Two words that every influencer fears: you’re cancelled. Those two words can destroy someone’s entire career in seconds and rip apart their reputation. But why are those words so impactful and what do they actually mean? 

What is Cancel Culture? 

Cancel culture is the public shaming of someone for doing something that is not culturally acceptable. Contrary to popular opinion, cancel culture is not a recent creation; it has been around forever. It dates back to the 17th century when peasants who were caught for crimes were put in stocks. We saw it throughout history with the French Revolution, The Salem Witch Trials and the blacklisting of big celebrities during the Red Scare. As the internet came to be we saw it become more and more normalized. How did this thing that we learned about for ages in history class become so popular in modern culture?

Cancel Culture In Modern Times

One big movement that we saw recently that dealt with cancel culture was the Me Too movement. The Me Too movement was dedicated to women coming out about their experiences with sexual assault and many celebrities got their platforms completely taken away because of it. Celebrities are influential to the young people of America, so it’s vital that we take platforms away from dangerous people. However, many people start to take this too far and attack those with differing opinions over dangerous actions. 

The Internet and Cancel Culture

We have one big thing that no one has ever had before, documentation of pretty much everything that anyone has done. Everyone is constantly being observed and thrown into the public eye. YouTube and Tiktok brought us many young stars who are constantly being observed. Instead of taking away the platform of dangerous people, stars will use cancel culture to try to take down their rivals saying things like “they were rude to servers” or “they aren’t grateful of all they had,” which takes the eyes off of the dangerous people who really do need their platforms taken away. 

Social media is even dangerous in normal teens lives. Mistakes are no longer something we can make; if you say the wrong thing or send the wrong person the wrong thing and it gets posted, you could be expelled from school and/or lose friends and your reputation. Everyone has to watch what they do constantly. 

Why Is This Toxic? 

Obviously dangerous celebrities should not have a platform, but if we cancel people for no reason then when are we going to know when someone is really worthy of respect or not? Now people are cancelling cartoons and shows, but if we continue to just cancel these things nothing will get done. The Salem Witch Trials didn’t stop witchcraft, and blacklisting didn’t stop communism. It ruined the lives of innocent people, and why should this be any different? 

We should go in and stop these issues instead of cancelling things that have elements of issues. Nothing is getting solved with cancelling people; it’s just the public appealing to issues without doing any actual work. We have to dig deep and stop these problems, and yes take away the platforms of dangerous influencers, but stop cancelling people for no reason. 

Don’t abuse the power that the internet gives us, but spread awareness instead of hate.