I'm 34 years old. I grew up in the time of the original Power Rangers. I had a black and white Gameboy the size and shape of a brick. I'm a bit out of touch when it comes to recent culture and trends. I typically live under a rock when it comes to social media and new-age terms and movements like, 'cancel culture' and being 'woke'. I spent the majority of my life living under a rock - both intentionally and unintentionally... but that's a story for another time.
As I'm becoming more interested and involved with politics (regret not being involved earlier), I realize these things matter and I need to learn about them.
Dictionary.com definition of cancel culture:
"Cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive. Cancel culture is generally discussed as being performed on social media in the form of group shaming."
It sounds like a form of Boycott (link to my blog on the subject). I actively participate in a several long-term boycotts of certain companies that I have philosophical differences with. Cancel culture sounds like a boycott of people and even just one individual. However, a big issue that I am discovering is that people are 'cancelling' people sometimes without much proof or for a silly reason such as an insignificant difference of opinion. General Boycotting also has this issue, but I feel it's more prevalent with cancel culture because of social media and the all too easy spread of disinformation.
Boycotts can be very effective given enough people are on board. Typically they start small and then gain momentum. This is the same process for cancelling someone, except it likely occurs very fast. The problem is that it often happens prematurely. Say a popular music artist is accused of sexual assault. They might then immediately 'cancelled' by large swarms of people. The judgement happens before the truth is out. 'Innocent until proven guilty' is often thrown out of the window.
It could be a smaller offense. You could give provide an opinion that might offend someone and heavy backlash could follow given it reaches enough people. Boycotting and cancelling are a form of social justice. The people have the power to choose to support or ignore certain people, groups, companies without the need for legal litigation. People like to feel like they are a part of something. They like to feel like they are making a difference. If they hop on a particular bandwagon that is boycotting someone, they feel like they've done something important. But have they done their research?
I think this ties into social media induced A.D.D. Scrolling through endless streams of media posts provides us with an endless dose happiness-inducing chemicals in our brain. By latching on to a movement such as a cancellation, we feel even better. This allows us to feel like activists. It's fast and easy. But is it right? Is it fair? Are we judging too quickly? Our attention deficit prevents us from looking too deep into the actual issue. Doing any kind of significant research is probably not very fun, so our happiness-hungry brains quickly move onto a different topic.
To cancel something or someone is just another term for Boycotting them. It's just a modern, more hip term. It's a new branding. In with the new, out with the old like a new trendy pair of jeans. Maybe it'll be called something else in a few years. It's Boycotting brought to the world of social media and public shaming. You hop on a cancel train and all of a sudden you feel 'woke' and informed and aware of the problems in the world and by being on the train with a host of others, you feel you are making a difference.
I am all for Boycotting. Since cancel culture is Boycotting with a new label, I'm in favor of it. But, people need to do their research before committing to something. You cannot judge too quickly. The world is a complicated place. Your actions have consequences. If you are going to publicly shame someone, you better make sure aware of the facts. The world is not black and white.
Resources:
Excellent (warning: very long) speech on 'wokeness':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sni7ghqHBJw
HuffPost UK video explanation of cancel culture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bisnMOujqFs
Harvard professor against issues with cancel culture:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-erKC_TT9dQ
Barack Obama on 'call-out culture' and being 'woke':
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