Retracing the history of "cancel culture," Hubert Heckmann delivers a scathing reflection alerting us to the dark places this phenomenon could potentially lead us.

What do the English buzzwords "cancel culture"? Do they refer simply to a "culture of erasure," as the Académie française might have it? The history of cancel culture from its roots in progressive American movements defending minorities, placed into a broader historical perspective of censoring opinions and works, helps us understand the dangers that threaten the debate over ideas and art today in France. The expression "cancel culture" might well be controversial, but it nonetheless describes something very real: a culture of censorship establishing itself under our very noses, in the name of our best intentions.