If one is going to indulge in virtue signaling, which is what at least some of this cancellation stuff amounts to, one should perhaps be sure of his own virtue first. The desire for reprisal and retaliation are quite human and understandable. But they are based on emotion and not reason and are anything but virtuous when pursued absent reason, common sense or moral clarity. And especially when they are sought as nothing more than a balm for a self-righteous ego and will produce no result other than that, and harm, financial or otherwise, to someone undeserving of it.
True virtue is about walking the walk, not talking the talk. So, for example, if you don't want to eat borscht in a restaurant owned by a Russian-American or a Russian resident, don't. That's your prerogative. But unless you can prove those people support Putin's evil or that the money spent there is going to help advance it in some way, don't get in the way of those who don't share your desire to engage in thoughtless behavior, and who'd like to patronize an establishment owned by folks who just may be their neighbors and are not, in fact, our enemy.
If one is going to indulge in virtue signaling, which is what at least some of this cancellation stuff amounts to, one should perhaps be sure of his own virtue first. The desire for reprisal and retaliation are quite human and understandable. But they are based on emotion and not reason and are anything but virtuous when pursued absent reason, common sense or moral clarity. And especially when they are sought as nothing more than a balm for a self-righteous ego and will produce no result other than that, and harm, financial or otherwise, to someone undeserving of it.
True virtue is about walking the walk, not talking the talk. So, for example, if you don't want to eat borscht in a restaurant owned by a Russian-American or a Russian resident, don't. That's your prerogative. But unless you can prove those people support Putin's evil or that the money spent there is going to help advance it in some way, don't get in the way of those who don't share your desire to engage in thoughtless behavior, and who'd like to patronize an establishment owned by folks who just may be their neighbors and are not, in fact, our enemy.