Since grifter scum like Peter Coffin can find their way into the socialist movement, it’s now becoming a common cry of leftists to talk about “cancel culture”. Coffin himself has a bad understanding of Marxism and of social capital more broadly, but that’s another topic for another day. Firstly, we have to be empirical about this. What is being “cancelled”? Those of us who’ve been on the internet long enough know that it refers to a mass exodus of support for a person, usually a celebrity, for particularly scummy behavior or for voicing a particularly wretched view.

Those of us who’ve observed this phenomenon know firsthand that it is also a completely meaningless term. Of the people who’ve been “cancelled” how many have actually stayed that way? How many can one actually name who’ve been lead to social and financial ruin as the result of their wretched behavior? On the left, I can only think of TheFinnishBolshevik after his horrifying behavior in Discord came to light, and as I type this he’s sitting at 23,300+ subscribers on YouTube. Peter Coffin himself, or ContraPoints? Laughable. Both make off their Patreons multiple times what I bring home every month after my bills fuck me over.

So, what is this phenomenon then, the hand-wringing over being harsh to people over rotten behavior? Folks with keen memories will recognize this as “political correctness gone mad” or “PC culture gone too far” in slightly different terms. And some parts of the left will be honest that this is what they mean (“Anti-Idpol” leftists, for example). It’s because this reactionary talking point has come to be used in leftist circles, however, that this is even an issue, and because it is just another manifestation of reactionary social politics in left economic circles, it falls into that horrid category we call brocialism.

We, however, will call it neo-brocialism, not only because this is a recent phenomenon, but also because it is a new manifestation. Brocialism classic was fairly straightforward – a reductive stance on socialism that ignored or put down talks of race, gender, and other identity politics in the name of “class first” politics (ignoring completely the role that identity plays in capitalism). Neo-brocialism however, has a new twist to this old “idpol divides the left” battle cry. Rather than “dividing” the left, it is now that we are supposedly eating our own alive. But this is a fantasy! We cannot even lead our own most famous members to ruin, and those of us who are not bringing in comfortable amounts of Patreon money are already at the most wretched economic sections of society. The proletariat cannot sink itself any further down the caste system. If we were eating our own, we might not be hungry.

There is only one real problem with this mythical phenomenon, if we generously grant that it exists when it doesn’t: A failure of education. Take an average leftist on the internet who tweets something particularly ignorant or horrible, and is dunked on and ratio’d to all hell. How many of us, it should be asked, have bothered to struggle with this comrade? Not simply to make a joke and move on, but to actively point out why in fact this is wrong? Is this person not our comrade, our fellow traveler at the very least? If we are trying to build a better world, how can we do so without teaching our old habits out of ourselves and our allies? And even if this is not so, are we supposed to just let a reactionary viewpoint go unchallenged? Let it fester?

I’ll be the first to admit I’m about as guilty of this as anyone else, but all the same it deserves to be talked about more. Are these not our allies and friends? What kind of allies or friends are we to them, then, that we would let them be worse off? Sure, if they’re simply just refusing to unlearn toxic bullshit, then cut them off. At a certain point someone’s not worth your emotional labor. But execution on sight only works for abusers and fascists.

Of course, the main ideologues behind “cancel culture” are not concerned with this one bit. Let us not forget that Coffin began turning this into his pet project after he stuck up for Laurelai Bailey, a known rapist and snitch to the feds. Then when other so-called BreadTubers began defending him in turn, every last one of them began to ride that same train of neo-brocialism (All YouTubers Are Bastards). These pricks defended their own long before they’d let him be struggled with/against, and we are supposed to believe that Coffin and his supporters are to be trusted with an honest critical eye on the situation?

If we are going to build a better world, one of the first things to do is recognize our own bullshit. Smash neo-brocialism! Down with these wolves in sheep’s clothing, and down with their every devil’s advocate!