Why cancel culture is negatively affecting society
By: Rawan Alshehri
In recent years, cancel culture has become a common social practice among people, especially on social media platforms. It is when the public collectively disagree with a public personality, so they decide to “cancel” them.
Often the case would go something like; a public figure does or says something years ago when society had different perspectives on what should or shouldn’t be considered “offensive.” Cut to years later where society’s values have yet again progressed into something completely different. Meanwhile, a video of said public figure saying those comments would resurface somehow, and it would naturally contradict the current point of view. Which leads to a massive wave of criticism towards the public figure or person.
That is when “Canceling” comes in play, and according to critics, a person cannot be granted an opportunity to be in the public eye where they can have an influence on society while holding an unpopular point of view..
In a way, holding people accountable for their words and actions should be encouraged. However, we should draw the line where the punishment does not fit the crime. Cutting someone’s way of living without ever giving them a second chance to be remorseful for the things they did without acknowledging the fact that mistakes are part of human development, is not practical. If there were recordings of everything a person has done within the span of their lifetime, most of society would be canceled.
So instead of trying to toxically remove a personality from the public while we act all mighty and righteous, it’s time we have an open discussion about cancel culture. Let’s give everyone a chance to explain and apologize, while we give ourselves a chance to forgive, educate and reconciliate.
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