The Toxicity of Cancel Culture

Being in a situation that revolves around controversy can cause ‘cancel culture’ to take action. Cancel culture is a form of boycotting or like in the name, canceling people, oftentimes celebrities or influencers, because they did something questionable, shared an unpopular opinion, or have behaved in an offensive manner. Cancel culture is pointless, toxic, and only makes matters worse by stirring up more drama.

Cancelers think they’re doing a good thing by cutting them off directly from the platform but in reality, they are just taking away the opportunity for them to grow as a person and hopefully learn from their mistakes. It’s somewhat contradicting of itself to expect growth and progress from someone who you’re not even allowing the time to grow or learn because of it being an immediate reaction from a large portion of that person’s following. And without getting much support from their followers to back them up, most people tend to hop on the bandwagon, which oftentimes results in a massive loss of followers and business. This is taking the easy way out of things because people might not want to do the proper research and investigate what truly happened which leads to them believing a one-sided story. Or, it could be them just tagging along with what the majority thinks because they’re afraid of being an outcast for not sharing the same beliefs as everyone else.

The mentality, behavior, and characteristics of cancel culture do not do anything progressive. Nor does it help move things toward a good direction even though it might carry some sort of good intention behind the chaos and drama. There are several other ways to deal with controversies and negative public events that end on a positive note other than causing unnecessary drama and a loss of followers. It could be handled privately and not displayed through social media for the sensationalistic shock value. 

After a week or so has gone by, it seems as if nothing had ever really happened, and we all go on with our lives. So was there ever really a point to need to drag things out to the extent that did? More than likely, the answer is no. There’s no need for cancel culture to keep repeating itself onto other people’s controversies or even at all. It serves no support or progression towards individuals who are dealing with the backlash of ‘cancel culture,’ and only revolves around toxicity and negativity.