How to combat Cancel culture - formal complaints, gross misconduct, and a swift resolution

Dear [redacted]

Thank you for your e-mail, entitled ‘Formal Complaint Regarding the Twitter Activity of The Harlequin Pub’ which was received by the Director of Exit 33 Brewery. Due to the serious nature of this e-mail, and the allegations contained therein, the brewery has forwarded this on to me to respond swiftly as you requested. As a self-employed woman and publican of over 10 years, I can assure you that I take the opinions of random people on the internet very seriously indeed.

I assume that you are unfamiliar with the phrase “independent pub”, so let me help you out. As an independent pub, I am in no way controlled or overseen by anyone. I care about my staff, about my regulars, and about their opinions (well, some of their opinions, some of them are ridiculous), and that’s about it. Exit 33 has absolutely nothing to do with my opinions, my expression of those opinions, or in fact anything to do with running the pub. So please, leave them out of it. The Harlequin’s relationship with the brewery exists as follows:

Brewery: “Hey, Harlequin, wanna buy some beer?”

Harlequin: “Hell yeah, you make lovely beer, we’ll buy some thanks!”

I also note with interest that, towards the end of your complaint, you state that “due to the unprofessional way The Harlequin has behaved, I am also in the process of raising their behaviour with Sheffield & Rotherham CamRA, Sheffield & Sheffield Hallam Students’ Unions, and Sheffield Pride among others “. Please note that The Harlequin is in no way affiliated with any of these bodies, organisations, or the volunteers who work with them. Should you decide to raise my allegedly atrocious behaviour with them, please direct them to this statement online.

I strongly suspect that at this point – now you know that I can’t be sacked, disciplined, or otherwise bullied into silence – you will lose interest in anything else I have to say. So, let me state very clearly now: you have publicly accused me of being transphobic, and you have attempted to damage the reputation of my business. I am hereby giving you seven days from the date of this blog post to: 1) provide concrete evidence of my alleged transphobia; or 2) retract your statement publicly. Please note that ‘liking’ posts on twitter is not in anyway evidence that I endorse the beliefs therein, or that I hold the same views. I hope this is clear.

Anyway, on to the substance of your complaint, and my responses to it.

In your opening statement, you state that you are a cider drinker, that you have long been a fan of the pub, and followed my twitter feed with interest. I find this rather flattering, as I am 100% sure that there is nothing of interest in any of the stream of consciousness that flows from my tiny little mind onto twitter. I have however been racking my brains to try and remember any interaction we might have had in the past; whether you have liked or commented on any posts I’ve made about our cider range, our awards, or the fact that we have recently been runners-up in a national competition for cider pubs for several years running? Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t recall you expressing any interest in these things.

You then go on to say that “since the events surrounding J K Rowling there has been a worrying trend”. I’ll confess to being confused by this, as I’m not sure which of the “events” that have surrounded her you are referring to, or why these “events” have produced a “worrying trend”. I am, recently, very much enjoying the Strike novels that she wrote, particularly her accurate characterisation of the darker, obsessive side of human nature. But that’s by the by. So, let me turn now to the “worrying trend” you have identified.

Apparently you are upset that I am using “the twitter feed” to support “personal views and […] friends”. Imagine that. Imagine a woman, running a business, daring to use her twitter account to support her – *gasps* – friends. Seeing as you have taken care to list my troublesome areas of interest such as “Extinction Rebellion”, “Jeremy Corbyn” and “other groups mostly populated by students among other issues” let me address these here:

Extinction Rebellion – I struggle to think of a group whose beliefs and good intentions I agree with, but who have so rapidly destroyed a significant proportion of their support base by, for example: preventing working class commuters from using tube trains; blocking roads which apparently prevent ambulances from reaching their destinations by the most efficient routes; and blocking print production facilities to try and control which papers people can buy.

Jeremy Corbyn – I am not a fan, and I believe that the years in which he was in charge of the Labour Party were exceptionally damaging for democracy (*points wildly around at current state of Parliament*). Many people I know and respect whose politics are naturally left-leaning felt unable to vote for Labour during this time due in part – but by no means completely – to the tolerance of anti-semitic attitudes within the party. If these are the “friends” to which you refer, then let me state very clearly: anti-semitism is a disgusting mindset which must be opposed and challenged at every turn, and I am proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with my friends in the Jewish community, and those who support them.

“other groups mostly populated by students” – sorry, I have literally no idea what this means, so I am unable to respond to this.

Apparently you are also upset that I have been “actively getting involved in slanging matches with other twitter users [and here you provide a specific example which I have edited out to save other people getting abuse] … which reflects badly on both the pub and the brewery”. As mentioned before, nothing I say or do reflects on the brewery at all. They supply us with beer, I pay them for beer. That’s it. In terms of reflecting badly on the pub, you have the same choice as everyone: you can visit the pub and give us your custom, or you can choose not to. I have no intention of starting to ignore the tiny friends who live in my phone and computer on the off-chance that this might encourage someone I’ve never interacted with to pop in for a pint.

