Alyssa Monroe
Cancel Culture is “a way of behaving in a society or group, especially on social media, in which it is common to completely reject and stop supporting someone because they have said or done something that offends you,” according to Cambridge Dictionary.
Cancel culture is incredibly toxic and draining. We need to encourage change instead of shutting people out. “Fundamentally, cancel culture is about shame,” explains psychologist and author of How To Build A Healthy Brain, Kimberley Wilson, as she told Vogue Magazine. In her book, she explains the lack of values of cancel culture brings to society and how participating hurts your mental health.
My main argument against Cancel Culture is that it doesn’t allow people who have done wrong the opportunity to apologize and learn from their mistakes. Social media encourages people to call others out. I believe we should encourage discussion about opposing opinions and different views. Just because someone has a different view doesn’t necessarily make them wrong or a terrible person.
Cancel culture encourages bullying and violence by saying it’s okay to harass others due to their actions. The younger generations are getting on social media at a very young age. They will see that it is “fine or ok” to call someone out and try to get others to cancel this person too. This action is a way of bullying and harassment. Cancel culture tends to discourage kids to use their voices about their views and opinions on subjects. Seeing their favorite influencers cancel people will encourage them to do the same, so they can be like them and be ‘cool’.
Justine Sacco, a young businesswoman, made a tweet on a plane to South Africa in 2013 about AIDS which resulted in her being fired from her position as senior director of corporate communications. Her tweet went trending, and she is viewed as the first person to be “canceled.”
Sam Biddle, a well-known journalist who retweeted her also got fired for saying #HasJustineLandedYet, causing her to go trending and send hate towards her. He later regretted his actions and their results, stating, “it’s easy and thrilling to hate a stranger online.”
Author and Digital Strategist Maisha Z. Johnson offers: “Addressing harmful behavior is important, but so is understanding that everyone is on a different step of their journey, so we all make mistakes. And we all have different strengths – so if someone is lacking in one area, like knowing vocabulary words, we don’t have to treat them like they’re totally disposable to the movement. We can help them grow in that area, and hope that others would help us in the areas we need to grow, too.”
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