In an era where a singular misstep can trigger a wave of public outrage, cancel culture has shifted from a way to hold people accountable to a modern-day witch hunt. While yes, I do believe it’s important to call people out for their mistakes, I also think that social media has made the act of doing so incredibly toxic.
The rapid spread of outrage on social media barely gives those being “canceled” a chance to defend themselves. Once people get wind of someone making a mistake, they quickly jump at the opportunity to spread hate.
In many instances, people are “canceled” over an out-of-context quote, a short video clip, or a singular tweet. The mob mentality and rush to judge someone for their past actions, consume the people on these platforms. This need to immediately dismiss whatever explanation there is for the cancelable action makes it nearly impossible for someone to explain themselves or get their side of the story across.
Tana Mongeau, a popular YouTuber has been a victim of the chronically online assaults numerous times. The reasons vary from problematic remarks to promoting Tanacon (her meet and greet which turned ugly quickly) and a multitude of online scandals. Her frequent involvement in online drama – such as calling people out for things similar on her podcast called “Cancelled” – has led to her decline in credibility.
I think if cancel culture did what it truly is “supposed to do” – which is hold people accountable and educate them on what is and is not acceptable – it would not be such a bad thing. However, that isn’t what it is anymore. It has turned into an excuse for people to band together and find anything and everything they possibly can on somebody in their entire life. These people are finding joy in exploiting and putting people on blast.
Another issue with cancel culture is that it is extremely hypocritical. It doesn’t account for the fact that society has changed over the years. Something unacceptable now would have been completely normalized less than 10 years ago. People are so desperate to cancel people that they ignore societal norms from when it happened.
To me, the self-righteousness is absurd. We have all made mistakes in life, the only difference is that our lives are not put out there for everyone to criticize. I could only imagine the fear that comes with thousands of people watching my every move and waiting for me to slip up so they’d have the chance to ruin my life.
And yes, sometimes people make unforgivable mistakes, as I’ve mentioned. These individuals should undoubtedly be held accountable and apologize to those they have offended. As society progresses, we must acknowledge that it hasn’t always been this way. It’s important to recognize that people can grow and change. It’s unreasonable to exile someone whenever their opinion doesn’t align with what we believe to be correct.