You suggest that I am unaware of how twitter works, and that “liking a post on Twitter shares that post to all of your Followers. Which is how I became aware of this worrying trend.”. That’s not actually true, is it though? If I “like” a post, twitter uses some sort of magic to decide whether or not to show my followers that I have liked a post by putting it randomly into someone else’s timeline. It’s a weird feature, but there we are. It does not share all of that information automatically with all of my followers all of the time. Of course, you can head over to any user’s profile and spend your time trawling through the posts that they have liked, but that isn’t quite the same thing as twitter spamming every follower with the c.100 posts I like every day. I’d suggest politely that if you do this on a regular basis – and that you do so not to engage with the posts that someone has liked, but specifically so that you can screenshot the ones that you find outrageous (having of course first opened up a tab and read the instructions on how to take a screenshot) with a view to publicly harassing them on twitter, reporting them to the people you think employ them, or other organisations they may interact with, then – mate, that’s a bit weird and stalky. Please get a hobby that doesn’t involve stalking obsessively through the timelines of women’s businesses and trying to destroy them. For example, I notice that you have provided a collection of screenshots of posts that I have “liked” in a folder you have called “TERF Opinions”. Firstly: TERF is a slur. If you want to align yourself with the sort of people who make threats such as those documented on https://terfisaslur.com/ – the death threats, the rape threats, the threats of violence – then I suggest that we probably don’t have much in common. Also, as you have explained, the term stands for “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists”. I don’t believe that I have ever described myself as a Feminist (Radical or otherwise); I have certainly never excluded a transwoman or transman from anything. So not only is it insulting, demeaning, and dehumanising, it is also wildly inaccurate. You continue to accuse me of “sharing” posts and threads when, actually, what I have done is “liked” them. Again, you cannot possibly know what someone’s intentions are in “liking” a post or a thread.

I’ll admit to loving the following section of your complaint: “The subject is entirely inappropriate for a business twitter feed. If the user wants to campaign on social issues, or promote their own social agenda it should be on their personal account on their own time.”. I am terribly sorry that I did not realise that you were the author of the “Definitive Guide to Business Twitter Feeds and the Things That Are Appropriate to Use Them For”. I just thought you were some random person on the internet.

You then refer to my interaction on a post by another user in which you say that I “handled the issue in the worst possible way”. In your great position of influence as a self-described “former Community Manager and Social Media Expert” you suggest that I could have defused the situation by:

“- Apologising for any offence caused

– Taking the matter to e-mail or private messages and therefore out of the public sphere

– Asking for appropriate evidence and assuring the public that everyone is welcome”

Sorry, I am dying with laughter at this point. I am not sure why a “Social Media Expert” thought that it was appropriate to derail a nice post about beers available in a pub with the statement:

“You may want to have a look @harlequinpub’s twitter feed. Would like to know if Exit 33 approves of its premises endorsing transphobia among other political opinions?”

Because at this point, my dear Social Media Expert, you are literally the beer equivalent of “Sue shouting at tea”. It’s interesting that you didn’t see fit to talk to me directly about your concerns, instead trying to get me into trouble with the brewery and the other people/organisations tagged in to a nice post from someone about beer. So no, I could not apologise for any offence caused, or have taken the message out of the public sphere. I did ask for evidence, you provided nothing that backed up your point.

I note with interest that you think I should be dismissed instantly due to “Gross Misconduct”. I also note that you believe I should apologise formally and publicly, and that “Due to the difficulty of removing likes from months worth of posts I would suggest shutting down the @harlequinpub twitter feed.” I am sure that many 1000s of people would support you in your call for my twitter feed to be shut down, please do start a petition. I’ll even retweet it for you. I would at this point suggest that maybe the ‘mute’ or ‘block’ button would be your friend. If you are unfamiliar with how twitter works, I am sure you can open up a tab and search for “How to Block or Mute Someone on Twitter” and follow the instructions.

One final point: recent times have been very tough for the hospitality industry, particularly for independents. I have no idea whether I will still be running this pub in six months time, or indeed whether I will have any money to pay my bills next month. One thing I do know for sure: if I leave this industry, it will be through my own choice, not because of the inane ramblings of a self-styled “Social Media Expert” or any other random internet user.

In conclusion: I do not like bullies, anti-semites, misogynists, homophobes, racists, self-important wazzocks, or people who are cruel to animals. As I also said to you on twitter the other day: “transphobia is abhorrent, stop using the trans community to score cheap points.”. This list is not exhaustive, but it’ll do for now. I shall continue to use my twitter account to support my friends.

I hope that this fulfils your request for a swift resolution of this issue.

Cheers, Liz x


https://theharlequinpub.wordpress.com/2020/09/10/formal-complaints-gross-misconduct-and-a-swift-resolution/


I posted this under recreation. As this is just about one of the best replies I have read that smacks down one of these cancel culture idiots

Very good.


I would have just told them to fuck off and saved myself a bit of time instead of writing such a long winded response to such a twat!

Tommy Monk wrote:



Very good.


I would have just told them to fuck off and saved myself a bit of time instead of writing such a long winded response to such a twat!

Syl wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:



Very good.


I would have just told them to fuck off and saved myself a bit of time instead of writing such a long winded response to such a twat!

Lol I agree with what Tommy said as well




Its so true

Just telling it how it is!