"When the Mob Came" Theatrical Premier

Or: when I mobbed Caylan Ford in person

On Tuesday night, I was lucky enough to attend the theatrical premiere of “When the Mob Came,” a documentary detailing Caylan Ford's 2019 cancellation. I have previously written about the documentary and some of my thoughts on it.

Getting to watch it again on the big screen was amazing, and doing so with two of my dearest friends made it even better. How did I end up in a position where I'm not only experiencing something like this but also with two incredible people who understand why it's so important? It's wild. In fact, the story resonated with them on a very personal level, as both of them have been subjected to "cancellation" themselves.

This is one of the things that upsets me most about our current cultural moment—the ability for genuinely good people to be so quickly and completely de-personed, whether within a friend group or on a much larger social scale. Don’t get me wrong, the swift and complete judgment delivered by cancel culture shouldn’t happen to anyone regardless of their character in the way that it does, but that it so often seems to target people of truly good character really shows you how devoid of actual morals it actually is.

And it is not a surprise that such people are targeted, since they are usually the few with resolve real enough to not bend on their convictions in the face of a growing mob-like mentality, which inevitably draws the mob’s ire.

But, the good news is that in none of these cases has it been the end of the world in the long term. Caylan made this wonderful documentary among other meaningful and important projects, and my friends have found new and much better friends.

The theatre that night felt like one of the best rooms I had ever been in. Not only was it fun to watch such a great documentary again in a room full of people interested in it for many of the same reasons I was, but there was also a Q&A with the producers after. The questions and comments were insightful, and it was heartening to hear them.

When that was over, a mob descended on Caylan. But, this time, it was a good one.

You can watch the documentary below.

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