Cancel culture is real.

But what distinguishes legitimate criticism from an illegitimate attempt to cancel someone?

@Jon_Rauch offers what is, to my mind, the best explanation anyone has come up with so far.

It should become the

There isn't a single characteristic that all attempts at cancelation share.

So instead of a litmus test, we need a checklist of warning signs. The more signs you see, the more certain you can be that you are looking at a cancel campaign.

Here are the six most important.

1) Punitiveness

Are people denouncing you to your employer or your social connections?

Are you being blacklisted from jobs and social opportunities?

Does what is being said to or about you have the goal—or foreseeable effect—of jeopardizing your livelihood?

A critical culture seeks to correct rather than punish. In science, the only penalty for being wrong is that you lose the argument.

Canceling, by contrast, seeks to punish rather than correct. The point is to make the errant suffer.

2) Deplatforming

Are campaigners attempting to prevent you from publishing your work, giving speeches or attending meetings?

Are they claiming that allowing you to be heard is violence against them or makes them unsafe?