Yes. This is the worry. "Airplane" is considered one of the funniest movies ever made and most of the jokes would probably never see the light of the day today.

Most people recognise this. There was that incident with the Canadian prime minister wearing blackface 20 years ago. The tabloids tried to blow it up but ultimately no one cares because it was a long time ago.

I have not once, in all the years of hand-wringing over "cancel culture," seen a rich person made poor, or a famous person made obscure, by "the mob" finding old tweets and publicizing them.

Not once. For all the power the mob has to ruin lives, you'd think there would be lives ruined -- not mildly inconvenienced or temporarily embarrassed.

Some people have lost their jobs over a tweet. Rich people and celebrities are the most visible but it isn't as if little people haven't been swept up on occasion.

People lose their jobs over all sorts of things all the time. Before "cancel culture," people could lose their jobs over a complaint from a single angry customer, or a joke or comment that got elevated to HR, or any reason at all.

That doesn't ruin lives, it's a relatively common occurrence, particularly in the modern day. People are only equating it to Orwellian dystopia and Stasi oppression because politics has become involved. But it's not cancel culture's fault that at-will employment exists entirely at the whim and mercy of the employer, or that political activism (which cancel culture is) is clearly free speech. It's always been the case that if someone can convince your boss to fire you, you can be fired.

Exactly, you want to talk about ending cancel culture? Fight for better workers' rights.

Boo hoo. People get fired for all kinds of arbitrary and capricious reasons. Fight for workers' rights if you care about that.

Rich people being temporarily embarrassed? I don't give a shit, and neither should anyone else.