Cancel Culture as Online Epidemic: Its Causes and Effects

Cancel culture has exploded on social media platforms over the last several years, according to Urban Dictionary it is “A desire to cancel out a person or community from their social media platforms”. It is prevalent among the masses and is often used on those whose opinions are in the minority, and those whose actions have not been given proper justice so they make their own civil justice. Cancel culture can have massive effects on people and social movements but are they beneficial to said persons or movements in society or does it just create a target for anger and frustration at said people and groups.

Background Information

Cancel Culture was first described in the 1991 film New Jack City, the line in which the question was spoken by main character Nino Brown. His girlfriend breaks down due to his gang activities and He breaks up with her “Cancel that B**** I’ll buy another one” written by Barry Mitchelle Cooper. Unlike the modern use of cancel culture this tends to be more of a misogynistic use of power. Nino being an influential gang member could use his influence to spread lies about her tarnishing her reputation among the community. Moving into the 21st century we have notable cases involving Justine Sacco, and Lidnsey stone both relatively small women were trying to make comedic remarks on an issue but it resulted in a viral sensation but all in the wrong ways. Justine Sacco was a 30 yr old senior director of corporate communications at the IAC however on December 20th she tweeted “Going to Africa hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding I’m white” as a joke on white a stereotypical white man or woman might think or say. At the time she had 170 twitter followers and was boarding an 11 hour flight to South Africa. While she was on the plane her tweet went viral to the 1 trending hashtag on twitter. The immediate effect on this was that many people were very upset at her white privilege and ignorance. She was called out by people from all walks of life saying that she was all kinds of things from a racist to a physcopath. It also turned into a source of entertainment for twitter users desperately awaiting for Sacco’s plane to land with #HasJustineLandedYet. It went as far as someone going to the airport just to take pictures of her to say that she had landed. After she became aware of her situation her friend Hannah deleted her twitter account but it was all too late she was immortalized on the internet. Justine Sacco lost her job along with all her credibility, and her reputation was destroyed. Another example is Lindsey Stone, she was a 31 year old who was helping caring for autistic children when a photograph taken weeks earlier of her mouthing yells, and flipping the bird at a cemetery sign that said silence and respect went viral. It was originally posted along a thread where they broke similar rules such as smoking in front of a no smoking sign. At its original published date it wasn’t received well but they just decided to keep it up “Do you think we should take it down” said Jamue “No What's the big deal No one is going to think of it again”. While the trio were at a restaurant celebrating a birthday their phones began to vibrate vigorously and to all their surprise it was about the post in the cemetery. Their were a lot more negative comments ranging from people wanting her to be fired from her job, and that she should be sent tojail along with death and rape threats. This sudden outburst of hateful remarks against stone led to her barely leaving her home in Massachusetts along with suffering from depression, PTSD, and Insomnia. In retrospect did Justine and Lidnsey deserve what they received for their attempts at comedy? Both these women were relative nobodies before becoming viral. We as viewers didn’t know the context so should we immediately jump to conclusions and make rash decisions? Or should’ve we allowed them to explain themselves before we as individuals respond? Were the actions we took as citizens in order to achieve some sort of justice necessary or did we go too far? Judging by the threats and other language used Lidnsey and Justine did make bad judgement calls on how their joke should've been received but they did not deserve the amount of hate over the internet. When someone makes a mistake we should not hastily put them to shame.

Current Situation

In Modern times Cancel Culture has remained true to prior instances but has also inspired many movements to form that use Cancel Culture as a way to enact change such as the Black Lives Movement and the #Metoo Movement. The Black Lives Matter movement was started after the death of 17 year old Trayvon Martin at the hands of Geroge Zimmerman on Feb 26th 2012. In 2013 when George was acquitted of his crimes Patrisse Cullors started #BlackLivesMatter which gained major traction which led to her starting the BlackLivesMatter website. In the last year the deaths of George Floyd, Breyona Taylor, and injuries of Jacobe Blake in Minneapolis Minnesota, and Louisville Kentucky, and Kenosha Wisconsin at the hands of police officers have jump started protests across the globe against police brutality. Most abundantly in the U.S where both people were killed but there have been protests in the U.K, Nigeria, and as far South Korea in smaller scales. While there have been peaceful protests there also been some protests that have gone violent. These protests that have gone violent participated in looting, arson, assault, killings and the destruction of property. In the U.K protesters have torn down 17th century slave trader Edward Colston and threw it into the Avon river. U.S cities such as Kenosha Washington, and Brooklyn New York have had many of its local stories damaged, along with the destruction of police cruisers. Even through all of this protesting peacefully and violently we have seen ramifications such as Louiville getting rid of its no knock warrants. While also having the police officers in these situations acquitted by all charges or being bailed out by a bailing foundation that supports police officers such as Breyona's killer Bret hankison even though he has killed someone.

