Cancel culture

By Hallie Johnson

Getting canceled is a process. Although it varies, most stories follow the same timeline. First, a person with some kind of voice or platform makes a mistake. This can range from an offensive joke, use of slurs, or discrimination to serious legal allegations. Next, social media posts blast this person, often using hashtags like “cancel insert person's name” or “justice for insert community or person who was hurt”. Often, following this public callout, an official apology video is released. These apology videos can include crying, genuine remorse, and a sincere promise to do something about it. Other videos have shown giggling and empty words, digging a deeper hole for these people. Sometimes, apology videos are enough to salvage a career, but it seems that, more often than not, people have already canceled them in their head. A mass unfollowing and blocking ensues and, soon, the platform that this person stands on is diminished to a fraction of the size. Although it seems somewhat lengthy, this is a swift and destructive process that often hurts more than just the canceled person.

As mentioned above, these influencers are young. They have brand new and unique situations as they create a wide variety of content for millions of followers, often leaving them exposed and vulnerable. Social media gives people the opportunity to put the very best and modified versions of themselves out. They get to hand pick how the world perceives them. People often forget how young these influencers are, and that they are still developing and learning. Everyone makes mistakes. No one is exempt from this, especially teenagers and young adults. However, most teenagers get to make these mistakes with only their close circle, learn, apologize, grow, and leave it behind. This is not the case for these influencers. They are making the exact same mistakes as their peers, but do not receive the same amount of grace and understanding. Popular comments include: “You should know better than this” when, in reality, they are right where all teenagers are reaching maturity.

One of the most relevant Buddha sayings is as follows: “Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” This culture we have created generates even more fear and negativity in today’s society where it feels like they already reign. Forgiveness, grace, and understanding should be the core focus, not searching for a chance to bring someone down. Cancel culture has grown deep roots very rapidly, but there is still time to cancel this culture.