Cancel Culture's Key To Success

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Memedroid

Cancel culture is a topic often discussed on this platform. I've complained about this many times, but has it ever occurred to anyone why cancel culture is so effective? I obviously don't mean "effective" in that it's an effectual tool; more so that cancel culture can succeed. Why does cancel culture work? I think it's always important to know history, because if we have no knowledge of mistakes from the past, how can we ever grow in the future? Cancel culture certainly has an interesting history, so I thought I could write about 1) the history of cancel culture, and 2) the reason what is the main factor for cancel culture to be an effective yet evil tool. I wanted to bring up this topic since we have now entered a new year. During this new year, my hope is that more people realize the toxicity of cancel culture.

To understand cancel culture, we have to know its history. "Cancelling" someone was more known before cancel culture became a thing. Some have reported that cancelling was around in the early 2010s by fandoms to criticize their favorite celebrity. There were only few mentions of the phrase "cancel culture." From what I read, it was less than 100 times. That was the case until around late 2017, when Gabby Douglas came under fire for telling her teammate, Aly Raisman, that women who are sexually assaulted basically bring it on themselves for the way they dress. Writer Shanita Hubbard defended Douglas, bringing in the term "cancel culture." Since then, the term cancel culture has been used.

There are some good aspects of cancel culture. There have been instances of cancel culture I can get behind, like the Cuties scenario. Unfortunately, cancel culture is used to control people. Not to mention hypocritical. Cancel culture will go after you if you support the wrong candidate or say the wrong thing (i.e Blake Shelton "romanticizing" minimum wage), but won't go after celebrities who do much worse (Kevin Spacey and Epstein's island). If you read my article on male victims/female predators, you know what I'm talking about. But there's even the instance where that woman walking her dog called the cops on a black birdwatcher. She got severe cancellation. The same Hubbard criticized Amy Cooper for blaming cancel culture for her actions. She's right, but why does this change when it's a white woman? I'm not saying what she did was right; it was wrong. When Gabby Douglas does something wrong, she is immune from criticism. That's one of the problems with cancel culture. You can only cancel someone if they're straight and white, or if they "offend" minorities.

Now, because of the pandemic, cancel culture has reached an all-time high. If you don't wear a mask or follow Covid-19 guidelines, you're cancelled. This is so annoying. People are letting their fear blind them from the truth. Cancel culture truly is a mob mentality. I've said this before, but I believe it's worth noting again. Publicly shaming others has been seen throughout history and has a mob mentality. Today this shaming has a new name: "Cancel Culture."

I mentioned what I believe to be the reason cancel culture is successful. Two words: social media. Cancel culture was never a success until social media came into existence. You could get cancelled if you say something to someone when there's witnesses. Instead, it could be easily recorded and put online for the whole world to see. To make sure you don't forget. Also, you can post something "wrong" from years ago, when you were a stupid teenager, yet anyone can find it and use this weapon against you. Social media has some benefits, but the issues I've raised make social media platforms a menace, in addition to the clear misuse of power. People take personal information and use it against others. Talk about insane miscreants. To go through someone's social media or hold onto a video/image from years ago to destroy their lives years later. 

Social media certainly had a big hand in giving cancel culture relevance. If we didn't have this "tool," there would be a lot more kindness and less hate in this world. I have only been okay with cancel culture in small instances. Going after people/celebrities/movies for promoting pedophilia or engaging in sexual misconduct and cancelling them is fine by me. Attacking someone over a tweet or video over a racial slur or sexual joke from years ago? Definitely call them out, but don't destroy their life over this. You don't know if that person is the same. You've probably never met that person, and you're willing to cancel them? This is why I can't stand cancel culture, nor will I support it. Now we understand why cancel culture can manifest. Social media makes it possible. 

Have you or anyone you know been a victim of cancel culture? Comment down! I'd be interested in hearing.