#CancelYourCallout
Is cancel culture effective and can it help people?
Can it be taken too far?
I unapologetically have been searching for a better understanding to both sides of this issue.
Cancel culture, a social media phenomenon also known as call-out culture, is “a way to take away someone’s power and call out the individual for being problematic in a situation,” as stated in a New York Times article. It can be a black cloud that sticks overheads, especially when these people are public figures. It seems somebody new is canceled every week for some of the most trivial things.
In an interview at the Obama Foundation summit, former President Barack Obama said, “This idea of purity and you’re never compromised and you’re always politically ‘woke’ and all that stuff,” Obama said. “You should get over that quickly.”
“People who do really good stuff have flaws,” he said.
Carson King is a recent example. From a sign at a football tailgate, he raised nearly $3 million for a children’s hospital located in Iowa. Busch Light pledged to match any donations moving forward, he appeared on CNN and Gov. Kim Reynolds even named Sept. 28 “Carson King Day.”
When writing a story on King, a Des Moines Register reporter dug up years-old insensitive tweets. Before the Register published the story, King preemptively apologized, and, at the end of it all, the Register faced more backlash than King did.
I believe that people should be allowed the opportunity to change and grow. If not, how will we progress as a society? Canceling public figures and normal people alike has become a hobby on social media, until the people participating get bored and find new prey.
Social media and cancel culture help individuals find others that align with the movement they are interested in. When emphasizing what others do wrong, it can make people respond in a certain way. Sometimes, it may not be pleasant. The reactions people take to social media can ruin lives and careers. So, as a society, we need to do better, and we need to be better about forgiving people and be more understanding when mistakes are made.
