Ahhhhhhh, cancel culture. A noble act of removing anyone who says anything remotely problematic. James Charles says that he likes to date straight guys? Canceled. Kylie Jenner wears box braids, yet claims she invented a new style called “shoelace twists”? Canceled. But do we really cancel these people? Do we actually stick to our word and stop supporting influencers who are known for their sexist, racist and homophobic tendencies? The short answer to this question is no
We don’t.
Why don’t we, you ask? Because in society, we love calling out each other’s mistakes and transgressions, yet we can never hold ourselves accountable for our own actions. “I did something wrong but let me showcase the horrible things this person has done to try to deflect the things that I’ve done.”
Make it make sense.
Cancel culture became prevalent in 2012, When Cisco Rosado, A reality star on Love and Hip Hop: New York: told his girlfriend at the time that she was “Canceled”. Shortly after the episode aired, the phrase “You’re Canceled” started to appear all over social media. It became a worldwide phenomenon to cancel a Celebrity, Influencer, or Artist who had opinions that were considered “unpopular” in the mainstream media. The message was simple. Stop supporting people who don’t support you. Don’t waste your money and energy on someone who is disrespectful to their general audience– the people who gave them a platform and voice. It’s upsetting when you find out that your favorite singer, dancer, actor, or actress isn’t what you made them out to be. I get it, I understand that.
Here is the problem.
In real life, you can’t cancel someone just because they’ve made a mistake. If that’s the case, you and I both would’ve been canceled a longgg time ago. You have to talk and communicate your feelings in a healthy way, creating a mature dialogue between you and that individual. Once that is established, it’s on them whether or not they want to have the same mindset that they did before your encounter. It’s on them whether or not they want to change. Canceling someone without letting them learn from their mistakes will create a mean, bitter, spiteful person who won’t change their behavior. They will believe that the world is against them over something that they didn’t mean to do, making them resentful towards the demographic that they offended. Cancel culture is just as problematic as the person who is being canceled. It hinders growth. It causes us to lack communication skills and It causes anger, bitterness and hatred– something that we have too much of in this world.
Before you decide to cancel someone, Always remember that everyone comes from different backgrounds and lifestyles– some different than your own, which doesn’t excuse terrible behavior by any means, but only shows you that some people are so use to the dark, that they’ve never tried to look up and see the light. Learn to be more compassionate. More understanding. More kind. If not for their sake then…
For yours.
Hi Dejah!! I absolutely love your blog. It’s super insightful, and I completely agree. Many people say they are going to cancel someone and they end up not following through on that. This happened especially with James Charles. He is still famous and supported by so many people. They didn’t stop buying his products. It doesn’t seem fair. When you say something you should stick to your word. But that’s how everyone is. People nowadays are so flaky it’s so difficult to get anyone to stick to their word. I feel like now it seems oldfashioned to say something you are actually going to follow through on. When someone asks another person to hang out and that person replies with “I’ll see!” that’s just code for “I’m not going, but I’ll just tell you that later.” It’s hard to find someone that will actually commit to something and then make sure it’s seen through. I think we definitely need to work on this as a society.