So you're fine with the state restricting speech but not members of the community? That seems like a far more dangerous concession.
That’s the way it has worked so far. How is it more dangerous to have laws and a court decide rather than a mob?
Here's a scenario: Jerkoff McGee is going to give a speech at the local university, students organize a protest and boycott and pressure the university to cancel the event. Is that ok? After all, the students are just using their own speech to get their point across and aren't physically preventing anyone from speaking.
Yes, that’s fine, depending on the school’s policies and government policies dictating who can speak on campuses. They can be open to things like human rights violations if they cancel someone because people just don’t like what they say.
But, if it was canceled because of security concerns, threats of violence, then it’s no different than right-wing Nazi groups scaring people from speaking about anti-racism. I would call that ‘cancel culture’.
It's not that complicated: many of those who complain about cancel culture have a, shall we say, selective notion of free speech. Bari Weiss, for example, is running a whole grift highlighting examples of cancel culture, but has a history of trying to ruin the careers of Arab and Muslim professors who criticize Israel. If that doesn't apply to you, personally, fine.
Criticism of Israel is fair game. Why should anyone’s career be ruined for criticizing policies? Are there jackasses who are whiny hypocrites? Yup.
no one is saying speech should be restricted, only that people should not be free from consequences. The question is where that line is.
Forcing people with a different opinion than you not to speak is how I define ‘cancel culture’.
I’ve never said that speech should be free of consequences. But if the consequence is a punch in the face, then, no. That’s not a legitimate form of protest or consequences. If it is physically blocking or intimidating people from a venue, then that is also not a valid form of protest or consequence.