‘Cancel culture’ is out of hand

‘Cancel culture’ is the modern name for collectively taking the power away from someone as a result of their actions. It started as a positive movement, as a way of keeping people accountable. Nowadays, it takes place specially on social media, where people are constantly observing others’ every move, no one is safe.

The concept has always been around, when people don’t like something, they act against it. It should be a good thing, a sign of collective growth. However, social media has taken it too far, giving it a name and taking its meaning away.

The internet has destroyed people’s empathy for other human beings. They put famous people on pedestals and then ‘cancel’ them for not being perfect. We are evolving into a society where a single mistake, even one made in the past, can hunt you down and destroy your career and mental health.

This isn’t to say that people shouldn’t be hold accountable for their actions. Nevertheless, the focus is on the wrong kind of people, letting free those who really deserve to lose their power. Instead, social media preys on normal people that mean no harm and try to do their best every day, like the rest of us.

Take Charli D’Amelio as an example, she’s a 16-year-old that has millions of followers on the social app TikTok. She was criticized and even sent death threats, because she said she wanted to hit 100m followers a year after she hit 1m. People got offended saying she only cared about numbers. A child got death threats for a statement that, if it weren’t for the over sensitiveness and jealousy present on social media, no one would have ever noticed.

‘Cancel culture’ has now lost its meaning. It has become a tool that doesn’t let people grow from who they were in the past. It doesn’t allow people to fail or ask questions, because as soon as they do, they will turn against them. So, it’s preferable to be quiet, and being quiet isn’t going to change the world.

It has also become almost hypocritical, one day someone is getting ‘cancelled’ for their actions, seeming to be the worst human alive. The next, new evidence is revealed that they are innocent, so people apologize and move on to the next victim, like vultures.

Not letting enough room for mistakes slows down the social changes the world needs. Now it is too scary to try and do something meaningful, be on the spot, because as soon as you are, thousands of eyes start patiently waiting for you to slip.

This is what people think of cancel culture as it is today: