That's not my point though.

I'm not trying to claim that the "consequences" are the same. The cancel culture thing is more than "being called an asshole" and can ruin or at least severely damage a person's career, but it's still not as bad as systematic persecution or abuse of power.

I'm not trying to claim that the "actions" are the same either. Mainly because I think it's futile - any internet discussion on that topic will be 100% political disposition and 0% actual attempt to analyze the severity of said actions.

I will mention though - risking that merely mentioning this will derail the entire discussion - that both you and @starman2112@sh.itjust.works have each elected to diminish one of these parameters ("calling you an asshole" vs ruining one's career, and "a cop think you might have committed a crime" vs exercising a politically controversial right). In both cases there was no need for that - in both cases the right-wing practice is worse than the left-wing practice even if you don't try to manipulate the argument. So why do it?

(this is more aimed at you than at starman. Like I said before - when it comes to the "actions" part, the political bias is very strong, and I can totally see how a conservative would claim that participating in a protest is worse than using racial slurs. Still - that's no excuse to use a strawman)

But the real point I was trying to make is about the sin shared by both left and right: trying to present the "stupid prizes" or "consequences" as an unavoidable law of nature, where it is in fact the intentional actions of humans trying to punish that behavior. If you think certain actions deserve punishment, stand behind this - don't try to disguise it as a "consequence". The punishment is derived from your beliefs, not from the laws of nature.