Canadian Politics Today

Because the state has a lot more power than the mob?

Here's where this gets you.

It should be noted that this stuff in France has been floated closer to home by Jordan Peterson (who planned to build a website that would have listed courses containing “postmodern neo-Marxist course content,” in an effort to decrease enrollment in those courses) and embraced by government's in Ontario and Alberta (under the guise of "academic freedom").

That's fair, but I doubt a lot of those who rail against cancel culture would agree with that narrow definition.

I think most people would agree that violence or threats of violence to deter speech is bad. But that doesn't cover very many examples of people who've supposedly been "canceled" so I think your definition of the phenomenon, while reasonable, is not the same one that is widespread.

I think the only ‘cancel culture’ I am aware of is the few times some folks have been prevented from speaking with the use of violence, intimidation or the pulling of fire alarms. 

Other than that, I don’t consider anything “cancel culture”.   People now use it for every boycott or firing by a private company when it’s “they’re side”.  Like Graham in this thread. 

That now has turned the argument from a legitimate free speech issue into their hurt feelings issue.