Cancel Culture Has Taken Over Our Country
Here’s how it happened
Cancel culture has come to dominate modern American life. Before it, there was no problem with differing opinions and ways of thinking, but now everything’s up to interpretation and in-fighting — people have become too sensitive, too triggered to make it work anymore.
It’s time we take a closer look at where cancel culture came from, what exactly it entails, and why it has become so prominent in the first place. Here’s how cancel culture took over the country.
The spread of cancel culture through social media
Social media has played a big role in the spread of cancel culture. With platforms like Twitter and Facebook, people can share their opinions with a wider audience more easily than ever before. And when someone is canceled, it can be difficult for them to recover from the online shaming. That’s why it’s important to think twice before you hit the post button.
The problem with canceling celebrities
In the age of social media, it’s easier than ever to cancel someone. All it takes is one person to start a petition and soon enough, everyone is chiming in with their two cents.
The problem with this cancel culture is that it’s often based on false information or half-truths. And once someone is canceled, it’s hard for them to come back from that.
Canceling someone (usually a celebrity or another well-known figure) means ceasing to support that person. Cancelling could imply boycotting an actor’s films or ceasing to read or promote a writer’s works.
The reason for cancellation can vary, but it is usually due to the person in question having expressed an objectionable opinion or acting in an unacceptable manner so that continuing to patronize that person’s work leaves a bad taste.
Why cancel culture matters
Cancel culture is the act of withdrawing support for (canceling) a public figure or institution, especially when they have done something that is perceived to be morally wrong. Cancel culture has been around for centuries, but it has become more prevalent in recent years with the rise of social media.
While cancel culture can be used as a way to hold people and institutions accountable for their actions, it can also be used to silence dissent and stifle free speech. Cancel culture can have a chilling effect on society, making people less likely to speak out against injustice for fear of being canceled themselves.
Many people argue that cancel culture has advantages, such as giving less powerful people a voice, assisting marginalized people in holding others accountable when the justice system fails, and canceling is a tool for social change.
Cancel culture serves as a form of community surveillance. It seeks moral impurity, a slipping of a mask, and reacts with condemnation. The culture keeps people in line with current doctrine.
It is a decentralized yet authoritarian control mechanism. While legitimate harm has been done in some or many cases, this is not always the case.
How it all began
The concept of canceling began as a tool for marginalized communities to assert their values against public figures who retained power and authority even after wrongdoing — but in its current form, we see how warped and imbalanced the conversation’s power dynamics truly are.
Throughout, the debate over cancel culture has obscured its roots in a quest for meaningful accountability for public figures who are typically answerable to no one.
But, after centuries of ideological debate over issues such as free speech, censorship, and, more recently, “political correctness,” it was perhaps unavoidable that the mainstreaming of cancel culture would obscure the original concerns that canceling was meant to address. It’s now another exaggerated phase of the larger culture war.
The central issue of cancel culture, accountability, remains as important as ever. However, the cancel culture debate has increasingly become about how we communicate within a binary, right versus wrong framework. And the central question is not whether we can hold each other accountable, but whether we can ever forgive.
My personal experiences with cancel culture
I’ve experienced cancel culture firsthand, and it’s not pretty. I’ve had friends and family members who have been canceled for their views, and it’s absolutely devastating. I think the rise of cancel culture can be attributed to the fact that we’re living in an increasingly polarized world where people are quick to judge and condemn those who don’t share their views.
We’re also living in a time where social media gives everyone a platform to voice their opinion, which can often lead to a mob mentality. Cancel culture is dangerous and destructive, and I hope we can find a way to move past it.
This is the end of today’s post. My readers can sign up for a membership through the following link to get full access to every story I write and I will receive a portion of your membership fee.
Sign-up link: https://midwestblogging66.medium.com/membership
Thank you so much for your continuous support. See you in the next story. Happy learning to everyone!
