Cancel Culture: A Gift and a Curse

Social media offers a voice to many individuals who may not have had one before. However, with such large exposure, a creator can be sure to be called out for their mistakes. "Cancel culture" is a new term that's been circling around lately. Many people on social media seemed to be "canceled" every day. But what is cancel culture, and is it making the internet a toxic environment?

The Cambridge dictionary defines cancel culture as "a way of behaving in a society or group, especially on social media, in which it is common to completely reject and stop supporting someone because they have said or done something that offends you". In simpler terms, it's throwing a creator who has done something wrong (in the public's opinion) out of their social media circle. The goal in canceling someone is to take away their influence.

Many celebrities and influencers have been canceled recently. Some notable ones include Shane Dawson, the "King of Youtube", who was canceled in June 2020 after videos of him making racist, pedophilia and beastiality-type jokes resurfaced on the internet.

In theory, cancel culture sounds like a good way to stop problematic people from spreading/enabling harmful narratives. However, cancel culture also enables people to look for every little mistake in a creator and cancel them, creating a larger problem and contributing to a more toxic environment on the internet. Many creators only apologize for their mistake after being called out on it, not after they actually realize that what they did was wrong. Cancel culture also brings more attention to the creator rather than the actual problem itself, this means more, and more people are going to be tuning in and checking out why people are canceling someone. Although this brings a negative look to the creator, they benefit from this because as they receive more attention, the creator makes more money. This is giving the creator a larger platform and more influence than before. And most of the time, they apologize and continue acting the same way.

This leads to people forgetting about what the actual problem is and the creator not admitting actual fault, possibly continuing to act the same way.

A much healthier and effective way to fix a mistake would be to hold people accountable and educate them on why they are wrong instead of degrading them. This way, the creator will realize what they did wrong, and more awareness will be brought to the issues being discussed than criticizing the actual creator.

While cancel culture can sometimes be effective, in the end, it creates larger problems and draws attention away from important issues. Holding people accountable is more important than shaming them for their mistakes.

Sources:

Celentano, Donna. “Cancel Culture: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” The Science Survey, 2021, thesciencesurvey.com/editorial/2021/04/20/cancel-culture-the-good-the-bad-and-

the-ugly/Accessed 18 Oct. 2021.

​​Tidwell, Sara, and Jack Falinski. “The Good, the Bad and the Dirty: Analyzing Cancel Culture and Its Effects.” The Good, the Bad and the Dirty: Analyzing Cancel Culture and Its Effects - the State News, TheStateNews, 30 Sept. 2020, statenews.com/article/2020/09/

a-look-into-cancel-culture?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_latest. Accessed 18 Oct. 2021.