don Rickles. He made fun of everyone. 

The notion that political correctness has “gone mad” is familiar to anyone who follows even vaguely any aspect of modern political or cultural life. The phrase, ostensibly referring to language or action that is designed to avoid offence or harm to protected groups, has become a sharp criticism. It is synonymous with a sort of cultural McCarthyism, usually committed by the left.

https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/09/10/has-political-correctness-gone-too-far


A Rasmussen poll found that 71 percent of Americans think political correctness is a problem today. When is being politically correct more about civility and politeness? When when does it veer into censorship? When is it justified? When is it not justified?

https://www.jacksonville.com/opinion/2016-09-30/has-political-correctness-gone-too-far

University of Connecticut officials sent out a campus-wide email advising its students that the school would provide counseling sessions in response to political commentator and Harvard Law alum Ben Shapiro’s slated speaking event at the university. The ironic part is that the counseling sessions were offered before Shapiro even stepped foot on campus. When I was in law school, Bill Clinton came and spoke. While I wasn't traumatized, I wonder whether the administration would have provided counselors for all the women in attendance.

https://clclt.com/charlotte/pc-culture-10-times-its-gone-too-far/Content?oid=16059883

The term first appeared in the Marxist-Leninist vocabulary following the Russian Revolution (really, a coup) of 1917 to describe strict adherence to policies and principles of the Soviet Union’s Communist Party. “Political correctness” was invented by the communists to camouflage the truth about events and policies in the Soviet Union that had resulted in mass murders, the starvation of millions, and slave labor camps. It was “politically incorrect” to reveal such facts; the “party line” was for all loyal communist party members to promote the same “politically correct truths” about the “good life” under totalitarian government. 

https://www.telegram.com/news/20200114/roberta-schaefer-history-of-political-correctness-and-why-its-gone-way-too-far

Yes. I remember once I referred to someone as being gay. They were very offended. I am not gay. I am non-binary. OK. How would I know that, and how can you be offended, due to me not knowing that? How is that my issue, on any level? I told him, her, who knows, to grow some thicker skin. I am a very open minded person. I have alot of gay friends, and they are all comfortable being called gay. 
 
Words of wisdom, from a few on the incredible benefits of living your life with thick skin, and remaining impervious to criticism, what other people think and say about you, and perceived slights:
 
 
Freud was the son of a Jewish merchant who had to move his whole family to Vienna because he couldn't get work. He, as a boy, had to watch his father be mocked and abused on the street for being Jewish... You develop a thick skin and you develop a certain kind of wit to defend yourself.
Viggo Mortensen
 
I do think a key to success in any walk of life is having a short memory and a thick skin - I know it has served me well over the years.
Aubrey McClendon
 
Later on in my life, it became a big theme: just being okay and comfortable to take the risk and to have really thick skin and realize not everybody is going to love you or what you put out there. Get over it, and if you believe in yourself, your product, your act, your music, or just about anything, just keep going forward.
Jesse Itzler
 
Having a thick skin doesn't mean that you're hard or harsh. I was lucky because I was born with a thick skin. That doesn't mean that things don't bother me, but you have to keep it in perspective.
Shelley Moore Capito
 
When you're onstage and you know you're bombing, that's very, very scary. Because you know you gotta keep going - you're bombing, but you can't stop. And you know that half an hour from now, you're still gonna be bombing. It takes a thick skin.
Christopher Walken
 


 

Edited January 6, 20215 yr by spidermike007

14 hours ago, impulse said:

He did an excellent speech, published on YouTube:

 

 

 

This seems to be more about Police Reform?

 

http://reformsection5.org.uk/

 

Rather than "cancel culture"?

 

Mr. Atkinson's freedom of speech is on full display, and his worrying about "keyboard warriors" seems weird? Surely they too have the right to express their opinions?

 

15 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

So it is scary for anyone who’s a victim of that mob and it fills me with fear about the future.”

 

"Victim". Hmm.

 

 

 

Did he say or do something recently?

 

 

 

C'mon, let's get serious now, Black Adder might return!

Yeah!

It is one of the most wickedly funny shows that ever was, and I've always been saddened by how it ended on the fields of Flanders.

18 hours ago, Pilotman said:

dead on.  Social media is the evil of modern society. 

What is "evil" is not social media, but rather those who use it for the purposes of silencing, harming or interfering with a person's freedom.

27 minutes ago, Benmart said:

What is "evil" is not social media, but rather those who use it for the purposes of silencing, harming or interfering with a person's freedom.

I see that, but I use the word evil because of its negative effects on young people, the vulnerable, the easily influenced, the weak, the socially inept, the isolated and lonely .  It projects a one dimensional view of the world that negatively impacts those sections of society, from destroying their self worth, to stopping real communication, to the projection of the ideal person when there is no such thing. It should be such a good thing, a good advance for humanity, instead its a source of heartbreak, death, control, indoctrination, and negative thoughts and actions.  I think evil is exactly the right word. Read    'Spectacle', you will see what I mean. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectacle_(critical_theory)

Edited January 6, 20215 yr by Pilotman

33 minutes ago, Benmart said:

What is "evil" is not social media, but rather those who use it for the purposes of silencing, harming or interfering with a person's freedom.

 

Can you expand on this at all?

 

Who are "those who use it"? Is it "they" who are "evil"?

 

And how do words silence, harm or interfere with a person's freedom?

 

Good tweet today...U.S.A. centric

 

The First Amendment
@USConst_Amend_I

I protect you from the government. Twitter is not the government. Therefore, I don’t protect you from Twitter.

5 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

 

 

 

This seems to be more about Police Reform?

 

http://reformsection5.org.uk/

 

Rather than "cancel culture"?

 

Mr. Atkinson's freedom of speech is on full display, and his worrying about "keyboard warriors" seems weird? Surely they too have the right to express their opinions?

 

 

"Victim". Hmm.

 

 

 

Did he say or do something recently?

 

 

 

I think when movements / organisations or whatever you want to call them like Qanon etc start to have influence, which all start out on and flourish on social media, and then progresses into actual mobs of people, it is worrying. And although I don't have anything to back up this next statement, I have a gut feeling there is a very small number of people that complain about something which gets picked up by mainstream media which is made to look like it's a bigger issue than it is. If over 70% of people think there is too much PCness, then when I hear someone complain that no one is calling them "they" when they want to be called "they" - I just ignore it.