By Bellefontaine Nhan | Staff Writer
Cancel culture has become a popular trend within social media today. However, some agree that it has gone on too far. People are receiving death threats and being canceled without a chance to redeem themselves; this is what makes cancel culture a dangerous trend.
According to the Cambridge dictionary, cancel culture is “a way of behaving in a society or group, especially on social media, in which it is common to completely reject and stop supporting someone because they have said or done something that [is offensive].”
Canceling a certain person removes them from mainstream media, thus reducing the chances of their comments or actions offending people.
Although cancel culture is not new, in recent years it has become an increasingly “toxic trend,” as stated by the New York Post. This is due to the growing awareness people have of discrimination, offensive ideals, and language.
But cancelling does not only apply to people; TV shows, movies, and clothing brands have become common targets of cancelation. For example, the famous movies “Dumbo” and “The Aristocats” were banned from being shown to children under the age of seven. Cancelations such as these were necessary because they were depicting harmful racial stereotypes.
Although canceling can allow people to become aware of their misbehavior and fix their mistakes, that is not always the case. Many believe that they are doing something for a good cause, but in reality they are creating divisions and spreading hate.
Many people are starting to cancel others due to little mistakes, which may not be necessary. Not everyone needs to be canceled. Instead of canceling with every opportunity possible, educate. Sometimes, an individual may not know that their behavior is inappropriate or offensive.
CNN states that canceling someone immediately “is denying them that opportunity to learn and grow.” Once they are able to understand that what they have done was wrong, they will learn how to act in the future and not make such mistakes.
An example of cancel culture going out of hand is the James Charles and Jojo Siwa scandal that happened in 2020. James Charles received death threats due to false conspiracies that his next collaboration would be with Ariana Grande instead of Jojo Siwa. It is not necessary to cancel a youtuber over miscommunication, instead his fans should have simply requested a collaboration with the artist.
Rather than canceling immediately and hating on the individual, educate them and others. The individual can still use their platform to spread awareness or vital information if they were properly informed instead of just being canceled. Humans are not flawless, so the media should not expect them to be.