The #Metoo movement founded in 2006 by founder Tannah Burke who is a survivior of sexual assault and is an women’s rights activist. It started off as a website that allowed people to get resources to help them if they were also abused/assaulted. The Movement also sought to build a strong community that would allow these incidendences to be stopped before they had started. In 2017 the hashtag metoo went viral over the internet for six months. The effect of it going viral was that many people from all walks of life were using the speaking out against predators that previously had allowed it to remain without repercussion which allowed for some sort of justice to play out whether it was social justice or justice via our judicial system. Particularly men in power were called out for conducting nefarious conduct along with sexual assault alegations. Throughout 2017, 425 men in power were accused, juggernauts like Harvey Weinstin, Bill Cosby, and Nxivm cult leader Keith Raniere fell due to massive amounts of allegations against them. Bill Cosby was convicted of 3 counts of aggravated assault for drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004 and began 3 consecutive 3-10 year sentences in 2018. Keith Raniere was charged with sex trafficking, forced labor, the possesion of child pornography, conspiracy, sexual eploitation of a child, and racketering and began his 120 year sentence in 2018. Harvey weinstein the most notable of them all had has been charged with two counts of sexual assault which led to him being sentenced to 23 years in prision on March 12th 2020. There are still 13 cases which have not been fully investigated but by the conviction of the first two the others will probably follow the same suit. With the influx of accusations against men their were also some allegations that were eventually deemed false by the court but with the conviction of Weinstein someone who has been sexually assaulting, and committing sexual conduct for over 30 years proves that this movement can and will provide social and Judicial justice to someone who supposedly can avoid justice by the means of wealth and class.

Causes of the Cancel Culture

With the Internet there comes a disconnect between what is said and what is meant, and what is okay and what is to far. Each person has their own opinion on matters which is bound to cause conflict. This conflict most often ends with a cancellation of the peron who caused the controversy via a group of antithesis, or just the masses. Cancelling covers a large plethora of topics raging from white supremacy to religious ideas and those who disagree with LGTBQ+ rights . The thing that they all have in common is that some people believe something is a fact when it is an opinion. None of these claims are justified by scientists and they are all baseless claims from those who do not like the idea of being in the minority or that their opinion is the right opinion. Negligence is also a big player contributing to one being cancelled. Sometimes someone's cancelling is due to something they've done that went viral such as Justine Sacco, and Lidnsey Stone who’s messages context where lost with the millions of shares. Politics also have a role in cancel culture since most of these issues are somewhat have roots in politics. Celebrity Supporters of Donald Trump have faced mass criticism from more Democratic viewers along with Biden supporters getting criticism from Republicans viewers. Both political parties use Cancel Culture whether they say they don’t but certain figures do not agree with its use such as Former President Barrack Obama and President Donald Trump. 

I do get a sense sometimes now among certain young people, and this is accelerated by social media, there is this sense sometimes of: The way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people, he said, and that’s enough.Like, if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb,” he said, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself, cause, Man, you see how woke I was, I called you out.’Then he pretended to sit back and press the remote to turn on a television.That’s not activism. That’s not bringing about change, he said. If all you’re doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get that far. That’s easy to do.

Barrack Obama makes very valid points in his argument. The matter of the fact is that we are not perfect and all make mistakes. This calling out doesn’t necessarily mean anything more than that you said. Taking action is how change is made. He gained praise from Republicans and Democrats alike which just shows how effective his response was to the issue.

On July 4th 2020 Donald Trump made his remarks on cancel culture in his July 4th celebration at Mount Rushmore. “One of their political weapons is cancel culture, driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters and and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees. This is the very definition of totalitarianism, and it is completely alien to our culture and to our values, and it has absolutely no place in the United States of America”, Trump said. “In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished”. Unlike Former President Barrack Obama Donald Trump portrays cancel culture as a political weapon by the left. While Cancel Culture can be used as a political weapon it is not exclusive to the left. While Trump denies that the Republicans uses it they do just as much as the Democrats. While Trumps describes Cancel Culture as totalitarianism that is not true. While Cancel Culture can affect one’s ability to find a job if it is a high profile case it doesn’t drive forward the narrative of one way viewing of things it wants to in some cases create a discussion, while others want to voice their own opinion against yours. As for society leaning to a new far-left facism because of this culture is highly unlikely. Trump is taking the extremists principles and applying them to a culture that is not in the complete majority.

Conclusion

Cancelling also has a massive affect on one’s career. With Cancelling essentially being a boycott a person or group other opportunities might disappear because of this negative reception to what was said. Jobs that might have been previously available might not be off the table. The Rise of social media platforms such as twitter, instagram, and facebook brought people from all over the world together. With this much people interconnected through these sites one can speak and interact with people that they've never seen before. While this accessibility has allowed for a lot of good things to come out of it such as raising awareness about issues that previously wouldn't have had such a reach like the #Metoo movement or the Black Lives Matter Movement. It has also amplified the exact opposite such as hate speech by various supremacist groups, and misinformation.