With a title like that you know it’s not going to be divisive in any way. For those few souls who don’t know what Cancel Culture is according to Wikipedia it’s:
Cancel culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles – whether it be online, on social media, or in person. Those who are subject to this ostracism are said to have been “cancelled”
Sounds fairly straightforward right? Like many things in the digital age we live in it’s not. Let me make this clear right here at the top of the article: in some cases it is valid to cancel someone. Where they have been hurtful, abused power or promote ideologies that could lead to more harm you are holding that person to account. The problem now is that it has become weaponized by people across the spectrum.
Cancel Culture and Celebrity
Like I said before, in some cases cancelling someone works. For example in the cases of Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Louis C.K it was the right thing to do. These men were predators who used their position of power to do horrible things and they should never be given the opportunity to be in that position ever again.
Having said that, let’s look at another example. The comedian Kevin Hart in his early career made homophobic jokes and has since apologised repeatedly for them. Cut to the run up to 2019 Oscars where he was announced as the host. People then dug into his past and I’m paraphrasing here “he can’t do it because he’s homophobic!” This led to a whole furore and controversy surrounding whether he should apologise again or not (he went from saying no to just apologising again). The end result was that he was dropped as the host. Now he was held to account for something from his past, but it was something he had already apologised for.
The implication of this story and in general is that if you’ve said or done something that’s all you’ll ever be. In Cancel Culture’s view you aren’t allowed to change or grow with time. While some people will not and do not learn from their mistakes or past, we need to give them room to grow.
Politics
This was inevitably going to come up. People on both sides of the isle have used Cancel Culture to their benefit. Some people use it to rally their base to say why someone shouldn’t be in power (rightly or wrongly). I’m sure there are examples you can think of from the past few of years. Often though this has the opposite effect. The people being attacked use it to say they are being oppressed and their freedom of speech is being infringed upon. This then devolves into a mud slinging match with each side becoming parodies of themselves and unable to listen.
The problem here is that it leans into extremes of political correctness. Some people balk at the idea that they have to change the way they talk and others want people to be more respectful. This escalates again until there are extremists on both sides.
Does it work?
I have mixed feelings about this. I think if you’re a celebrity or prominent figure, it’s very rare for it to affect you. It is seen as a bump in the road by many. Louis C.K is out there doing stand-up shows (they’re smaller venues but he’s still working). On the other hand if you’re an average person it could have a devastating effect on not only you but your loved ones. There are so many cases of someone being cancelled, getting death threats, abuse on top of potentially being fired. This could happen for months if not years ruining their lives. Now some people might think “well serves them right! They shouldn’t have done it if they weren’t prepared for the consequence’s”. My answer to that is how would you feel if thousands (maybe millions) of strangers sat in judgment of you over a mistake or a low point?
For many people they disassociate people on the internet as actual people.
Is there a way to solve the problem?
This is something that needs to be looked holistically. Just cancelling something or getting rid of something doesn’t solve anything. All it does is make something appear like it was never there and people never learn from it. That kind of thought promotes homogenization where in order to be safe we have to act the same. I for one would hate that, part of the joy of life is that we’re all different. We instead need to promote conversation.
Where do go from here?
A good example can be found on some streaming services for films like “Dumbo” and “Gone with the Wind” where they put a disclaimer saying it features outdated depictions of race. Here they are owning their past, but not erasing it. Parents watching “Dumbo” with their kids can have a discussion with them about the issues of the film. It creates a safe space to talk openly about it. That is at the root of the problem here. People are just told it’s wrong or ridiculed for their own ignorance. We need to give people the opportunity to learn, if they don’t want to learn then that’s on them.
In our attempt to promote equality and right the wrongs we often forget the human element. I’m going to leave this quote from Barack Obama here “People who do really good stuff have flaws. People who you are fighting may love their kids and, you know, share certain things with you.” For the full article check it out here. In our modern world where we can share our thoughts in an instant we need to pause and think for a moment. Take in what the other side are saying, you may disagree with it but in order for there to be meaningful change we need to listen.
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