#OPINION | Cancel Culture: Should we just cancel it?
by Kaira Balcos
Taylor Swift, Greta Thunberg, Bianca Umali, your teacher, your classmate, any name or person that exists on the internet or the Twittersphere — they have probably been “cancelled” or called out at least once.
Cancel. Its dictionary definition is “to destroy the force, effectiveness, or validity of.” Cancel culture, originally started as a means to correct or inform the misguided. However, it has become something much worse.
People go along with it because they think it’s a cool trend to follow. They see these viral posts on social media with an overflow of likes and retweets, encouraging them to do something similar for more “clout.” Nowadays, anyone and everyone is getting cancelled. It has become so widespread that by now people think of it to be a normality.
But it shouldn’t be.
What this phenomenon has evolved into is a toxic and negative environment, which is not at all healthy, especially in this digital age with the younger generations growing up online. Due to cancel culture turning into a trend, or as a means for people to “chase clout” many of the people cancelling others are misinformed themselves, do it to feel good about themselves, or, even worse, have no basis for their cancel.
Take the case of Greta Thunberg, a sixteen year old climate activist. When she spoke in front of world leaders at a United Nations summit this year, it started an uproar on Twitter, with netizens denouncing her for the things she said, which leads us to the next point.
People have started to use call-out culture in a negative manner. Rather than using it as a means to correct and inform, many use it as a means to personally attack others. In Greta’s situation, most of those calling her out were grown adults. Adults, who should know better, were attacking a child. But looking at those tweets, one can tell that most of what was said doesn’t even make any sense.
In her speech, Greta stated, “You have stolen my childhood with your empty words, yet I’m one of the lucky ones.” Upon hearing this, people took to Twitter to criticize and harass her, sometimes even omitting the last part of the quote above. One tweet shows two photos comparing Greta to the children living in third world countries with the caption, “You have stolen my childhood.” This tweet caused a heated debate between thousands of netizens, divided between those defending and those attacking her.
Another situation similar to that of Greta’s happened not too long ago to local actress Bianca Umali. Last 2017, Bianca uploaded a #nofilter picture of herself on Facebook. In her caption, she stated, “Here’s the thing we should ALWAYS remember. Papa made each of us unique. Not only on the outside but also on the inside. So why not flaunt that beautiful face of yours without covering anything and leaving it how it really is?”
The post was of good nature, meant to spread a message about self love, confidence and female empowerment. Her point was clear: you do not need makeup to feel beautiful. Unfortunately, the public did not interpret it as such.Many negative comments were thrown at the then sixteen year old, who was called out to be insensitive, judgemental, hypocritical and the like. Hundreds of denouncing replies were sent, either by people who totally missed the point of Bianca’s post or those who had nothing better to do with their lives. What was supposed to be a beacon of light was degraded into yet another messy controversy.
A massive amount of negativity being directed at someone can be very damaging, especially when it’s for something that the person said that one time or a mistake that wasn’t meant to happen, or even worse, for no reason. Yet the public doesn’t seem to comprehend this.
Taylor Swift, a popular target of cancel culture, stated, “Saying ‘you’re cancelled’ is like saying ‘kill yourself’… When you say someone is cancelled, it’s not a TV show. It’s a human being… I don’t think there are that many people who can actually understand what it’s like to have millions of people hate you very loudly.”
The original purpose of cancel culture was to initiate a productive dialogue with one who may have posted false information or the likes. Instead, the goal has shifted into producing a public spectacle and receiving gratification from having “cancelled” someone, as well as validation from others who encourage it.
It can be damaging in multiple ways, not just emotionally. There are certain kinds of statements and accusations that can have multiple repercussions like the destruction of a person’s reputation. And even if accusations made prove to be false, the accused would have already been affected, one way or another. The pain inflicted will be difficult to take back.
After all, when something is posted online, it stays online. It can be deleted, but there will still be digital footprints leading back to it — allowing for it to still be traced. The Internet and its netizens will still end up remembering.
Immediately cancelling a person does not give them an opportunity to learn or grow. When you invalidate the words of another, you simply throw away what they say.
Remember, cancel culture originated from people trying to correct false information which were shared by others. Simply saying, “You’re cancelled,” to someone would not have much effect. It merely incites a fight and causes unnecessary tension and drama.
Calling out someone should be handled with responsibility, kindness and respect. We need to foster an environment of growth and character development, rather than one of hard feelings and hatred.
You may argue that as human beings, we have the freedom of speech. We have the right to say anything we want to say. But as the famous saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.” We need to realize that the right to freedom of speech is one of the largest responsibilities that we, as individuals, have.
We need to be able to discern when to speak out and when to be discreet. For example, when it comes to civil affairs, then go ahead — criticize, say your piece. We need our public leaders to hear our voice since their actions would affect our daily lives as citizens of our nation.
But what if you read something that is none of your concern? What if it’s just another ignorant person on the internet saying something stupid? Why would you need to further share their mistake and bash said person? It’s simply unnecessary and self-serving. By doing so, you would be stooping down to a lower level. At the same time, it would be encouraging others to do the same, a problem that continues to spiral out of control. Some things are better left unsaid or discreetly said.
Just because you and a certain person do not perceive things in the same light does not mean that their experiences are invalid, they can never learn or change, and you have the right to call them out for it.
Our right and ability to speak our minds is one of the most powerful things that live within us, but we have to be more responsible. As our own persons, we all have such power, but that does not automatically give us authority.
If we’re going to criticize something or someone, we need to make sure that we are equipped with the right information to do so and that our statements are to be said respectfully.
Right now, cancel culture is downright toxic.
But it doesn’t have to be.
We can’t just cancel “cancel culture.” Aside from it being impossible, with our right to our own voices, cancel culture is in fact necessary. But that also means that it’s going to have to shift into something positive, because at the moment, it’s not.
This is our — the youth’s — duty. We need to make the change. We are the ones with the power to turn everything around, to change the negative environment that cancel culture currently promotes.
Cancel culture is a relatively new concept. There are no clear or definite rules for the online community to follow. We only have our conscience to tell us what is right and wrong, which isn’t exactly working. But that is where the youth step in.
As the Millennials and Generation Z’s, we are the pioneers. It is implicit that we use our voices to direct this emerging movement. We should be the ones to make the rules, to set the example, especially for the younger generations to come. This is the future of cancel culture. A culture that promotes education, growth, and development.
And this? This could be our legacy.
