Cancel Culture: Pre-Discussion Primer
Overview
Cancel Culture, a term originally made popular on Black Twitter in 2014, can be broadly defined as a form of (an increasingly digital) boycott in response to a behavior that is considered wrong, often with the call for the accused to lose their reputation, platform and/or work.
Cancel Culture can be broadly defined as a form of (an increasingly digital) boycott in response to a behavior that is considered wrong
While people have been getting “cancelled” for a few years now, it seems like everyone is getting cancelled these days. In just the past year, some famous instances of people being cancelled include Ellen DeGeneres, Amy Cooper (“Central Park Karen”), J.K. Rowling, Alison Roman (NYT food columnist), etc. The Oxford English Dictionary even named Cancel Culture one of the 2020 Words of the Year, noting the explosive growth in usage of the word over the summer.
Critique of Cancel Culture
Criticizing “Cancel Culture” (or “political correctness,” “safe spaces,” etc.) seems to be one of the few things that liberals and conservatives can agree on these days. Barack Obama made fun of “woke” tweeting last year, and Republicans adopted a "Resolution Upholding the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America in the Response to the Coronavirus Pandemic and the Cancel Culture Movement” at the Republican National Convention earlier this year.
Arguments against Cancel Culture can broadly be summarized into the following:
Cancel Culture stifles free speech and exchange of ideas
Cancel Culture today does not allow for nuance and context, and can often blow things out of proportion (Did anyone else read about the USC professor “cancelled” for using the Chinese word nèi ge’ as an example of a filler word during class?)
Cancel Culture is too quick to punish and shame, shutting doors for growth and learning
Cancel Culture is not actually effective against the “powerful”
On the other hand, Cancel Culture can be a critical force that allows marginalized / disenfranchised / voiceless people to hold powerful people accountable by creating public outrage and withdrawing support in response to bad behavior. Given the imbalance of power and/or influence, Cancel Culture gives those who are often aggrieved and normally would not be heard a platform and voice in numbers (and hashtags).
For discussion
Whatever our feelings about Cancel Culture, it doesn’t feel productive to simply “cancel” Cancel Culture (ha!) I also don’t think it’s productive to make it a “left” vs. “right” issue. The practice of calling people out and shaming them for some perceived infraction is neither a recent phenomenon (umm, The Scarlet Letter anyone?) nor an exclusively liberal one (cf. Colin Kaepernick). Cancel Culture is likely here to stay in some form and/or name.
So perhaps the more practical discussion may be around how to make Cancel Culture more conducive to achieving its supposed objectives - to reduce behaviors that are harmful to a broad segment of society, particularly against those who may have few other, more effective means for recourse (without overly undermining other important values in society such as freedom of speech, respect for others, etc.)
How do we make Cancel Culture more conducive to achieving its supposed objectives - to reduce behaviors that are harmful to a broad segment of society, particularly against those who may have few other, more effective means for recourse?
Some potential discussion questions may include:
What constitutes "harmful" behavior, particularly in a liberal and diverse culture?
What would appropriate interventions (i.e. "cancelling") look like? How do we balance accountability, especially when going against established norms and/or power structures while ensuring proportionality and forgiveness?
How do we promote healthy and constructive discussions that lead to growth and learning at the societal level without putting undue harm / burden on the “victims”?
What would it take to change Cancel Culture as it is today?
Further resources
Overview of Cancel Culture
“What is Cancel Culture,” Vox, August 2020
“Cancel Culture, Part 1: Where It Came From,” The Daily, Aug 10, 2020
“Cancel Culture, Part 2: A Case Study,” The Daily, Aug 11, 2020
Additional food for thought
The Interpreter on The Crown's "Balmoral Test" episode and how the backlash against "political correctness" might be understood as resistance to feeling that we are being subject to a “test” under a new (and/or constantly changing) set of rules
The Atlantic on how “woke capitalism” creates “window dressing” solutions where those in power don’t actually have to give anything up
The American Conservative on how reducing the concentration of power and influence in the American economy and strengthening worker protection may help reduce the impact of Cancel Culture
The New York Times on a class at Smith College taught by a “radical Black feminist who has been doing human rights work for four decades,” teaches “calling in” as a way to challenge “call-out culture”