Twitter Users Respond with Historical Context and Criticism of Sabatini’s Statements
Florida Republican state Representative Anthony Sabatini ignited a storm on social media regarding the concept of “cancel culture” by referencing Socrates, the ancient philosopher he regards as his hero. In a tweet late Thursday, he stated, “If Socrates was out philosophising in American society today, he would be canceled real quick.”
His comments drew a flurry of responses and quote-tweets, with many users pointing out that Socrates himself faced a far worse fate: execution. “Socrates was literally forced to drink hemlock,” one user noted, while another remarked, “Who wants to tell him what happened to Socrates?” A third user, critical of Sabatini’s grasp of history, quipped, “If I saw this in a student’s essay, I would immediately know they didn’t do the reading.”
Despite majoring in philosophy and history in college, Sabatini maintained that he was aware of Socrates’s execution for corrupting the youth, arguing that his point was about the societal consequences of challenging political correctness. “In the 5th century BC, challenging political correctness got you killed; today it gets you canceled,” he told The Washington Post.
Sabatini, who is running for Congress against Republican incumbent Representative Daniel Webster, suggested he was demonstrating “Socratic irony”—a term defined by Oxford Languages as “a pose of ignorance assumed in order to entice others into making statements that can then be challenged.” He explained that by not being “VERY explicit,” he aimed to showcase the ignorance of those who assumed a Republican would lack understanding of the historical context surrounding cancel culture.
However, Twitter users remained skeptical, with discussions emerging about whether Socrates truly exemplified the modern concept of being “canceled” for holding unpopular views. Some, like Quinta Jurecic, an editor with the legal and national security blog Lawfare, argued, “Socrates is actually a great example of ‘cancellation’ as it is often meant, in that he could have easily avoided punishment by taking Crito’s ship away from Athens but instead decided to stick around so he could be martyred and get attention.”