Even if you do not see that you may be affected by cancel culture, it is in fact a symptom of the larger social conditioning and power relations that shape your life. It is worth interrogating its workings in order to decide which side of history you choose. Innocent trends may foreshadow a grimmer future. It is equally important to understand what, exactly, is driving these trends as it is to be aware of the likely end result.

Canceling” and calling out appear as the struggle against the opposite world views. I invite you to look at this cultural phenomenon from an economic perspective that outlines the social stakes of its practice. This book will encourage you to consider the unintended consequences of cancel culture and question its reliability as a tool of activism.

You may wonder why the title refers to pleasures. If you have read Huxley’s Brave New World, you may understand how pleasures can be motors of control and manipulation, which makes them dangerous. The tools to implement and sustain a dystopia may be dressed up in noble labels.