Just five days into 2021, the news cycle has already reached a certain level of iteration: yet One man is loosely related to beans Effectively choosing to dump trash on Twitter for no apparent reason, Mr. Bean else – character actor Rowan Atkinson – has proven that he, too, can evade silence against his better judgment. In an interview with a UK outlet Radio Times (As I mentioned before variety), Atkinson turned what would have been a somewhat fruitful conversation about the toxic pockets of online culture into further comments about the ancient “culture of annulment”: “The problem we face online is that the algorithm decides what we want to see, which ends up creating A simplistic and binary view of society. It becomes a case that either you are with us or against us. If you are against us, you deserve to be “canceled.”
“It is important that we are exposed to a wide range of opinions, but what we have now is the digital equivalent of a medieval gang roaming the streets looking for someone to burn. So it is frightening for anyone who is a victim of that mob and fills me with fear of the future.”
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To Atkinson reckon he has not cited any specific examples of recent “mob” behavior. (Despite the never-ending saga of transphobia J.K. Rowling It is definitely the easiest to get to here.) Nevertheless, he joined a chorus of privileged public figures who felt the need to speak out against this bad “culture of annulment” – which tends in reality to consist of marginalized communities who speak out against persistent and systematic abuse while Their words are misrepresented as “witch hunt,” dreaded “cancellation,” or any loud designations that critics believe distracts from the core issues at hand. Back in July, Harper Magazine Post an open letter with the title “A Message on Justice and Open Debate,” Who claimed that the “free exchange of information and ideas” was categorically threatened by public defamation. It was signed by 153 prominent personalities in the media and academia, including Noam Chomsky, Gloria Steinem, and, unsurprisingly, Rowling.
Unfortunately, Atkinson’s questionable style ended up casting a shadow over a really interesting insight into his long career, including his displeasure with playing Mr. Bean (“I don’t really enjoy playing it much. The weight of responsibility isn’t pleasant. I find it stressful and stressful, and I look forward” Come to an end “). Ironically, he also hinted at developing an upcoming animated film for Mr. Bean, stating that performing the character from a vocal point of view is much easier than playing it physically.