Jan 11
The New Online Trend: “Canceling”
An Internet movement with real-life consequences
Yes, “canceling” people is trendy.
When I first heard of the term “cancel culture”, my immediate reaction was:
HUH?
You’re telling me that there’s an entire culture associated with people canceling other people?!
Cancel, by Definition
“Cancel” is a word you use when you talk about things like credit cards, memberships, and plans, so you can see where my confusion comes from.
Well, just as the English language is ever-evolving and we’re introduced to words such as “Fleek” and “Turnt” every day, certain words are also taking new meanings. The word “Ghosted” has nothing to do with Casper, “Tea” isn’t something you’d love to have with the Queen, and “Salty” isn’t one of the basic tastes.
SO, “cancel” has also taken a new meaning. It no longer only applies to only things but also to people.
To cancel someone is to no longer support them in any way.
Now that you understand that I’m not talking about the word “cancel” as it is normally defined, I can stop putting quotes around it.
Origins of Canceling
According to Wikipedia (a good enough source for the purpose of this article), we recognized the idea of canceling as a concept in 2014. We coined it because of a widespread online shaming spree where people would single out people of influence for doing/saying something controversial or offensive.
A famous example of someone who has been canceled is author J. K. Rowling. She tweeted her thoughts, and some believed them to be irresponsible and transphobic. As a result, book sales for Harry Potter went down, and previous fans of hers no longer support her work. She has also received many death threats.
Now, I don’t wish to continue the debate about whether she’s right or wrong here. She just makes for a good example to explain cancel culture.
Cancel Culture Effects
The effects of being canceled don’t stop at online shaming. It’s one thing to call someone out for saying something offensive, and another to ruin their life and ostracize them completely.
Social media makes it easy for people to use hateful rhetoric and bold statements to make others feel small. Everyone can go online and type some words and those words have REAL consequences.
You may think that voicing your opinion online won’t do anything, but when you share the same opinion with millions of others, and it’s propagated all over social media, it holds power.
What we’re seeing with cancel culture is people using that power to ensure that influential people are paying a price for their questionable actions.
The Problem With Canceling
Not every instance of cancelling is the same, so we have to stop and think about what’s just.
Celebrities with a certain level of status have a level of responsibility when it comes to what they do/say. That means every word that comes out of their mouth (or is typed on a social platform) is scrutinized to the highest degree.
These are just people, right? Why do we hold them to such a high standard?
It’s because their status comes with credibility. If you ask me, it’s kind of ridiculous, but it’s the reality. Whether they’re famous for writing a book or twerking in a video, celebrities are used to sell products, give inspirational speeches about climate change, call for donations, etc. because people will listen to them.
Why? That’s a deeper question that I don’t exactly know how to answer.
This ability they have to relay information and have people listen to them without questioning their validity comes at a price. Once a person reaches celebrity status, they are signing a social contract that states they can only harbor popular opinions.
This is problematic for a few reasons.
- It delegitimizes someone’s right to have an opinion. It’s easy to forget that just because YOU think something, it doesn’t mean everyone else has to agree.
- It forces people to pretend they care about issues they know nothing about. Popularity and social accreditation make people feel like they have authority on a certain topic when, in reality, they’re just ordinary people with opinions.
- It assumes that one opinion holds greater value than the other. Remember, an opinion isn’t a fact.
No matter what the vast majority on the Internet might say, all opinions are valid. That’s the beauty of having a brain and using it to form your own thoughts.
The best part: you can argue and disagree with what someone thinks!
Sure, there are things most people agree on, but that doesn’t mean the minority of people who disagree have to crawl up into a ball and die. They’ll have a hard enough time connecting with people. They don’t need the added stress of someone wishing them death or publically shaming them out of existence.
Why Cancel?
I think that the real reason we cancel people is to make sure no one is complacent with making comments or doing things that are hurtful to others.
The motive behind this movement is weirdly altruistic!
If you do a little Google dive and see which celebrities were canceled, and for what reasons, you’ll find that they’re fairly similar. That’s because all of them have one thing in common. They did/said something that many people were hurt by.
Now, did they deserve the backlash and consequences they faced as a result? I’d argue many of them didn’t.
Plenty of these celebrities even apologized sincerely for the damage they may have caused, and yet were still met with animosity.
Alternatives to Canceling
First, I THINK there needs to be a consensus that no one deserves to die for stating an opinion.
Notice how I said, “think”. It’s my opinion. Some people out there believe that someone whose opinions differ from theirs should die. While I blatantly disagree, I don’t wish them the same fate and accept their opinion as valid.
Rather than ruining people’s lives, we need to have more civil conversations.
Suddenly, everyone’s immediate reaction is to be outraged.
Perhaps what we need is to take one collective breath and a GIANT “chill pill”.
Nothing someone says online should anger us to that degree. Words can have power, as I’ve said before, but only because we let them.
Instead of allowing people’s opinions to hurt us, we should take them as opportunities to educate.
I understand that younger people have less control over their emotions, and are far more impressionable, but everything they know was taught to them.
That means we have the chance to teach our youth how to do their own research and not believe everything they hear.
For example, if a young girl is gay, and a celebrity they love said that being gay is an atrocity, they should simply stop following that celebrity. It’s as simple as that. We have control over what information we consume. If we don’t agree with what someone has to say, we don’t have to listen further.
That same girl could also comment hateful things on the celebrity’s social media and demand that they lose their job, but what good would that do? As we’ve seen plenty of times, celebrities bounce back and continue living their lives even after being brutally crucified in the media.
Now, that girl is still hurt that their beloved celebrity is homophobic, and nothing has really changed.
If she were to write a heartfelt comment about how devastated she was to find out her idol wasn’t who she thought they were, perhaps it would appeal to the celebrity's humanity, and even change their mind.
Many times celebrities will go on the defensive, and worsen the situation, because of the extreme nature of the comments they receive.
Think about the psychology of human behavior for a moment. Unless you’re the most patient person on the planet, if someone insults you, berates you, and thinks you don’t deserve to live, you’ll immediately go into fight mode. No one responds well to violence, albeit physical or mental.
So when we cancel celebrities, they aren’t thinking about their behavior, they’re doing everything they can to defend themselves!
Why I Will No Longer Be Taking Part In Cancel Culture
Cancel culture has turned into this monster that digs through dirt, hoping to find something to prey on. While it may have started as something positive, it no longer aims to change people and make the world a better place. People are fishing for ways to ruin lives based on mistakes or unpopular opinions.
I don’t intend to feed the monster any longer. If I see someone’s been canceled, the first thing I’ll do is go to the source.
And, I’ve already started: here’s a letter from J. K. Rowling regarding her most recent cancelation.
I hope this will, at the very least, make you think about the human beings behind the public personas.
