Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
Rapidly manifesting into a society that’s transitioning toward becoming socially acceptable, punctuality seems to be key. The space that was once left for mistakes has no room for growth and is now being taken up by the social media phenomenon, “cancel culture”.
Waging over the course of a decade, social media has been the primary platform to express one’s thoughts, feelings and emotions with, of course, the causal input of others. With that being said, social media has furthered the expectation of being socially aware, so much so in all aspects of life, ranging from politics to racial injustices.
Stemming from political correctness, “cancel culture” is disavowing someone’s expression within politics or otherwise, when it’s deemed problematic, unacceptable or is no longer tolerable, is immediately labeled as “canceled” from the public. Though the phenomenon is rampant among social media, in reality, it plays a major role in affecting the ordinary lives of people.
This past summer, rap mogul Kanye West voiced his thoughts on President Donald Trump at TMZ headquarters, “I just love Trump! That's my boy! You know like, so many rappers, you'll look at a video of Snoop Dogg loving Trump, but then he gets into office and now they don't love him. Trump is one of rap's favorite people, right?”
This, however, did not sit well with his followers nor the general public, therefore, West was "canceled".
Yet, West is nowhere near unfamiliar with the concept of cancellation as he’s been “canceled” before.
Within in the last year, the rap mogul went on the air to imply that slavery was a choice: "When you hear about slavery for 400 years ... For 400 years? That sounds like a choice." Unfortunately, with cancellation brings publicity, which West seems to thrive off.
However, “cancel culture” is heavily driven by the resurfacing of old tweets, which West, fortunately, had the luxury of not experiencing. Yet, Latina Contemporary R&B artist, Sabrina Claudio did. This past April, Claudio’s 2014 tweets resurfaced displaying that she frequently used the n-word. Furthermore, the exposure of her racially insensitive tweets caused her backlash and an immediate cancellation.
Now, I'm not telling you to advocate nor condemn these people's actions, but instead realize their efforts to express a viewpoint that may not align with yours does not call for a dismissive response.
Despite these “canceled” acts, the lingering question remains: where’s the room to educate, inform and notify one’s of their actions, rather than to completely isolate them with lack of space to grow and ultimately learn from their wrongdoings? The intent to destroy a career or to genuinely inform the public about one’s controversial tweet, Instagram post or Facebook post, is structured in a way that undermines the initial purpose.
Though “cancel culture” works as a mechanism that distributes accountability as the intended outcome, it’s rooted in minimizing growth and maximizing faults at the expense of isolation.
Courtesy of Study Breaks Magazine
Courtesy of Grassroots Economic Organizing
