You're missing the power dynamic.

- KATHY GRIFFIN did a photoshoot with Tyler Shields, whose whole schtick is to be obnoxious and provocative. Being photographed by somebody famous is a famousness multiplier, just ask anyone who has ever posed for Annie Liebovitz or Richard Avedon. Thing about these portraits? Neither you nor I will ever pose for any of these photographers 'cuz we're schlubs. But amongst the intelligentsia, being in the gallery is social signalling. And the hoi polloi know it. Kathy Griffin caused furor because the people that shoot was intended for - agents, publishers, execs, producers - HATE Trump and she was being "brave." She was one-upping other obnoxious Tyler Shields photos. And if you think she was surprised to be dropped by CNN over that shit you aren't paying attention. Kathy Griffin's Trump head move was coldly calculated through and through and pissing off the conservative hoi polloi to please the liberal hoi polloi is just public relations.

- LOUIS C.K. fundamentally admitted that he had used his power to render women powerless for years or decades. The victims ceased to be nameless and faceless and the crimes became unforgivable. It could have gone either way - guaranteed he was going for some sort of redemption tale. I mean, that which destroys Pee Wee Herman barely touches Fred Willard. But again, it took people in power telling the hoi polloi what to believe.

If you want to talk about "cancelling" you need to look at

- ROSANNE BARR. Big new show, triumph of the conservatives, fundamentally changes the equation for broadcast television, Trump's popular mouthpiece, sitting around scoring likes amongst the MAGA-heads, tweets

Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj

And it was fuckin' over. Rosanne had taken a beer shit in the middle of her career and everyone dove away from it as quickly as possible. There were points to be scored with the liberals for kicking her down and no points to be scored with the conservatives for backing her up so out the door she went. She probably could have walked back from that if she had shown some contriteness, demonstrated humility, gone on TV to talk about "changing" or some shit - that's part of the reason the powerless on Twitter live for this shit, it's water off a duck's back 99% of the time (Kathy Griffin is very much still working, thankyouverymuch). But she's fundamentally Roseanne Barr and nobody wants to put up with her shit. Which is why

- JK ROWLING has abso-fucking-lutely nothing to worry about because she's richer than God and is probably learning that there's no point in tweeting with the Proles when your attempts at humor can be weaponized. Slowly. Painfully. Over and over. But I mean fuck Mel Gibson doesn't care. Roman Polanski keeps getting awards.

And I think that's the part people don't understand - "cancel culture" is this thing Hollywood has been doing since before the advent of sound. You might be able to shout, but if I can get everyone to whisper I can drown you out. Tippi Hedren never worked again because Alfred Hitchcock told everyone what an impossible bitch she was when he didn't sleep with her. Same with Mira Sorvino and Harvey Weinstein. The Hollywood rumor mill allows people to justify their petty gut decisions and forces the less powerful to go along with them and now that we've got Twitter the super-powerless can do the same to the mostly-powerless.

This is cancel culture.