More than 65 people attended Tuesday’s Skeptics In The Pub at the Railway Hotel where NERAM Director Rachael Parsons presented an authoritative and entertaining critique of Cancel Culture.

She highlighted how Cancel Culture was the province of both the hard left and the hard right of politics where the loudest, angriest voices are amplified on social media drowning out any reasonable debate and stifling public discourse.

Examples included the legal safari killing of South Africa’s beloved Cecil the Lion, a scene from The Orville sci-fi series, the boycott and death threats to Harry Potter author J K Rowling, and the endurance of Picasso’s art despite his misogyny.

The next Skeptics In The Pub will be held at the Railway Hotel on Tuesday July 23. The topic is Ruthless Truth And Tragic Magic.

Guest speaker, Armidale Vocal Instructor Inge Southcott, a former medical practitioner, will share her experience of what happens when a scientific discovery collides with magical thinking – when people shun the science because it doesn’t fit with their long-held beliefs?

Picture caption: “Stop being outraged and start being kind”: NERAM Director Rachael Parsons and Skeptics In The Pub Convenor Amelia Willmer share a laugh at Tuesday’s meeting.