Cancel culture seems to have been around for a while now. Cancelling someone, or cancel culture, is essentially boycotting a person or brand that has said or done something questionable or controversial. You may also hear the phrase to “callout” a person for the same reasons.
Does It Work?
Generally I think that cancel culture should be cancelled. Does it ever truly work and what does it achieve? I believe it encourages people to make snap judgments. This in turn makes them more intolerant to someone who has a differing opinion. We need to be able to have free conversations that can lead to change. Cancelling someone removes the opportunity for constructive discussion. The person being called out doesn’t always get the chance to explain themselves.
I think there will always be some kind of exception. R.Kelly is an example of this. I am reluctant to name any names in this post but I think pretty much everyone is aware of his story. If you don’t know then I suggest watching Surviving R.Kelly on Netflix. There was a campaign to #MuteRKelly both legally and commercially. It resulted in some radio stations refusing to play his music, and a concert appearance was also cancelled. It aims to end his career and it appears to be working.
Should Cancel Culture Be Cancelled?
We should all be able to make mistakes (within reason) without fear of being hounded for them. I think a genuine apology goes a long way. It takes a lot for someone to publicly hold their hands up and admit they said or did something wrong. No one knows everything, we are all learning as we go along. Just watch a Youtuber’s video where they express an opinion and then frantically try to justify themselves. No one should have to do that when making an everyday statement.
I don’t really want to start naming YouTuber’s but I follow someone who made a mistake when shooting a campaign that lead people to call her out for cultural appropriation, due to the hairstyle she chose. She had no idea when she came up with the idea for her shoot but immediately pulled the campaign, re-shot it, apologised to her community and went away and educated herself. Obviously I imagine this was very upsetting for her but she went about things the right way in resolving the situation. No one is perfect and mistakes will be made along the way.
I think there is also a right way of drawing someone’s attention to an error they may have made and that is not by trying to take them down on social media. If you feel like someone has made a mistake then politely and privately contact them. Kindly draw their attention to the issue and encourage conversation.
Again, I do think there is always going to be an exception. There are the odd one or two people I have come across on YouTube who fit in here. They have made terrible mistake after terrible mistake. These are not minor issues either. I’m talking repeated racism, sexualising minors, bullying etc. These Youtuber’s either refuse to acknowledge the issues surrounding them or they make disingenuous apologies and I refuse to support them.
I’d love to know your views on cancel culture. Do you think it should be cancelled?
Yup cancel culture should be cancelled and I totally agree with your post! BTW you looks lovely here 🙂
Lisa | lisaautumn.com
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Thank you!
I am not a fan of cancel culture! It totally sucks should be cancelled especially this year more than ever where people are so quick to judge! Great post and thanks for sharing 🙂 Patrick – pattyfindsdeals.com
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I think this year – more so than any other – should really teach us to be kind.
I think the cancelled culture should be cancelled. While I think everyone makes mistakes, some people would rather make excuses than change. Great post!
Ngozi – https://elevatedmum.com
I hate cancel culture! It’s so negative and doesn’t achieve anything. Great post xo
People are definitely too quick to judge I agree. I think we live in a world of quick, snap decisions and sometimes we can create an opinion on someone far too quick without knowing the full story!
What does it really achieve? Everyone make mistakes from time to time! lets give people the chance to explain and learn from mistakes without causing anymore upset!!
Agree with you and the comments above. We need to look more deeply into the facts of a story at times.
Cancel culture should definitely be a thing of the past. End negativity and increase good communication with each other!
I agree, it just encourages people to jump on the bandwagon and become judgy!
Yes, definitely cancel it. Too much judgement as it is everywhere these days.
People are too quick to judge without knowing the full story these days
Cancel culture seems lot like bullying to me. What happened to ‘be kind’?
I agree, cancel culture is toxic and like you said, everyone makes mistakes and we should give people a second chance providing that they learn from their actions (within reason). There is no need to bring other people down.
I hate cancel culture! It’s so toxic and is prevents people from growing and learning for their mistakes. People are getting cancelled over something kinda small but there are others who have done some horrible things, walking about unaffected by the harm they cased (looking at you Louis CK!)
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While I don’t agree with cancel culture I don’t understand how some people remain untouchable!
100% yes! Totally agree with you here hun 👏🏻💜
I hadn’t even heard of this term before now. It’s difficult because people should be allowed to make mistakes and grow from them, but, I don’t see any issue with calling out large brands who’ve done something shocking etc.
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I do think big brands that have multiple specialist departments should know better and if they do something terrible they should be called out.
Yes, it absolutely should be cancelled!