By Nyrika Nooreyezdan
Louis C.K., Lana Del Rey and J.K. Rowling – these are just a few examples of celebrities that have been cancelled on social media for their comments and behavior. Cancel culture is the encouragement to collectively boycott specific people for their offensive actions. Many believe that cancel culture or call-out culture has become a way for people to release their anger rather than create positive change while others think it’s an effective method to hold others accountable.
To learn from your mistakes is important for people to become more open minded. However, does cancel culture allow this to happen? Calling someone out in an aggressive manner could simply lead to them responding in the same way. This leads the conversation away from how to be better and understand what you did wrong.
Although, while a healthy dialogue is vital, there isn’t really a way to conduct one with a celebrity, who is elevated in status and influencing millions of people. When a celebrity posts a racist comment, it has a much larger impact. With this kind of sway, comes a great deal of responsibility. Cancelling them demonstrates that there are consequences for their actions and shifts that power to the audience.
It has been argued that cancel culture is a toxic practice that puts an end to a person’s career. Louis C.K. is still performing comedy, Lana Del Rey is still writing songs and J.K. Rowling is still publishing (highly transphobic) books. In this way, cancel culture does leave room for change, if the person is willing to do so. Their careers continue, their twitter accounts remain intact and cancel culture has shown them that what they do has repercussions.
Being able to cancel and have a voice in a conversation is something new for many people. Cancel culture is a demonstration of an individual’s power to affect some kind of change and take effective action. It gives people, who are disadvantaged in terms of income or privilege, a way to express themselves and stand up for what they believe. Social media and the idea of cancelling has given individuals the ability to leave a significant mark on celebrities that tend to be idolized.
Cancel culture is definitely here to stay and has the potential to evolve into a productive means of change. At the moment, it is heavily scrutinized and has its pros and cons. However, cancel culture is a concrete example of how social media has increased awareness and given others a say in a previously one sided debate.
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