I am all for calling people out when they make mistakes. Being racist, sexist, homophobic, and an all round bad person just isn’t okay. Maybe what’s not as okay though is completely eradicating someone for it. Calling someone out online for their disrespect is not the same as completely demising them. They’ve done that to their reputation themselves, they don’t need you to do it for them.
“Instead of being shunned by the public, he was popularised.”
As regular ‘tweeters’, it’s easy to forget the person behind the screen. What we see is their message, and, each time they post something offensive, we see them as offensive. Perhaps they are. Perhaps they just didn’t double check their message. Perhaps we’re the ones who misread.
The public backlash many celebrities receive following a controversial ‘tweet’ may seem timely or deserved. But is it always? Do they always deserve the death threats, the loss of their job and related contracts? Some would say yes. In the instances of the ‘Me Too’ era, it definitely seems deserved. Middle aged white men being called out for their disrespectful and vile actions towards women in inferior positions of power? Yes, please.
But, if we look at some of the other effects of cancel culture, it seems to have had the opposite effect. It seems to have given people attention that they just don’t deserve. R. Kelly’s music success increased after he was outed. Instead of being shunned by the public, he was popularised. And he was popularised for both the wrong and the right reason.
“Deserving public shaming and deserving ‘cancelling’ are two very different things.”
Is it up to us? Is it up to the ‘tweeters’ avidly typing from the haven behind their screens? If the death threats actually just gain popularity is cancel culture even a form of activism or social justice? Is it just performative? Is it just being a sheep and adding to a trend?
Recently, Rowling was abused for her transphobia. But what did we achieve? Yes, she was revealed. Yes, her name was associated with hate and abuse. Yes, she didn’t really stay in anyone’s good books. But can we really call it cancelling someone? Have we forgotten she’s a human being, and not a TV series to be scrapped?
Deserving public shaming and deserving ‘cancelling’ are two very different things. And it’s time we learnt which one promotes activism, and which one is just pure, public hate, especially when the latter originated from the power of misogyny.
Meg Amin
Featured image courtesy of @robin_rednine via Unsplash.