Re-examining Cancel Culture
I heard a casual reference to Cancel Culture recently and I wondered if we might be missing a key opportunity – and unintentionally inviting new disaster – by how we’re engaging with Cancel Culture.
For those who are less familiar – Cancel Culture is a form of boycotting or shunning that happens after a person / group / business (and very often famous or well-known) has spoken or acted in such a way that is perceived as unacceptable by current cultural standards.
I have two unanswered questions about Cancel Culture that leave me unsettled on the topic:
Wouldn’t we make better progress if it were Suspension Culture, not Cancel Culture?
I understand the energy of wanting to put a stop to unacceptable words and behaviors. I worry, however, that our inclination to cancel means we don’t have any expectation (or hope??!) of people or entities learning, changing their minds, making amends, and course-correcting. It seems like we might be discouraging growth by writing people off instead of by sending them on a time-out with an expectation that they learn, grow, and develop from the incident.
At the same time this was on my mind, of course my bestie James Clear wrote something that felt highly related in his January 13th 3-2-1 email:
Sometimes in life, you will make mistakes. And when you think back on those mistakes, you may feel embarrassed. That's a normal feeling. Nobody is perfect and we all make our fair share of mistakes in life.
However, if you do not take responsibility for the mistake and do your best to correct it, then you are committing a second mistake. Do the right thing, even though you may feel embarrassed by your previous actions. Don't compound the error.
Are we going to inadvertently silence people from engaging in these tough conversations because they’re too worried about being canceled to be in conversation?
I know I’ve personally experienced feelings of wanting to step back or step away from tough or controversial topics and conversations because I see the severe nature of Cancel Culture in reaction to people saying or doing something wrong. It takes a lot of self-management on my part to nudge myself back into the conversation, but I worry that many will just stay out of it. Which means there’s less conversation, less exchange of thoughts and understanding, and less learning. Is that really what we want??
I don’t think there’s an easy answer to all this, but I hope we can learn, change our own minds, and course-correct on the knee-jerk reaction of Cancel Culture, which may be taking us further away from our desired reality.
