Canceling Cancel Culture
Image Courtesy: The Student Life
While we all know that one specific YouTuber or TikToker or social media influencer needs their platform taken away, what's the actual use in cancel culture? Our generation's favorite online toxic trend is getting out of hand, and the phenomenon of canceling people is so last year.
With celebrity scandals running rampant, the last thing we should spend our time on this year is worrying about what everyone else is doing, thinking, and whether their actions are cancelable. Don't get me wrong, some people are objectively terrible and do not deserve a platform for the content they create (no, I'm not naming names). The act of mass hatred and the promotion of the "cancellation" is going too far! If anything, we have to remember that these are the same people who make a living on social media platforms, and canceling them because of their inappropriate and offensive remarks or ideologies is relatively just as evil. Cancel culture makes it easy to be so invested in influencers' problems that we forget about our own.
Image Courtesy: MindMate
The problem with cancel culture is not that it doesn't aim to do the right thing or that it is taking away bad people's platforms. The problem is that it silences any contradictory opinion that may also be completely valid. Trust me, I've seen all of the YouTube apology videos, and they're not pretty, but how are these influencers supposed to act rationally when their platform and their sources of income are in our generation’s hands? The only thing that these public figures can do is apologize for their wrongdoing. While cancel culture is all about taking accountability, the only authentic way to get justice from it is for there to be real consequences for one’s actions. Instead of being canceled, own up to your actions and make them right.
Image Courtesy: Pew
The truth is, we all come from different backgrounds, and social media should provide a space for positive discourse, so we can learn from one another. How will canceled influencers ever learn from and correct their misdoings if our first reaction is to strip them of their platforms? We cannot positively learn from each other if we are not listening to each other. How will we ever change if the change is not promoted or encouraged? Instead of taking away an influencer's platform, allow them to grow and learn from their mistakes publicly so others may learn from their experiences! And at the bare minimum, let those apology videos teach others how to and how not to apologize.
Image Courtesy: Strike FSU
This year is all about learning how to set boundaries, growing into the best version of yourself, and forgiving others, so who are we to stop that from happening? If you take anything from my words, let it be that we should learn to cancel “cancel culture.”
Strike Out,
Writer: Natalie DelleDonne
Editor: Roxy Rico
Graphic Designer: Lauren Wakeman
Tallahassee