You’re Cancelled

“You’re cancelled,” or “he/she’s cancelled,” seems to be the popular saying of 2020. Cancel culture is one of the most trending phenomenons of 2020. Cancel culture according to the dictionary “refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive.” In other words, it is people across social media shaming the individuals harshly for their past mistakes or offenses no matter how big or small or trivial that mistake was. 

Initially I used to find saying ‘he’s cancelled’ as a joke with friends when a date with a boy you liked did not go well or you got over a crush, but I think it is ridiculous of people across social media trying to “erase” someone. This year has witnessed a lot of “cancelled” people such as Lea Michelle, Jimmy Fallon, Demi Lovato, Sebastian Stan, and most recently Charli D’amelio.

Charli D’amelio was cancelled for acting bratty during a youtube video put out by the D’amelio family. In the video, viewers thought that Charli and her older sister Dixie were acting bratty and being rude to their personal chef. Charli said she wished she hit 100 million followers on Tik Tok exactly one year after she hit one million, the dinner guest James Charles sarcastically said “ Was the 95 mil not enough for you,” and she said it would be an “even number” and stuck her tongue out at the camera. A lot of people called out this rude behavior and thought that she was being very ungrateful that she referred to her followers as numbers. Now I can see why people might be upset at this, but that is no excuse for sending her death threats and mean messages in the process of cancelling her out. I think it is unacceptable to send death threats to a 16 year old whether she’s cancelled or not. The world is forgetting that, in the end, she is a 16 year old girl who is still learning a lot about life. 

All the celebrities listed above might have made mistakes in the past, but cancelling them out for their past mistakes instead of correcting them politely is not the way to go. I feel it is becoming a paradox;in the era of freedom of speech, no one can really voice their opinions freely if it does not agree with the popular opinion or current trend otherwise the individual is cancelled.All of the progress for freedom of speech will be lost just because there are differences in opinion. Calling people out politely or correcting them for their mistakes is acceptable but just trying to cancel people without any reason or sending horrible messages is not cool. I believe everyone should get a chance to learn from their mistakes because if you really think about it, everyone would be cancelled if they told everything they thought about it or the mistakes they have made. Everyone makes mistakes but there should be a chance to learn from them and correct them. 

As much as it might be fun to say “you’re cancelled” as many times as you want, the resulting actions can harm the victim’s mental health. The goal society needs to achieve is to be respectful of everyone’s opinion and help each other grow from past mistakes and views. Again, definitely call out someone if they are wrong about something or rude, but doing it respectfully and politely should be the way to go. Not by sending death threats or trying to cancel or erase them from existing. Ultimately in the end, everyone is human.

 

• cancel culture
• tiktok