cancel culture 4

sydney crump staff writer

To cancel. In our society, it means to stop supporting a person or business as a result of an action considered inappropriate by the masses. Within the past year, we have seen many celebrities get “canceled,” typically after making an offensive comment. The idea behind cancel culture is that after someone is called out on social media for an unacceptable remark, his or her career will plummet. Cancel culture began in 2016 and became more rampant as the #MeToo movement gained notice on social media. Canceling celebrities serves to be a moral assessment on what is and is not allowed in society. When Harvery Weinstein was “canceled” for sexually assaulting women in the past and as recent as 2013, it was a case in which cancel culture was effective. Without social media the repercussions — Weinstein being forced out of his own company and facing possible jail time — may not have been as severe. However, cancel culture does not always work in its intended way. Oftentimes, people considered canceled by the masses end up maintaining their career. Kevin Hart, for example, was canceled in late2018 after homophobic tweets resurfaced from his account. Since being canceled, Hart has starred in multiple movies that were considered successful at the box office. Hart’s continued success brings up the question of whether or not cancel culture is effective. For most, it is simply a stain on their reputation and ultimately does not cause any long-lasting career damage. Although no one should

be allowed to casually make offensive comments without consequences and recognition of wrongdoing, cancel culture can be toxic to society. People in the spotlight of social media should have the opportunity to redeem themselves and learn from their mistakes, especially in a country where internalized beliefs of racism and misogyny persists. The massive number of responses that follow the cancellation of a celebrity typically amount to nothing. As a result, the person canceled gets no lesson on why what they said or did was wrong. This is not to say that people shouldn’t get called out when something offensive is said — there should absolutely be consequences to problematic actions. The overall issue with cancel culture lies in the manner in which people are called out. Harassing people via social media makes no fundamental change to society. After someone is canceled, he or she is often unable to move past the issue for many months, despite varying degrees in the comments’ severity. In August 2019, the owner of SoulCycle hosted an event for President Donald Trump, upsetting many customers. Soon after it was discovered, Twitter erupted with customers vowing to boycott SoulCycle. However, if customers had looked further into the story before making their decision to boycott SoulCycle, they would have seen that company profits are never used to fund politicians. Additionally, majority owner Stephen Ross is a passive investor, meaning he is not involved in management, as stated by a press release from SoulCycle and Equinox, the company that operates Soul Cycle. Therefore, any attempt to boycott SoulCycle was nothing more than an inconvenience. Following the canceling of SoulCycle, their attendance did decline, according to Vox.com, but was it worth it? Think of how many products you consume daily whose owner’s views do not align with yours. The convenience of Amazon’s oneday delivery and vast catalog of items results in poor working conditions for many workers, yet in 2019 the company had its most profitable quarter. It is almost impossible to only support companies whose views you agree with. Famous people are human beings and we should not expect perfection. Despite it seeming like one offensive comment makes someone a bad person, the reality is that there are not only good and bad people. The difference between us and celebrities is we do not have one million people on Twitter to call us out when we make derogatory remarks. Instead, our sometimes problematic views are often supported by friends too afraid to call us out, which, in my view, is scarier. Social media holds a lot of power, enough to tarnish a person or company’s reputation. With this power comes the responsibility to read the full story before tweeting rather than looking at a headline and making assumptions. Keep in mind that headlines, especially ones created for online content, are often created with the intention of attracting clicks. As a result, many of the headlines seen everyday include exaggerations and drama to pull you in or evoke strong emotions. Cancel culture should serve as a moral check on what values society has evolved to find acceptable. It must take into consideration that comments made many years ago may not be valid because people are always evolving and changing. Although not everyone has changed, it would be a disservice to those who have to not consider that possibility. Currently, cancel culture is unintentionally seeking morally perfect people who do not exist in reality. If everyone is canceled because they, at some point in their career, made an ignorant mistake, then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of trying to distinguish between the morally acceptable and unacceptable people in the media? Cancel culture is toxic and needs to be restructured in a way that allows for a safe space of realizing and correcting long-internalized beliefs. The severity of the situation and the track record of the person being canceled should always be considered. Think before you cancel. ✰