By Lily Manning
Hot Take #1:
Cancel Culture: Hot or Not?
Now that TikTok has (wonderfully) granted fame to a moderate amount of teenagers and fairly young adults, an awful lot of problems have arisen throughout the internet community. Familiar with James Charles, Tony Lopez, Trisha Paytas, or Chase Hudson? Some of these people have done something discriminatory, borderline illegal, or just stupid on the internet, and should no longer be of influence on the internet, as they do not add any importance! Maybe they should be taken to court, even. Instead, they’ve been “canceled” on the internet.
For those that do not know, to “cancel” is to reject and dismiss an influencer due to their inappropriate and insensitive actions. The personal advocates of our society, who allegedly “cancel” these people usually take matters into their own hands for a little while, before getting over/ dismissing the case. These influencers are generally on the rise again after a moment of internet silence. How effective is this?
There is no shortage of alleged “cancellations” on the internet. However, while some cancellations are meaningful and backed up, some stem from stupid mistakes made by teenage tiktokers. I am definitely here for the accountability aspect of this culture, but really the only consistent thing we get out of canceling a person has been weak apologies that are painful to watch. Nothing says “I’m Sorry” like a forty-minute video of five-second clips with intense sobbing. After making a weak apology and being canceled for a while, people who are canceled can continue on with their lives as if they’ve fixed their mistakes. A weak apology doesn’t equal “I am a changed person,” the way that action does.
Getting “canceled” can allow the cancellee to see what they did wrong and how their actions could’ve potentially hurt a specific group of people, while also giving them a chance to correct their mistakes. Influencers tend to get it worse because they are “of influence.” However, it is clear that “canceling” somebody only removes them from the spotlight until a new person rolls around with another issue or until the canceled person comes back, due to new sponsorship. While what I’m saying absolutely doesn’t excuse anybody for what they’ve done, many forget that these are sometimes teenagers that are prone to making mistakes. We all know people who have made mistakes (and definitely don’t get bashed by a bunch of strangers). Maybe the moral of this is that we shouldn't allow ourselves to be influenced by a bunch of strange teenagers who don’t know how to guide their own lives. Why should we believe they know any more about their lives than we know about our own?
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