Cancel culture is a popularized contemporary trend of ostracism wherein one, typically with a prominent public platform or career, gets culturally blocked from or thrust out of their social and professional circles after substantial evidence of them surfaces saying something politically offensive, most likely against another community. Masses withdraw their support for public figures and companies. Afterwards, the ostracized ones are “cancelled” – either on social media, in the real world, or both.
When did Cancel Culture start trending?
Cancel culture operated mainly on social media platforms through orchestrating group shaming, but it gained new momentum with the rise of the #MeToo Movement, where counts of credible allegations of sexual violence surfaced against prominent public figures from Harvey Weinstein to R. Kelly. Interestingly, what is often overlooked in the discourse regarding it, is that cancel culture is not a new “trend.” Human society has persistently been moral policing and penalizing people who did not conform to the perceived social norms for centuries throughout human history.
English professor Jodie Nicotra says cancel culture has always been a part of community life and, in fact, a part of building and maintaining a community’s values. There have been public acts of shaming throughout the course of history, as early as the ritual of public head shavings of thousands of French women accused of consorting with German soldiers in World War II.
But since 2019, cancel culture has been criticized for being “cancelled” itself.
Is Cancel Culture Ruining Innocent Lives, or is it Virtually Ineffective?
The social psychologist John Drury shows that the discourse around crowds, collectives, and people power has historically been associated with negative connotations because it reveals internalized class biases and political ideologies of those involved. Communities and individuals refusing to conform to societal norms are often unfairly vilified.
Crowds are inherently scary. Critics highlight how sometimes people seem too aggressive and ruthless to ruin lives over mistakes made too long ago to affect the present and how the unforgiving social media is so quick that people don’t get a second chance at rehabilitation.
It can feel as if everyone is giving up on you before you’ve even had the chance to apologize.
Instead of creating a dialogue to help you understand how your actions hurt them, the ‘cancelers’ cut off all communication with you and shun you for all communities, essentially robbing you of the opportunity to learn and grow from your mistakes or insensitivities. In order to truly grow and become a better person, you need to be able to realize a mistake was made, fix that mistake, and take the proper steps to ensure you don’t make the same mistake again.
Drury, however, points out, the descriptive language typically used for the cancellers (irrational, “angry mobs” or “rioters” with uncontrolled emotions) systematically trivializes and delegitimizes the harms incurred by these collectives, if not presents it as counter-productive: “It’s true that people can band together for the wrong reasons, but, funnily enough, they can also band together for very good reasons. Canceling someone, in terms of public shaming, or shunning, or just being criticized, is nothing new; it is only different in how quickly and severely it can happen online.”
Cancel culture is, on the one hand, less severe because it is mostly linguistic and communicative. On the other hand, it can manifest as more extreme due to its geographical liberty, and a large number of people can end up “bullying” the accused in an unrelenting wash of personal attacks. Since social media is no longer constrained by closely linked social circles, cancel culture seems virulently uncontrollable. The social media mob police increasingly higher standards of political correctness where, after a point, they seem to exude virtue signaling and performatively woke- scrutinizing celebrities, companies, and media alike.
Why Cancel Culture is Chaotic Good
What cancel culture aims to accomplish from its core is to hold people accountable for their actions. However, cancel culture has lost chunks of momentum to the growing frustration stemming from the dearth of actual aftereffects for influential people. Cancelling creates a bridge where masses do not require the power to change structural inequality; instead, they can contribute to public sentiment and be part of a reformation larger than themselves. The orchestration for collective canceling of powerful entities for offending a community of people creates a sense of solidarity and reinforces the feeling of togetherness amongst them at a time of political division.
Very few cancelled celebrities may have had to endure a permanent career setback but witnessing the publish backlash and ensuing devaluation of their brand image sent many previously invincible brands into panic mode. For people stemming from lower-income and disenfranchised backgrounds, this is the first time cancel culture has empowered them to actually voice out what defines public discomfort.
Major Cancellations of the Decade:
Ellen DeGeneres
DeGeneres built her brand as the Queen of Kindness; every pore of her being seemed to radiate an aura of unparalleled niceness and warmth. In April of 2020, a Twitter thread went viral asking for stories about DeGeneres being “one of the meanest people alive,” which garnered more than 2,000 replies of people describing unpleasant experiences with Ellen. People claimed she is selectively nice to only people in her social circle who have substantial social capital. Her audience quickly saw through the façade of her personal branding and recognized her for being a complete hypocrite.
J.K. Rowling
The Harry Potter author has been repeatedly accused of transphobia on social media platforms and incorporating it into her ongoing projects. The subsequent personal essays she released defending her stance, as well as her comments comparing hormone replacement therapy to gay conversion therapy, came under fire from trans activists and allies.
Transgender model and activist Munroe Bergdorf tweeted: “J.K. Rowling is not a scientist or a doctor. She is not an expert on gender.” She said in her fiery speech, “She is a billionaire, cisgender, heterosexual, white woman who has decided she knows what is best for us and our bodies. This is not her fight.” She further added: “If you want to know what is best for trans people, listen to trans people.”
R. Kelly
The six-part Lifetime documentary, “Surviving R. Kelly,” brought together Kelly’s accusers in what described the artist’s life to be “riddled with rumors of abuse, predatory behavior, and pedophilia.”
Kelly is facing separate federal grand jury indictments that allege Kelly recruited women for sex, bought witnesses to conceal his sexual contact with teenage girls, and buried shreds of evidence like incriminating videotapes.
Michael Jackson
The two-part Michael Jackson documentary “Leaving Neverland” aired on HBO in March that reexamined claims that Jackson sexually abused two boys over a period of several years when they were children. Jackson, who died in 2009, had faced accusations of sexual misconduct with boys going as far back as 1993. He was charged in 2003 with seven counts of child molestation but was later acquitted.
Eminem
A TikTok clip surfaced condemning the rapper’s 2010 hit “Love the Way You Lie,” featuring Rihanna, for reportedly glorifying violence against women. It highlighted the verse, “If she ever tries to f–king leave again I’ma tie her to the bed and set this house on fire.”
Chris Pratt
American actor Chris Pratt, best known for appearing in the Marvel movies, has been ‘cancelled’ numerous times on Twitter over claims that he is allegedly ‘homophobic’ and attends an anti-LGBTQ+ church. He continues to be ostracised on social media.
#OscarsSoWhite
On the contrary, in 2016, many members of the film community, including Hollywood power couple Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith, boycotted the Oscars, expressing outrage over #OscarsSoWhite to address the racial inequalities within the Academy Awards. In 2019, the Oscars set a record for the most wins by black nominees ever.
When young adults collectively demonstrate canceling some of the most successful and most-beloved personalities for not doing their part in learning sociocultural awareness, it conveys the subtle but solid message that remains at the core of cancel culture:
‘I may have no power, but the power I (public) have is to ignore you.’
Virtual call-outs have spontaneously self-assembled communities by tapping into a power that members of a group individually may never have had before, all with the help of hashtags and trends. With the downfall of influential Hollywood producers, racist and sexist comedians, white supremacists, and corporations operating against the marginalized communities for time immemorial, cancel culture seems to have infiltrated the very fabric of our society.