Cancel Culture: The Modern-day Abuse of Social Power

“We no longer seek truth or both sides of a story. Whichever side is loudest, wins… regardless of its relationship to the truth”

Good morning, my name is Savannah Tomlinson. Thank you for the opportunity to speak about the worldwide concern and devastation effects of cancel culture at the 2022 gold coast youth leaders’ summit. The purpose of cancel culture ends the influence people, brands, or media have due to wither their offensive or problematic actions and ideologies. Cancel culture is dangerous. The internet phenomenon is disguised as a way to hold people accountable for their actions, however, the new craze is routed in harassment and bulling. Popularising the phycological phenomenon of the mob mentality cancel culture has devastating outcomes. Although some may say cancel culture helps to fight racist, sexist, and bigoted behaviour on the internet, cancel culture creates and spreads misinformation daily. The internet can bring fame to anyone, but also take it away. This modern-day witch hunt is a threat to all, brands, communities, and individuals.

The mob mentality is a very prominent feature of cancel culture. The mob mentality is defined as “The phycological process describing how people can be influenced by their peers to adopt certain behaviours on a largely emotional, rather than rational, basis” (brtanica,2021). The internet has become the heart of the idea that everyone should house the same ideologies, beliefs, and opinions. Today the mob mentality has evolved into blindly believing others without any form for proof. Although people do need to be held accountable for past actions in order to learn and grow, cancel culture is made for situation where the persons actions are so immoral that they denied the opportunity to change. The growth of social media has led to a blurred line between celebrity and average person, as influencers are able to quickly gain a fanbase though platforms like Instagram and TikTok. However, it is just as easy to be cancelled as it is to become famous. In late 2019 James Charles a popular youtuber with over 20 million subscribers got into a scandal when fellow YouTube and friend Tati Westbrook accused him of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour. With the popularity of both youtubers the videos views skyrocketed earning 48 million videos in under a month. In the span of 4 days James lost over 2 and a half million subscribers and received countless hate comments and death threats. Later the claims were proven to be false and although James followers started to rise to this day James has not yet again reached 20million subscribers. Millions of people believed the accusations with no proof and unsubscribed simply because everybody else was. The mob mentality is a phycological tactic visible in society dating back to B.C era. So when will we ever learn from our mistakes. In 1692 the people of Salem grouped together to accusing people around the village of witchcraft, the accusations coming about as the result of a combination of church politics, family feuds, and hysterical children. On the bases of no proof hundreds of people were accused of witchcraft and left with the choice to falsely confess and become a social outcast or deny and be hung. The Salem witch trials were built on lies, for the purpose of destroying lives, and so too is cancel culture, both promoted through mob mentality.

Just like the original witch trials cancel culture thrives on misinformation. The goal of cancel culture is to effectively end the career or revoke their cultural influence, whether through boycotts of their work or disciplinary action from an employer. While it’s amazing that people today care about the beliefs and attitudes of people they choose to support, when misinformation is spread it can have undeserved detrimental effects on people’s lives and wellbeing. Because sometimes the best way to get famous is to get cancelled. Actor Millie bobby brown was a victim of fake accusations of homophobia. In 2017 a twitter troll account posted a series of badly edited pictures of Millie with racist and homophobic captions. Although, all photos were quickly proved fake, the pictures became a running joke spreading across all social media platforms ending with the 14-year-old leaving social media all together due to the tremendous amount of hate. The spread of misinformation took a toll on the teens mental health talking in interviews about how the situation led the teen to suicidal thoughts. Even though the photos were proved false, they were still able to gain attention from millions of people. The account that made the false claims quickly gaining thousands of followers over the incident. A direct parallel to 1692. Abigale Williams, as an orphan and an unmarried girl; she is low on the Puritan social hierarchy. Through her cunning use of lies and deception Abigale was able to gain power and ultimately possess the ability to punish anyone she pleased. Abigale’s abuse of power though these fake accusations lead to the death of over 20 people in Salem including the man she claimed to love. Fake accusations and the spread of misinformation have the power to end lives.

Overall, cancel culture is the ultimate modern-day abuse of power. The internet gives people the ability to voice opinions they would never have the courage to say in person. Hiding behind a keyboard, their anonymity boosts their egos, completely voided of any accountability or consequences. Cancel culture spreads misinformation daily as a breeding ground for bulling and harassment. Social media enforces the mob mentality upon all users creating a sense of formality. The abuse of power seen in cancel culture is detrimental to society no matter how much some may say it fights hate against minorities. Cancel culture needs to end. Everyone deserves the right to grow and change. To learn for mistakes. To become a better person. This modern-day witch hunt must end because much like Salem, the internet never forgets.