Cancel culture has taken off over recent years as many members of the public are ‘outing’ celebrities and persons of interest over controversial matters. It has brought about an awareness of peoples’ past, allowing them to own up to their mistakes, but are we taking it too far?
What is ‘cancel culture’?
‘Cancel culture’ is an act of boycotting an individual, usually in the public eye who has either acted or spoken in a controversial way.
As most of us have been stuck at home for the last four months, a lot has been happening online. Big names like Shane Dawson, Doja Cat and R.Kelly have hit the media over racial and sexual matters, having been called out by the public over their wrongdoings. Many have since apologised for their actions and have been reprimanded by the loss of sponsorships and deals, with some even some facing the justice system.
A person being made aware of one or multiple things that they have done wrong is morally reasonable in society. However, is there a line under what we can cancel people for?
Cancel or just a shift in acceptance?
“It seems unfair to cancel someone over something we once were okay with”
With the recent rise of the #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo movement, a surplus of people have expressed their personal experiences, naming famous people who were a part of them. Although, there has also been an increase of cancelling people for example, for old shows and comedy sketches that were deemed acceptable at the time they were broadcasted.
This poses the question of whether it is fair to cancel someone over something that society before had accepted? It is of course important to recognise that times have changed. Our population and the individual being questioned should realise that certain things from the past aren’t as well-fitted in today’s world. This is great for educating our society, but it seems unfair to cancel someone over something we once were okay with. In this case, we should encourage this person to learn from their past.
Alongside this, streaming platforms have begun to remove programmes that they believe are hurtful to society today. Netflix have removed ‘Come Fly With Me’ because of its use of ‘blackfacing’ and racial jokes and HBO Max removed ‘Gone With The Wind’ because of the “racial depictions”. It then reinstated it to its service with an introductory message about the film’s context. Films like this depict how society was like at the time and show how far we have come to change our perspective on race, gender, sexuality etc. and so it is important to have these as part of our world’s history.
Exploitation of cancelling
Another occurrence in cancel culture, is cancelling someone based on false stories/tweets/posts without properly fact-checking. This has led to many people being falsely accused of some serious crimes that can tarnish a person’s reputation. Last month, Justin Bieber, Cole Sprouse and many others were targeted with false allegations over sexual abuse in light of the #MeToo movement. Not only is this diminishing the voices of actual victims but is also an extreme act of defamation on innocent people. We must be cautious as an online community about what we see on social platforms, being careful not to spread lies and misinformation.
At the end of the day, it is your choice
“You may not feel the same as somebody else about cancelling one person and that is okay”
There is a great YouTube video by Jubilee that debates whether or not we should cancel celebrities for their wrongdoings. It is interesting to note that the video highlights how everyone is entitled to their own opinion with cancel culture simply raising one opinion many people have, then encouraging others to think the same. However, on the contrary, it is down to a person whether or not they agree with and want to follow that movement.
It is a tough topic to discuss as cancel culture is something that should be of your own personal choice. You may not feel the same as somebody else about cancelling one person and that is okay. This should also be respected by online users such as when other people including celebrities do not join in cancelling someone. The same goes if you are or are not supportive of cancel culture as a whole. It is important for people to be held accountable, but everyone has different opinions on what someone has done that depicts the severity of their ‘cancellation’.
What do some of our contributors think?
I don’t think it’s fair to cancel things because society moved on and it became unacceptable. I think it’s important for future generations to know what used to be said and done so that society continues to move forward, we need to be aware of history to prevent it repeating itself. I think there’s different extents of offence and cancellation: cancellation could range from removing a video and apologising to someone being completely ruined by it, it’s so dependent on the circumstances, some people have been unfairly cancelled and some deserve it. – Louisa Merrick White
People use the media because it is easy and you never know the impact cancel culture has on a person from behind a screen because it is only words, but it has a larger impact on the person who is ‘cancelled’. I think ‘cancel culture’ mainly consists of people who want social change because the people in power have failed to do so, which is why people are using the media because the media is the only platform where you can be anonymous and does not impact the person saying it. I think they have no other choice but to use the media. – Gabriella Nero
Lydia Geronikolos
Image courtesy of @firmbee via Unsplash.
Very well written! Concise, free spirited, on a democratic basis, and in very good English!