When Mass Outrage is Cheap: TC Origins of Cancel Culture

Send us Fan MailWe trace a straight line from a 1697 blasphemy execution to modern cancel culture by focusing on one variable: the cost of turning speech into coordinated punishment. We break down how social media creates common knowledge at near-zero cost, making outrage faster, bigger, and harder to control. • Thomas Aikenhead’s case as a story about information and enforcement costs • Transaction costs as the hidden limiter on persecution and social punishment • The First Amendment limiting state coercion while leaving private sanctions intact • Social media as a collapse in the cost of broadcasting accusations • Common knowledge as the trigger for coordinated action by strangers • Justine Sacco as the early template for modern cancellation dynamics • Brendan Eich, Emmanuel Cafferty, James Damore, and PyCon “donglegate” as repeating patterns • John Cleese on offense and the urge to control others’ behavior • Listener letters on healthcare markets, consolidation, and transaction costs • Certificate of need laws and price systems that shape competitionAmy Poehler's super bowl ad (Dongle!):John Cleese on cancel cultureLetters:Dr. Anthony Digiorgio, UCSF, Graphic Novel Claim Denied, Off Label IdeasSurgery Center of OklahomaBook-o-da-week:Steven Pinker’s When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows . . .: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life  Scribner, 2025. If you have questions or comments, or want to suggest a future topic, email the show at [email protected] !You can follow Mike Munger on Twitter at @mungowitz