How an anime about space angels made me reevaluate my social life

“Cancel culture” sparks heat, not clarity. This Unlined Pages episode defines it as organized ostracism for opinions, shows how it chills speech and hardens dogma, and separates criticism from punishment. We test “freedom from consequences,” ask which consequences protect debate, and suggest alternatives: persuasion over pile-ons, accountability with paths back.

A forgotten Chinatown once thrived in Pittsburgh, built by Chinese immigrants seeking opportunity amidst discrimination. This episode of Unlined Pages traces its rise through the laundry industry, its fall under economic and urban pressures, and the legacy left behind—now marked only by a single restaurant and fading memories.

This Unlined Pages episode challenges the question itself. We trace gender as spectrum, not tally; examine Hijras and Two-Spirit beyond Western frames; unpack why binary and “non-binary” share the same scaffold; and propose a freer model: gender as a language of individual expression.