Disir
Platinum Member
- Sep 30, 2011
- 28,003
- 9,615
- 910
There are times when cancel culture-type attitudes are entirely appropriate. They are a very, very brutal weapon, but sometimes you need that if you’re absolutely going to change attitudes.
I think the response to the issue of sexual harassment was entirely justified, for example. I think the Black Lives Matter protest against the killing of George Floyd, apart from the rioting, which I think had all sorts of strange people getting involved, was justified.
I think anger is sometimes a necessary weapon. The Rambam rules that anger is never justified, ever. But, he says, sometimes it is permitted to look as if you’re angry. [Laughs] Because that is the thing that makes an impact on people.
When anger erupts in a body politic, there is quite often a justified cause. But then the political domain has got to take that anger and deal with it very fast.
You have to acknowledge that there were certain cultures of systemic sexual harassment. You have to acknowledge that there were terrible instances of police brutality. Those things have to be acknowledged and then immediately dealt with through the political process. Because anger exposes the problem but never delivers the solution.
www.jta.org
Rabbi Sacks is one of my heroes.
I think the response to the issue of sexual harassment was entirely justified, for example. I think the Black Lives Matter protest against the killing of George Floyd, apart from the rioting, which I think had all sorts of strange people getting involved, was justified.
I think anger is sometimes a necessary weapon. The Rambam rules that anger is never justified, ever. But, he says, sometimes it is permitted to look as if you’re angry. [Laughs] Because that is the thing that makes an impact on people.
When anger erupts in a body politic, there is quite often a justified cause. But then the political domain has got to take that anger and deal with it very fast.
You have to acknowledge that there were certain cultures of systemic sexual harassment. You have to acknowledge that there were terrible instances of police brutality. Those things have to be acknowledged and then immediately dealt with through the political process. Because anger exposes the problem but never delivers the solution.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on cancel culture, restoring morality and Israel's missed opportunities - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
We spoke with the former chief rabbi of England about his vision for collective morality, how Israel embodies it (and how it doesn't), religion in politics and more.

Rabbi Sacks is one of my heroes.