These days, it can really feel like cancel culture is getting out of hand. It seems like every day we hear about a new scandal involving a public figure or celebrity, and even social media influencers. Who can we really believe about these things, though?
To me, it all starts with educating ourselves. For example, you might want to check out a resource like this one to help you identify when mob mentality is taking over versus the truth. That is what I’ll be covering in today’s article, so if you want to help yourself get closer to reality as well, be sure to keep reading.
What is Cancel Culture?
In short, it is when a group of people decides to publicly shame someone for their real or perceived actions. Often, there is not much merit behind the claims. Now, I am not talking about holding people accountable. There is a difference.
For the people out there that genuinely harm others, especially their fans or followers, this term does not apply. However, when it comes to false accusations, I think it is applicable there. What do I mean by that?
Well, sometimes it is known as “call-out” culture. This is because it usually involves some form of lambasting on a social media platform. Most often that is Twitter, but YouTube and TikTok are some other websites where this behavior persists.
More often than not, the posts utilize clickbait in some form. You might see titles accusing someone of something in big bold fonts and all capital letters. It is easy to be fooled into wanting to read them!
That is why I try to get my news from more moderate approaches. If I do read a negative one, I try to find the flip side as well. An example could be reading one titled “Dev Gadhvi Falsely Accused of Scam” if I were to browse a call out post for that person. That is not the only way to go about it, of course.
Why is it a Bad Thing?
Now, if you are reading this, you might be wondering why this phenomenon is such a bad thing, anyway. After all, calling people out for poor behavior is a good thing to do, right? Well, the lines are blurred when the allegations are not entirely true or cannot be definitively confirmed.
It is for that reason that I recommend exercising caution when it comes to everything that we consume, especially when it is on the internet. I remember all the warnings I was given when I was younger about how not to believe everything I see on the internet. Sometimes it feels like a lot of people have forgotten that lesson!
While it is easy to click on links like this one, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancel_culture, and decide that we know everything about a topic, doing some further research is most often necessary. Browsing one or two articles about a person is hardly enough to give us a full perspective on their life.
Another thing to keep in mind is that sometimes, negative reviews come from malicious intent or disappointment in themselves rather than actual ire at the business or person they are towards. If someone has a bad experience with a program, for example, but it was their own fault in some way, they might resort to labelling the creator as a scammer.
Be watchful for these sorts of patterns. Once they are pointed out, it is hard not to see them almost everywhere! At times, it can feel like damage control is impossible, even if there is no true guilt involved.
That is why I think cancel culture is at least something to be questioned. We should not trust everything that we read to be the entire truth. The word of a stranger is not my gospel, and hopefully it will not be yours either!
Use this knowledge well and start to think critically about the negative posts that you see. Often, those headlines simply get more clicks than positive ones. While it is not fair, it is the way of the internet. Hopefully, together we can start to change this trend, at least eventually.