Cancel Culture
By: Nathalia Davison
Cancel culture is the phenomenon of promoting the “canceling” of people, brands, as well as shows and movies because of something that people might consider problematic or offensive. The term cancel culture has been credited to the black users of Twitter where it has been used as a hashtag. It was coined in 2017 when troubling information had come to light regarding once popular celebrities such as Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Roseanne Barr and many others.
To Syana Etienne, Senior at Hillgrove High School, cancel culture is, “...basically like when a group of people come together or a society comes together and just dismisses a group of people or a company or a person. That is what I think it is.” Nijah Coleman, Junior at Hillgrove High School, says, “Cancel culture is basically if someone does something bad or that’s in the limelight you are going to basically umm not give them any time of day anymore, not follow them on social media, don’t listen to their music, don’t like their pictures, none of that. So that’s what it means to me.”
Due to this new trend in pop culture, there have been many celebrities and companies that have been cancelled this year such as Ellen Degenerous, Netflix, and Doja Cat. “Well as somebody who has seen the movie they [Netflix] is being cancelled for, I just feel as if it's not necessary but I feel like Netflix knows better. They definitely know better and especially with what the movie is about and what it portrays. That is not good at all. So if Netflix is being cancelled for that I don’t see a problem with it personally, but they know better,” Etienne says. Jonah Hildreth, Junior at Hillgrove High School, says, “Umm, I feel like well I feel like everyone makes mistakes and I guess like depending on the size and the impact of the mistake then it’s like difficult, more difficult for some people to forgive and I feel like most people like when this topic is brought up they usually have a negative view on Doja Cat.”
Just like with the celebrities and companies like Netflix and Doja cat, cancel culture has a very big impact on people’s lives and careers. Hildreth says, “Um, I feel like it can be very detrimental because um it’s like you don’t educate but you [are] just I guess go [in] straight for the jab.” Cancel could ruin someone’s life or even career because of their actions, but cancel culture can also impact our society. “Um, it impacts society because, for one, on the good side it makes you aware of what is going on in the world. You know? Like what I said before, it makes you aware [of] the issues that are going on that we may not know about or other people are not [be] as educated on. Um and it also kind of impacts society in a bad way sometimes because some people just take it a little too far that I don’t really agree with so yea,” Coleman says.
With cancel culture bringing people together to bring awareness to problematic actions people and companies have done, it can better our society to make change and teach accountability. Cancel Culture can be very dangerous, if used in a selfish way, though! Everyone needs to remember to be responsible with their voice to ensure they are using it in a mature and effective way.
To Syana Etienne, Senior at Hillgrove High School, cancel culture is, “...basically like when a group of people come together or a society comes together and just dismisses a group of people or a company or a person. That is what I think it is.” Nijah Coleman, Junior at Hillgrove High School, says, “Cancel culture is basically if someone does something bad or that’s in the limelight you are going to basically umm not give them any time of day anymore, not follow them on social media, don’t listen to their music, don’t like their pictures, none of that. So that’s what it means to me.”
Due to this new trend in pop culture, there have been many celebrities and companies that have been cancelled this year such as Ellen Degenerous, Netflix, and Doja Cat. “Well as somebody who has seen the movie they [Netflix] is being cancelled for, I just feel as if it's not necessary but I feel like Netflix knows better. They definitely know better and especially with what the movie is about and what it portrays. That is not good at all. So if Netflix is being cancelled for that I don’t see a problem with it personally, but they know better,” Etienne says. Jonah Hildreth, Junior at Hillgrove High School, says, “Umm, I feel like well I feel like everyone makes mistakes and I guess like depending on the size and the impact of the mistake then it’s like difficult, more difficult for some people to forgive and I feel like most people like when this topic is brought up they usually have a negative view on Doja Cat.”
Just like with the celebrities and companies like Netflix and Doja cat, cancel culture has a very big impact on people’s lives and careers. Hildreth says, “Um, I feel like it can be very detrimental because um it’s like you don’t educate but you [are] just I guess go [in] straight for the jab.” Cancel could ruin someone’s life or even career because of their actions, but cancel culture can also impact our society. “Um, it impacts society because, for one, on the good side it makes you aware of what is going on in the world. You know? Like what I said before, it makes you aware [of] the issues that are going on that we may not know about or other people are not [be] as educated on. Um and it also kind of impacts society in a bad way sometimes because some people just take it a little too far that I don’t really agree with so yea,” Coleman says.
With cancel culture bringing people together to bring awareness to problematic actions people and companies have done, it can better our society to make change and teach accountability. Cancel Culture can be very dangerous, if used in a selfish way, though! Everyone needs to remember to be responsible with their voice to ensure they are using it in a mature and effective way.
