Op-Ed By Jahwan
We see it everyday when we open twitter:
These types of comments are what is now colloquially referred to as, “Cancel Culture."
Cancel Culture
Whenever a celebrity, both the mainstream and internet personality alike, has a problematic past that is exposed, people begin to attack them online, leaving hate comments and waiting for the celebrity’s response to these allegations.
Once a celebrity has been “canceled”, their career will never be the same as they lose popularity and the loyalty of former fans. Sponsors may publicly distance themselves from these problematic creators in order to maintain their company’s image.
Often people are canceled for making racist, misogynistic, ableist, and homophobic jokes. Many fans may not take issue with these types of jokes as this brand of comedy has been normalized in our society. Celebrities who have had scandals like these usually have a much less severe impact on their careers.
The only scandal relatively certain to destroy someone’s career is sexual assault allegations, especially if it is a male who has the allegations against him. Sometimes if the accused has a big enough platform, their reputation will be hurt, but they will still continue to be an influencer and profit from their success. An example of this would be 6ix9ine (aka Tekashi 69). 6ix9ine has has pleaded guilty to multiple sexual assault allegations, one of which was raping a thirteen year old girl. Once he left jail, he picked up his career right where he left off and has made multiple top selling songs.
Over the years, many people have expressed their concerns with cancel culture. Some call it toxic, while others support it and jump at the chance to cancel others. The issue with this is that cancel culture has taken many forms on the internet, so it is difficult to distinguish which aspects of cancel culture are toxic.
Criticism vs. Cancel Culture
Often hate comments will be lumped into the same category as criticism. Many die hard fans will write off people who are critiquing problematic behavior as haters, which is unproductive and adds nothing to the discussion of legitimate, potentially damaging behaviors. Writing off all criticism as hate can lead to the original concerns becoming lost in actual hate comments, never getting the chance to be seen and understood by the creator.
People who are being canceled should be able to take criticism in order to grow from their mistakes. If the creator is writing everyone off as a “hater” and they are unwilling to listen, they obviously do not see what is wrong with their actions. An example of this is Gabbie Hanna, a YouTuber who is also pursuing a music career. Throughout her career she started to receive hate as well as messages from fans concerned about how she conducted herself both online and in her personal life, and instead of dealing with it like most influencers, she would rant and blame the internet, conflating all critics with haters. Following her lead, her fan base now denounces all criticism as hate, so there is rarely meaningful discourse surrounding her name and behavior.
Mob Mentality
Obviously not all people participating in cancel culture will be kind and give constructive criticism. A large portion of cancel culture is leaving rude comments and filling someone’s comments section with hate, which is the mob mentality aspect of cancel culture.
People want to feel they are a part of drama, and belittling someone in their comment section is a fun way for them to get a kick out of someone else’s misery. More often than not, the comments won’t be filled with a discussion or information, they will be filled with snake emojis or name-calling.
A big example of mob mentality was the “Bye Sister” scandal that involved several beauty gurus on YouTube. Tati Westbrooke uploaded a forty-five minute video on James Charles, which prompted three million people to unsubscribe from James and for Tati to gain almost four million subscribers. The “Bye Sister” video was riddled with sexual assault allegations, a message amplified by Jeffree Star who regularly tweeted out his support for Tati, even calling James Charles a, “danger to society”. When James uploaded a response video it was clear that many of the stories Tati detailed in her video were either taken out of context or just plain false. This mob mentality caused James to have severe anxiety and to contemplate suicide.
In the situation involving James Charles and Tati Westbrooke, there was no solid proof for these allegations. Although I believe that we should always believe victims, the mob mentality was counterproductive. In this case cancel culture didn’t do much besides instigate hate.
The mental health card
Although mental health is important and should be valued, mental health should never be a scapegoat for being insensitive.
Many YouTubers and fans use mental health as a way to suppress backlash, blaming anxiety or depression for their inappropriate behavior. A few days ago, there was a rumor that Shane Dawson was in the hospital after a suicide attempt shortly after many of his previous problematic videos began to resurface. This rumor has turned out to be false, but many of his fans ran with it. Mental health does not excuse anyone from receiving criticism. If someone has made a mistake in their past, they are not above receiving backlash because they suffer from a mental illness.
How do we move forward as a society?
Recently, serious videos showing Shane Dawson being incredibly racist, sexist, ableist, and a predator resurfaced. Many of his fans have discarded these as “just jokes” or “dark humor”. If these are just jokes, then where is the line that determines if something is no longer a joke? Jokes of such a serious manner should not be overlooked because as a society, when will we be able to tell who is actually a predator and who is not?
Although cancel culture may seem like such a trivial thing, this brings to light a bigger discussion in our society. If we let people get away with saying racist, misogynistic, and overall bigoted comments, then were does it end? We need to end these microaggressions against minorities while we can, so that in the end, we are protecting everyone as a society. At the end of the day we need to hold everyone accountable, equally.
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