Cancel Culture isn’t Real…Until it is
The standard belief is that we live in a time when we’re not allowed to say anything, where the wrong words at the wrong time will get someone cancelled. In reality, we’re free to say what we want to say at pretty much any time. Essentially, cancel culture only exists in the minds of an exceedingly vocal minority.
That being said, there are still times when cancel culture can become very real and very dangerous, something that the comic book industry is currently grappling with after the suicide of Ed Piskor. When it gets bad, cancel culture can get really bad.
The Myth of Cancel Culture
In the modern era of social media, anyone can say anything they want at any given time and reach an audience of millions. At the same time, people can react within seconds. And in far too many cases, overreact to a level that makes absolutely no sense.
Most people look at something offensive someone said online, think it’s stupid, and move on. Most people. Then, there is an annoyingly vocal minority who have made a career out of getting upset about anything and everything. They react fast and they react with a lot of judgement and rage.
As vocal as they are, this group of tantrum babies actually don’t have much power. Cancel culture, as it’s often called, has been known to costs jobs or mess up careers. Somewhat. It also fades away shockingly fast. The mob moves on quickly and finds something new to be outraged about.
Cancel culture cronies attacked Kevin Hart and James Gunn over dubious old tweets. They briefly experienced some hiccups in their careers, then everything went back to relative normal, if not bigger and better than ever. The online mob ultimately has no real power and rarely have any lasting impact on people’s lives. Until they do.
The Death of Ed Piskor
For those who don’t know, Ed Piskor was a reasonably well known indie comic creator behind projects like Hip Hop Family Tree. He slid into the DMs of a too-young woman on social media and sent some questionable messages her way. It wasn’t exactly great, to be honest.
Then, the dog piling began. Completely unverifiable accusations were lobbed from other corners. Classic comic book cancel culture mob leaders like Ramon Villalobos and Alex De Campi called their followers together to figuratively crucify Piskor, costing him some big opportunities.
The end result was Piskor committing suicide. Obviously, there were other mental health issues at work but having your career destroyed by cancel culture sure didn’t help. People like De Campi and Villalobos have declared themselves judge, jury, and, in this case, executioners.
To be clear, the Piskor situation is not the same as a questionable tweet. It does show how far cancel culture can take things. In both cases, no one was charged with anything yet an online mob showed up demanding justice. For Hart and Gunn, jobs were lost and recovered. For Piskor, someone was pushed over an edge there’s no coming back from.
Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing
The reality of Ed Piskor’s tragic encounter with cancel culture is that it’s not the norm. Most of the time, you just have to wait it out and the mob moves on to something else. Again, they get bored easily and find something new to be outraged about.
Jimmy Carr, who has offended millions at one time or another, was recently on Conan O’Brien’s podcast. He talked about how we are in the least censored time in history. His opinion is that it just feels like we aren’t because journalists and politicians won’t stop rambling about cancel culture/wokeness as bulls#!t talking points. It feels bigger than it is.
Even a comedian like Louis CK who was “cancelled” for legit reasons is still out there working. He really shouldn’t be, but he is. Gross. But the fact he’s still out there, doing God knows what, goes to show exactly how impotent cancel culture actually is. An admitted sex offender can’t even be permanently taken down by this incoherent mob.
We are at a point where legendary comedians in the making like Ronny Chieng are on stage, daring cancel culture to come for him. People like Ronny and Jimmy are right. It’s not real and it’s not powerful. The secret is to not let it get on top of you and eat away at your mental health. It goes away eventually.
If you or someone you know is having serious mental health issues, including thoughts of suicide, help in Canada starts here. A quick Google search will find similar services available in your region, too.
