Controversial Cancel Culture

Every influencer's worst nightmare is to be "canceled" by their viewers for wrongdoing that comes across as offensive or controversial. Cancel culture is when someone, typically with a lot of power and domination over a group of people, for example, Donald Trump, says or does something that is a moral violation. It is when someone does something that is considered controversial, wrong, and inappropriate, causing people to target them. "Cancel culture" itself is a controversial act, it is a modern form of ostracism -"exclusion from a society or group". Ostracism was an Athenian democratic procedure in which any citizen could be expelled from the city-state of Athens for ten years.

What many think the problem with cancel culture is, is that it doesn’t resolve anything, the whole concept is publicly shaming people online. International relations junior Jen Nardone said she thinks it’s tough to support someone who is being canceled because it leaves you, the fan, in the limbo of whether to support that person. “We should just acknowledge that people make mistakes,” she said. “I think to cancel culture is just really toxic, but people also need to be held accountable.”. Instead of confronting the person who has done the wrong thing and explaining to them why it is wrong and how they can improve on themselves, they are abashed. Even Barack Obama weighed in on it recently, cautioning young people not to be overly critical and judgmental, as though the very idea of “canceling” must always wrong and unreasonable, regardless of what is being criticized or how problematic it may be.

Often, "canceling" turns into bullying this can cause u to feel ostracized, socially isolated, and lonely. it can feel as though everyone is giving up on you and no one got to hear your side of the story.

A poll of American registered voters conducted by Morning Consult in July 2020 showed that cancel culture, defined as "the practice of withdrawing support for (or canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive,". The results showed that 44% of respondents disapproved of cancel culture, 32% approved, and 24% did not know or had no opinion. Furthermore, 46% believed cancel culture had gone too far, with only 10% thinking it had not gone far enough. However, a majority (53%) believed that people should expect social consequences for expressing unpopular opinions in public, especially those that may be construed as deeply offensive to other people.

If cancel culture is so bad why are people still participating in it? There are a few phycological factors that contribute to the pleasure of canceling others. Sociometric status (respect and admiration from our peers) is more important to our sense of well-being than socioeconomic status. Some people have the drive to succeed and be admired a lot, they thrive for popularity and love to compete to be the best. this drive can result in them constantly seeking new ways to bring themselves upwards or bring their competitor down, causing them to go out of their way to find dirt of their peers. people also enjoy uniting together for common purposes such as to cancel people. They derive satisfaction from coming together against a perpetrator. cancel culture also allows people's real identities to appear, people enjoy seeing people being exposed so they know who to trust and follow.

https://youtu.be/Rhq4hNgLkus