What is Cancel Culture?
Cancel culture—which refers to the social exile of a person, usually an influencer or celebrity, after an alleged transgression—is becoming more and more prevalent across social media platforms every year. Common “cancelable” offenses include participating in racially insensitive costumes or parties, saying a slur, or supporting a particularly divisive politician. The consequences usually involve enough online chatter to make the offender trend on Twitter. For example, after Camila Cabello’s old tweets with racially offensive content resurfaced, the hashtag #CamilaIsOverParty trended worldwide. Referring to someone as being “canceled” or “over ” has become common vocabulary. Additionally, if the person in question has a big enough following, getting canceled often involves losing not just supporters, but also brand deals, sponsorships, and other paid gigs.
The Drawbacks
However, canceling someone is almost never effective. Usually, the canceled person issues some sort of apology, disappears from social media until the storm dies down, and then quietly reintroduces themselves to the internet. There are always loyal fans who will defend even the most obvious of social transgressions and stick by their favorite celebrities or creators. At the end of the day, the online outrage and cyberbullying that occurs not just towards the creator but even between fans results in no change or real accountability. As a result, the internet now has a dominant culture of toxicity and bitterness in which no mistakes can be made without fear of cancellation and nobody is allowed to learn or change. For example, a recent event on social media can be used as a case study: the public discussion about West End Caleb. West End Caleb refers to a young man, Caleb, who works at West Elm in New York City, who became a well-known name on TikTok after multiple women shared stories of their less-than-satisfactory experiences with him on popular dating app Tinder. While he wasn’t the most gracious suitor, he did not commit any particularly offensive or harmful acts and his tendency to become distant is not uncommon in the online dating scene. Even so, his name and face were splashed across social media pages, shoving him into the public eye. Not only was he forced to hide or delete his own social media pages, but his employer’s social media pages were flooded with harassment. He serves as an example of how cancel culture can go too far and ostracize people who have not done enough to deserve it.
What are the Alternatives?
The ethics of cancel culture are complicated. Some people, like West Elm Caleb, become victims of cancel culture’s mob mentality. Of course, on the other hand, we cannot excuse offensive content or language from people on the internet. Taking accountability for harmful actions and apologizing to those who have been hurt is an incredibly important step to take, especially if someone has a platform with a large audience. However, a genuine apology is not going to come from someone backed into a corner. Instead of forcing an apology, we should allow time for a person to educate themselves and show change. If we can’t allow for that, then no good will come out of the situation at all. Cancel culture does not allow for growth, and barely allows for accountability. Most of the time, it also doesn’t even effectively rid the internet of the person and their transgressions. Additionally, the fanfare that comes with trying to cancel someone often ends up giving them more attention. If no publicity is bad publicity, then an attempt to cancel someone just means that everyone is talking about them. There is even a chance they gain more supporters. A more effective way to Maybe it is about time we get #CancelCultureIsOverParty trending on Twitter.
