Should Cancel Culture Be #Cancelled?
By: Leon Baldivia & Lyan Tabisaura
Pro Cancel Culture
Cancel Culture refers to having the withdrawal of continuing support for public figures who have stated something considered offensive or disagreeable. This directly correlates to actively emphasizing the mistakes that the individual has committed. I would understand why most individuals agree with this specific concept — it has been proven effective in instances that comb societal issues such as racism, sexism, pedophilia, and rape. However, have we ever thought about how Cancel Culture is being exploited in different contexts?
This certain idea magnifies the situation through social media and paves the way to more “public shaming” and non-stop criticism. I recognize that some public figures or celebrities have committed mistakes that could sometimes be considered unforgivable. Although is actively bashing them considered a solution? What will our destructive criticism really do in the process?
Another situation that we, online users, should be more aware of is the question of, “what if these controversies are not true in the first place?” Sometimes individuals tend to judge the situation quickly and don’t hear both sides of the story. If a person commits a mistake, people immediately state that “He/She is canceled.” This would result in influencers putting up a facade, not putting in the effort to be open-minded because they were criticized too quickly.
In my opinion, there is a proper and responsible way of addressing various issues on social media. As online users, have we ever observed that most of the people who have social media tend to be very expressive with their judgments without thinking of the impact they will have? I want to address how Cancel Culture is an avenue for people to simply pinpoint others’ mistakes and not give them a proper opportunity to learn from them and develop as people.
CON: Should Cancel Culture be #Cancelled
If you are a social media user, chances are, you already know what cancel culture is. Perhaps the hashtag, #PotentialCelebrityIsOverParty, has already poked around your feed. It is used so frequently that you would quickly know of the latest controversies on the internet; from James Charles to Shane Dawson, and Logan Paul, who have all been canceled for their self-induced drama. Cancel culture is deadly, so why have we been so obsessed with it, and how does it truly benefit society?
Public figures, may it be celebrities, influencers, or companies, have a platform to use their voices for good. Most of them use this said platform for humor, which can be quite risky and difficult to touch on, considering it is easy to accidentally blurt out an offensive joke. However, it is the public figure’s responsibility to use their platform respectfully. This is where people create mistakes when they argue about cancel culture. Humans are familiar with these slip-ups, and it’s okay to make them. However, repeatedly making these errors allow us to draw the line from being decent to being a trashy human being.
Shane Dawson publicly “joked” about pedophilia on his podcast, and during his early days, created ethnic characters and stereotyped them (not to mention when he wore blackface). Artists like Chris Brown and R. Kelly have been charged with several sexual assault cases, and their fans still choose to deny the facts. These “influencers” have slipped up far too many times, and we cannot tolerate their behavior. Cancel culture does exactly that– combating the issue, and the person enabling it. This gives the people a chance to fight back, and to choose a side between right and wrong because there is no middle ground on justice.
I see cancel culture as a bloody fight-to-the-death match but, on social media. It’s messy, but in the end, there is some sort of victory– one for those fighting against racism, sexual abuse, feminism, homophobia, transphobia, and others too many to name.