There is an interesting article on Cancel culture in unherd. It gives various recent examples, including James Bennet in the NYT, who was removed for running an opinion piece by Tom Cotton. It asks why there isn't more political opposition from classic 'liberals' for whom freedom of speech and diversity of debate should be definitional principles. It also use quotes a historical figure whose statue looks precarious. And whose words have a grim contemporary resonance.
Each one hopes if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last
Cancel culture has yet to be cancelled. In fact, it’s never been busier and no one is safe. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich and famous, or poor and unheard of, you too can be a target. In fact, it doesn’t matter whether you meant to offend anybody — if enough people are offended, or claim to be, you can lose your privacy, your reputation or your job. Even being dead is no guarantee. If there’s some sort of monument to your memory then that too is fair game.It should be stressed that cancel culture is not the exclusive preserve of the woke Left. Performative offence-taking is something that can be engaged in by persons of just about any ideological persuasion.However, if you see a reasoned complaint about cancel culture, then it’s probably coming from a conservative or libertarian point of view. On the other side of the ‘culture war’, liberals have rather less to say about this matter