Cancel Culture, Research Paper Example

A fashionable new term has quickly gained traction on social media: cancel culture. This term describes celebrities, influencers, content producers, and even businesses withdrawing support in response to an activity commonly seen as rude or immoral. In theory, online ostracism is beneficial, as it allows individuals to hold public figures accountable for unethical behavior or other things over which law enforcement has no jurisdiction. However, multiple incidents have proven that this capacity may be easily abused, with people receiving overwhelming amounts of vitriol or the “canceling” going too far. Cancel culture has shown itself to be disruptive, intolerant, and too harsh, showing that it is inappropriate for our society.

The eagerness of internet users to “cancel” others is a big issue with cancel culture, producing a toxic environment for celebrities, influencers, and other prominent figures (Yar and Engel Bromwich). A blunder might kill someone’s online career in today’s harsh internet environment. For example, Nessa Barrett, a 17-year-old TikTok star, was “canceled” after posting a video of herself dancing to a recording of someone reciting a passage from the Qur’an, a revered Islamic scripture. She apologized multiple times, stating she didn’t realize the tape’s significance and didn’t mean any harm, but the damage to her reputation had already been done. While the vocational parts of social exclusion may not be permanent, as in Nessa’s case, the social consequences of being “canceled” frequently leave a mark on people’s reputations (Nash 160). It’s not fair to subject influential persons to the constant threat of mainstream social media turning on them for petty reasons, much alone the long-term consequences.

Furthermore, most people are so eager to judge that they will not bother to put incriminating videos or images of popular personalities into context before criticizing them. Someone could, for example, discover an old insulting tweet from one of their favorite celebrities and decide to stop supporting them without checking to see if the message was clarified or if the individual apologized. Fake screenshots or videos might even acquire popularity online due to this. While fabricated photographs are seldom career-ending, it’s still absurd that people have so little faith in powerful people that they’re prepared to judge them for a single deed without context. We shouldn’t judge them solely on individual occurrences but on who they have shown themselves as people. We should only “cancel” someone if they have shown to be a genuine threat to society.

Another issue is that the current cultural milieu encourages the quiet of opposing perspectives, which inhibits open debate. (Shafer-Landau 345). On sensitive matters, there is no opportunity for a middle ground in the view of mainstream social media; people are either morally correct or part of the problem (Petrovi? 177). People in creative sectors are also compelled to restrict their work for fear of being “canceled” due to people being de-platformed for provocative beliefs. For example, writers and artists are chastised for publishing works that contain divisive ideas, journalists are forbidden from writing about specific topics for fear of social repercussions, and celebrities are chastised for holding unpopular opinions simply because they defy socially acceptable concepts.

Similarly, even non-powerful people’s ideas are ignored since they contradict society’s tendencies (Callard). Consider what would happen if someone went on Twitter and stated that I approved some of President Trump’s acts when he was in office. Because he had been “canceled,” regardless of how strong my arguments for supporting his behavior were, my view would be undermined mainly because I was praising rather than hating on him. This intolerant tendency is creating a suffocating online environment that prevents open discourse. As a country that values freedom of expression, we should encourage individuals to tolerate other people’s values, ideas, and political viewpoints (Shafer-Landau 169). Instead of canceling, choose the rehabilitation road to eliminating the bad notions that cancel culture is supposed to eradicate. We should not dismiss those who hold opposite viewpoints but rather freely discuss them so that people may learn more about the issues and form informed conclusions. Avoiding difficulties by “canceling” them, as we have been doing, will not result in change; instead, it will force us to keep making the same mistakes (Hobbes 7)

The fundamental argument for cancel culture is that it empowers ordinary people on social media by allowing them to hold big individuals accountable for damaging or insulting behavior. I agree that consequences are critical, but “canceling” someone is not an effective approach to implementing them. “That’s not activism,” President Barack Obama said. That isn’t going to alter anything.” There is a distinction between keeping individuals accountable and entirely rejecting them. We should, in most situations, merely draw attention to detrimental conduct so that the individual does not repeat it and encourage them to apologize and do better next time. A tougher approach, such as placing them on a brief break, may be necessary if they reject. Threatening to “cancel” someone’s reputation and, perhaps, the end of their career is rarely warranted ((Eriksen 77). Furthermore, the negative consequences of canceling culture exceed the benefits of removing awful people from the public eye. The ability to “cancel” someone is frequently misdirected or misused, easily crossing the line of decency.

Cancel culture goes too far, usually measuring retaliation in proportion to the wrongs done (Eriksen 67). This frequently results in people experiencing excessive amounts of negativity, to the point where criticism turns outright harassment. It can sometimes go much further. Skai Jackson, a former Disney star, famously utilized her Twitter platform to expose bigots (typically kids) and make them accountable for their actions. She would post information on them, such as their names, schools, and employers, and encourage her followers to take action against them. While their racist activities were unforgivably unpleasant, sending hundreds of thousands of people to harass them was excessive. This doxing supposedly resulted in the person being expelled from high school and their parents losing their employment in one instance; however, Jackson refuted this. It was unnecessary to publicize this because none of the persons she revealed had any actual power. It would have sufficed to make a simple phone call to these people’s schools, parents, or employers so that they could deal with the situation correctly. Making a spectacle of them by publicly punishing them promotes hate speech (YI 27). This is only one illustration of how ostracism can be taken to its logical conclusion. People on the internet tend to say things they would never say face to face. Thus this response supported by cancel culture is ultimately too harsh and extreme for most instances.

In summary, “canceling” individuals is an intrinsically terrible activity. It promotes prejudice, stifling the work of artists and putting down others who may have contrary views. Many celebrated persons from diverse industries and professions have spoken out against it, advising people not to make haste judgments.

Works Cited

Callard, A., 2021. Opinion | Should We Cancel Aristotle? (Published 2020). [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/21/opinion/should-we-cancel-aristotle.html> [Accessed 12 May 2022].

Eriksen, Stefka G. “Cancel Culture in the Middle Ages.” European Journal of Scandinavian Studies 52.1 (2022): 59-80.

Hobbes, M. (2020). Don’t Fall For The’Cancel Culture’Scam. Politics, 11, 07.

Nash, Marc. “Classic case of cancel culture.” Index on Censorship 51.1 (2022): 160-160.

Petrovi?, Dalibor. “Cancel Culture ?s A Hybrid Pattern Of Postmodern Sociability.” KULTURA POLISA 18.46 (2021): 169-181.

Shafer-Landau, Russ. Living Ethics: An Introduction with Readings. Oxford University Press, 2019.

Yar, S. and Engel Bromwich, J., 2019. Tales From the Teenage Cancel Culture (Published 2019). [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/31/style/cancel-culture.html> [Accessed 12 May 2022].

YI, Chew Wei. “Understanding dynamics of online conversations: cancel culture in Singapore.” (2021).