How Cancel Culture Cancelled Us

[Applause]

let’s start off with an unpopular

opinion

just because you have the option to

voice your opinion on social media

doesn’t mean you should

i have anxiety i have for as long as i

can remember and the constant dependency

of my generation on social media

hasn’t made it any easier the fact that

i can go online and see the thoughts and

feelings of people all around the world

dating back to 2006 on twitter is

terrifying but i participate i have to

social media is no longer optional for

the average teenager

according to the us department of health

and human services in partnership with

the pew research center

71 of teenagers are active on more than

one social media site

as a member myself of instagram snapchat

twitter facebook tick tock and

occasionally tumblr

i’m terrified that i make a mistake and

potentially ruin my life forever

with the internet the stakes are high

and they’re constantly getting higher

from a young age we’re taught that

technology is permanent

but as we get older and as it becomes

more and more central to society

that becomes difficult to believe

social media is more than just a place

to watch cooking videos and post cute

pictures

it’s a source of news social

gratification validation

and entertainment but as the years have

gone on it’s

the negatives have begun to outweigh the

positives what used to be a place to

spread your ideas and make your voice

heard has become a hotbed for negativity

to be spread

the worst thing to come out of this new

era of social media

is cancel culture canceled culture comes

from the idea that

when you’re online and you call someone

after their mistakes you are

cancelling them the culture part just

goes to show that this term has had such

staying power over the past few years

that it’s become an inherent part

of the online community someone’s always

being cancelled by someone

sometimes it lasts sometimes it doesn’t

but very few have stopped to ask the

question

what is this actually doing to our

society and how is it affecting our

empathy

to really get a good look into this

topic we have to look at where it

started

who’s been affected by by it and

what has fed it to the point that it’s

become a culture at all

a reasonable place to start would be the

1940s many americans were terrified

because the red scare that sparked fear

in their hearts that russians were right

under their noses

some following the lead of senator

joseph mccarthy began to blacklist

activists artists and people who

generally subverted the culture of the

day

among these were arthur miller the faint

playwright

art actor and director charlie chaplin

and civil rights advocate w.e.b

dubois the main vehicle

of cancellation is generally social

media with twitter being seen

as the court of public opinion where

people are tried

and sentenced in hashtags on the daily

among those who have been cancelled in

the 20th and early 21st century include

but are definitely not limited too yoko

ono

the dixie chicks bill gates michael

jackson kanye west

taylor swift nearly every member of the

online beauty community

justin bieber kanye west again

chris pratt jk rowling cardi b

camila cabello and recently nearly every

member of the british royal family

in many of these cases the event in

question

happened years before the actual

internet backlash

this has put the entire internet into

the mindset that contrary to what every

motivational poster you’ve ever seen

says you can never change you are

defined by your mistakes

it will never get better this

is toxic of course and it’s one of the

main issues with cancer culture

but it’s not the only one to cancel

someone is inherently permanent

it’s something that any permanent it’s

something that you wait out and log off

and just take a step back from but

on the internet everything is supposed

to be permanent right

if something is so important that it

causes you to cancel someone

why why is it that the actual real life

consequences are so few and far between

this is an unknown a thought experiment

that didn’t exist in its current form 50

or even 10 years ago

this is probably why so many people in

power have brushed cancer culture aside

saying that it’s not relevant or

sometimes that it doesn’t exist at all

and

it’s a figment of the imagination of the

youths some people also say that it’s

not important

this mindset is frankly irresponsible

and just goes to show the empathy level

of our society today

people think that because they’re online

they can say or do whatever they want

without any ramifications

in their real life unfortunately this is

generally true

but it shouldn’t be you shouldn’t be

able to say whatever you want online

without any ramifications

you can cite the constitution however

many times you want but there will never

be a reason to be hateful to someone

else online no matter who they are

or what they have done cancel culture

takes the mob mentality that someone has

done something wrong and deserves to be

punished

and combines it with the overall mindset

that a cloud of negativity should

surround one person for the rest of

their lives

this is what should be cancelled how can

we ever expect people to

get up and try again and try to

contribute to our society if we knock

them down in the first place

the very idea of being cancelled on the

internet is terrifying

the fact that people all around the

world could see the speech that i am

giving

right now and could on a whim make a

mean comment or undermine my entire

approach without

research or quant or context was enough

for me to consider not even doing this

today

but here i am here out in front of my

friends

teachers parents colleges

future employers the entire world

because i have something to say

and the sad part is that i have a

performance background

i generally do better in front of 100

people than i do one

some people people with bright minds and

great ideas that could help our society

aren’t as lucky the very notion

that people would discourage them or

make fun of their ideas enough to make

them stay silent

how can we ever grow as a society how

can we ever

hear all of the ideas that would allow

us to change if people are afraid to

speak because of the

online community that we have created

our culture is on the brink

of a social issue

and the anonymity that the online

community allows

is part of what is contributing to it

if individuals people like you and me

don’t take ownership of what they say

online and don’t realize that what you

say

hurts more on just as much on a screen

as it does in person

then we will never grow and we will

never change

if we allow cancer culture to be a part

of our culture and a mark that we leave

on the world

we will be doing a disservice not only

to ourselves but to our grandchildren

and their grandchildren and generations

beyond

i’m 16 not old enough to drink not old

enough to vote not even considered a

legal

adult but i can see the future

ramifications that our

existence online could have on our

society

i can see the difference in the ways

that my peers treat each other online

and in person and i have seen

people become less open by the day

you may think this is silly and

unimportant with all the issues that are

going on in the world today

but if you look at how the internet

culture is changing

the youth the youth and the other

generations of the world

you’ll see that this issue is something

that needs to be addressed

how well first of all we need to stop

cancelling and start educating

there need to be less hashtags and a

more open and

understanding mindset all around if we

adopt a growth mindset as a society and

allow people to correct their mistakes

instead of just canceling them we know

no limits call me naive

call me inexperienced but i have seen

the way people shut down when they are

criticized i’ve seen how they open up

and try to be better when they are

lovingly encouraged into the right

direction

even just a kind word or an open-minded

comment could

help someone to realize that what they

did was wrong and they need to correct

it we can start this by changing the way

our children treat each other in person

we need to take the word punishment out

of our

vocabulary and get rid of the mindset

the mistakes are akin to stupidity

in the field of psychology punishment is

actually generally

discouraged because it doesn’t allow you

to correct the behavior

it only leaves the recipient to run away

and retreat into a defensive position

if we raise the next generation with a

mindset of reinforcement if we

reward good behavior and if we correct

bad behavior as well as monitor our

presence online

hopefully this near epidemic of social

crisis

and negative comments and bad actions

will be over soon

so the next time you see cancel-worthy

content online take a minute before you

like

share upvote or retweet and think

kindness

empathy and try to remember a time that

you have made a mistake

by not clicking that button you could

potentially be bringing us one step

closer to a safer and more welcoming

version of the internet we have today

thank you