More than one thing can be true at a time. Part of the issue, I think, with arguments here is that people are arguing about subtly different things under the same umbrella.

I absolutely do believe that consequences for shitty behavior can be necessary, both to minimize risk of ongoing harm and because consequences can spur growth and change.

At the same time, social media can cause a problem where consequences are disproportionate to the offence. Within a tight-knit social group, if one person levels accusations against another, people evaluate how to respond within the contexts of their existing opinions and relationships with the folks involved. "I choose to never associate with this person again" can and does absolutely happen, but it's not always a decision that can be made without cost.

With more far-flung social nets though, things can work differently. When someone sees a callout post that's often the entirety of the context they have for that person. The scope of an accusation can easily outstrip the social sphere of people who have any relevant stake in outcomes.

[cont]

It's hard when the people who see a callout don't have any context. A common phenomenon is when there's still accusations floating around against someone, even after they've done the best they can to apologize and make amends -- and the apology is a lot less visible.

(Note: apologizing doesn't automatically make things okay, of course. But it is absolutely relevant information when trying to decide how to feel towards someone moving forward.)

A related problem is what youtuber Innuendo Studios refers to as Ship of Theseus accusations (link below). It's very, very easy to take a statement that's possibly questionable, and rephrase that as "person advocates Awful Thing". Again, this distortion works when there's a lack of context on the part of the audience.

And a related related problem in social media is when someone might make a relatively unconsidered off-the-cuff statement, which gets taken as their Absolute Opinion. So instead of responding like "hey that was a shitty take", people respond like "WOW that person believes something terrible." The Fundamental Attribution Error plays a big part in this too.

[cont]

So I guess where am I, at the end of the day?

Consequences can be necessary and good. But also, be cautious of trying to be the one enforcing them if you don't have an existing social context to operate within.

oh crap I forgot the link

"The Alt-Right Playbook: The Ship of Theseus" [11:29]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui-ArJRqEvU

Also, this isn't in response to any particular anything.

Each particular thing always has it's own context. And that's like... my point.

Also things can be a different different when "canceling" means " choosing to no longer engage with or promote the work of a creator" and that's a bit outside of the scope of what I mean here.