Cancel culture is defined as attempting and trying to exclude and boycott an individual
for reasons such as the violation of social and societal norms. The concept of cancel culture
involves withdrawing or cancelling the support for an individual after doing or saying something
that is considered offensive and unpleasant to the general society (Sucharov and Mira, 175). The
cancellation strategy commonly utilizes social media to humiliate and embarrass the individuals
to exercise penalties of varying severe degrees. These penalties range from the limitation of the
individuals from accessing the various platforms of the public and ending their careers to set in
motion legal prosecutions. Cancel culture reflects an awareness in which people are unwilling to
accept the things that they were accepting or they have not been in a position to resist but in
some other ways it is a moral panic within the society.
The impact of cancel culture has been spreading more extensively in many of the
societies in the world with the demotion and firing of most public journalists and editors as well
as attacking many public intellectuals. The practice of cancel culture claims enough scalps
among various prominent and widely known celebrities in social media (Norris and Pippa.). An
excellent example of this is the leading comedians such as Luis C. K, significant politicians such
as Senator A. I Franken, widely known authors such as J. K. Rowling as well as corporate
executives and an example is Roger Ailes from the Fox News
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This strategy can also be used as a tool to achieve social justice among the individuals
who cannot get and access a public apology. An example is the MeToo buycotts directed in
opposition to the solid sexual predators who claimed to commit harassment and rape (Tsai, Wan-
Hsiu Sunny, et al). The Black Lives Matter movement has also been using public shaming to call
out racist textbooks' authors, mortal cases related to police violence on the black people, racial
typecast that was utilized in selling of consumer products and the lack of diversity in
Universities.
In the case of hastily changing principle and ethical standards as well as the increasing
cultural sensitivities within and around various social identities, it can be said that the most
influential people in the society and public at large are supposed to adopt the current time
changes to avoid the occurrence of unnecessary offence. In addition to this, they should hold
accountable for every part of their actions and words. As far as this perspective is concerned,
public shaming has a legal role by condemning offensive languages such as racial slurs and
fighting abuse of power.
Many people usually spend most of their time exchanging, sharing and obtaining many
types of information with their friends, colleagues, and family members. The fact that many
people are connected to the internet allows and gives them the chance to express themselves
through various social media platforms. These social media platforms have promoted the
creation of a cancel culture that is majorly used in exposing individuals' actions and behaviors
that carry feelings and opinions that are not appropriate according to the public's perspective.
Cancel culture has been proved to be an effective method in identifying the actions that
individuals take in rectifying and correcting mistakes. The various social justice movements such
as the Black Lives Matter cancel culture have been utilized to abolish all the racist statues,
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renaming all the buildings renamed after major white supremacists and addressing racist issues
to the significant public figures.
Cancel culture at some point prevents the sharing of information and ideas among the
citizens. This is because of the fear that one may be cancelled, thus preventing the individuals of
the general society from expressing the major issues that are key to social and personal growth
and improvement (Bouvier and Gwen). Sharing of these ideas gives the citizens the chance to
discuss and analyze the many issues they need to major on in ensuring a better and conducive
society where all the individuals have the right to express their feelings and views.
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Work Cited
Bouvier, Gwen. "Racist call-outs and cancel culture on Twitter: The limitations of the platform's
ability to define issues of social justice." Discourse, Context & Media 38 (2020): 100431.
Norris, Pippa. "Closed Minds? Is a 'Cancel Culture'Stifling Academic Freedom and Intellectual
Debate in Political Science?." (2020).
Sucharov, Mira. "Cancel Culture." Borders and Belonging: A Memoir. Palgrave Macmillan,
Cham, 2021. 171-177.
Tsai, Wan-Hsiu Sunny, et al. "Echo chambers and social mediators in public advocacy issue
networks." Public Relations Review 46.1 (2020): 101882.