Recently I sat in a meeting with grown adults and had to speak, at great lengths, about how cancel culture works. I was legit flabbergasted. Like, what?
So here we are. Having the conversation about cancel culture that is apparently long overdue????
Things cancel culture is NOT:
a. A way to drag someone down after a single bad incident.
b. A way to throw around your virtue signaling so you feel validated in your sh!t opinions and silence others.
c. A phrase to use when you feel uncomfortable at being called out on your bad behavior and say you feel attacked (aka “canceled).
Ok, so if that last one comes across as a little oddly specific it’s because it is. Sorry, not sorry if you get the reference.
What cancel culture really is:
a. A way to call out a person, group of people, political entity, corporation, professor, human being/sentient being that is being an absolute turd consistently even after being made aware of their actions and how they hurt others. Just because you can say it doesn’t mean you’re free from the repercussions. Savy?
b. See a.
That’s it. That’s cancel culture.
If a person is constantly saying h*m*ph*bic things, and you keep correcting them and asking them to stop, you cancel them. You keep calling out the behavior. You demand they acknowledge what they’ve done and demand they stop. Until they do. The end.
It's about ethics.
And then. And then people have the audacity to say that asking that people take responsibility for their words and actions is toxic.
Toxic.
Now I’m not saying cancel culture can’t be used in toxic ways, because it has been. What I am saying is that cancel culture isn’t something that’s just this toxic, ugly thing. It’s really meant to help the world hold itself accountable, to right wrongs.
So when you hear people bemoaning the idea behind cancel culture, really think about what’s going on, is it being used in a toxic way? Or is it being used to right wrongs and bring light to otherwise shadowy areas?