APORIAS OF TOLERANCE: THE FALSENESS OF SELECTIVE INCLUSION IN CANCEL POLICY
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/2415-881x.2025.95.12-34
Abstract
It is noted that the initially spontaneous cancel culture gradually becomes institutionalized and, in particular, finds its embodiment in the corresponding cancel policy as a component of identity politics. Attempts to achieve the restoration of social justice through the cancellation of some and the inclusion of others can also lead to political and moral aporias: when the application of the cancel policy not only leads to new injustice, but also fails to fulfill the tasks of the cancel culture itself. This often happens due to the emergence of the effect of selective inclusion: when a certain category of individuals or a social group is excluded from inclusive practices, appealing to certain of their additional social characteristics. It is substantiated that making such exceptions is possible and even useful, but only in truly extraordinary, emergency situations, such as the case of combating terrorism or armed aggression. The russian military invasion of Ukraine in 2022 belongs to such cases.
It is specifie that the limit of tolerance is the cancelling of tolerance of those who completely deny tolerance itself: inclusivity cannot be applied to them. In all other cases, inclusivity is a universal moral norm. Identifying the impact of tolerance, inclusion, and cancelling on the formation of identity helped to better establish the relationship between these social phenomena. A distinction is made between proper and improper grounds for the implementation of selective inclusivity and it is established that in most cases selective inclusivity is unjustified and is the result of incompetence or corruption. During russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine, the russian language should be under abolition in the public sphere and not be encouraged to be used in the private sphere. A justified exception may be the use of russian on the front — to the extent that it is required for military purposes for the needs of the Ukrainian side.
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