I would have been happy to cordially clarify and discuss my points further with you, because I would have told you that I loathe Douglass Murray as well, but as is the case with any public intellectual I dislike, it doesn't mean that I always disagree with them, so I give them credit were credit is due as in this case. I was criticizing one set of premises that has been made to dismiss the existence of cancel culture, which is a set of premises that can be criticized even if you actually question the existence or coherence of cancel culture.

"Cancel culture" is just a name that is given to phenomena that has existed for a very long time, Jo Freeman's "Trashing" and bell hooks' "Censorship from the left and right" were both written long ago but both describe similar phenomena, but I think hooks defines it best.

https://passtheflamingsword.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/censorship-from-left-and-right-by-bell-hooks/

The whole thing is worth reading but this portion gets to the heart of it.

Usually, repression is enforced by powerful members of the group threatening punishment, the most common being some form of ostracization or excommunication.  This may take the form of no longer including an individual’s thoughts or writing in relevant discussions, especially publication, or excluding individuals from important meetings and conferences. And in some cases it may take the form of a consistent, behind-the-scenes effort to cast doubt verbally on their credibility.