What’s cancel culture, and how it impacts society?

Cancel culture is predominant in modern society, and its effects are detrimental. How can we deal with it?

Introduction

“Cancel culture” is active censorship of any material that contradicts the current narrative or isn’t politically correct. It is practiced by the “cancel mob” or the “woke mob.” The mob is typically composed of Social Justice Warriors (SJW). Those can be corporations, social media platforms, or even the government itself.

Believe it or not, not everything you think to be true is actually true. And not everything is up for critical discussion. “Free speech” is nothing but an illusion. If free speech has consequences when practiced, then it is not free speech. There are monetary interests, government secrets, or political agendas that might need to be fulfilled. For that to happen valid criticism must be eliminated. In the end, the ones who oppose the narrative get “canceled.”

Normally, any person would agree that highly offensive or harmful material should be censored or banned. However, constructive thoughts and valid criticism should be allowed. Especially in vital matters. Instead, everything rational gets brushed off by a big umbrella called “anti-hate speech” or “bigotry” or “-ism”. And that’s where the problem lies. In this article, I will explain in detail how “cancel culture” works and why it’s a bad thing.

artistic silenced mouth locked with locker

How does “cancel culture” work?

As mentioned above, a “cancel” or “woke” mob can be any group that has the power to affect things. Such as shutting down any opinion or freedom of expression. Therefore, it can be any entity. Including your very own government.

Social Justice Warriors (SJWs) are notorious for that. SJWs do not serve actual justice, but an artificially inflated justice. This is backed up by “feelings”, personal opinions, trends, and weak arguments. For example, an armed person of color breaks into a house and gets gunned down by the white owner of the house. The actual justice is that the owner rightfully defended his property and his life. However, social justice focuses on race and color, and labels the white owner as racist for killing that person.

SJWs focus on ideologies instead of facts. For them, that translates to “justice.” While racism does exist in real life, it does not mean that when a person of color is killed it was due to racism. Neither that a person of color cannot be racist against a white one. Contrary to that, the narrative has it that whites are by default racist. Hence, the attention shifts from justified self-defense to a possible hate crime.

Another example would be when children in kindergarten or elementary school get introduced to material tailored for a more grown audience. Such as explicit sexual content for educational purposes. Or gender reassignment procedures. LGBTQ+ representatives or drag queens are often invited to such sessions. They attempt to make children more tolerant of their community. Parents, however, in their own right, might be skeptical about the material their child is being exposed to. Despite that, they would still be labeled as “bigots” or “homophobes” just by expressing this thinking process. As a consequence, their valid skepticism gets silenced in the name of the lack of “openness” and “tolerance.” Not saying that children shouldn’t be informed about their sexuality. On the contrary, children need to be properly informed, as they might have to deal with gender dysphoria themselves later in life. But they still need professional consulting and guidance, instead of being thoughtlessly exposed to questionable materials.

drag queen flashes crotch to kids in kindergarten — *Kids learned a lot that day about trans anatomy.*

What does it mean to get “canceled”?

Being “canceled” could mean:

Banned from social media platforms;
Banned from schools;
Banned from institutions;
Banned from public gatherings;
Termination from your job;
Undermined professional expertise;
Discredited well-founded opinions and arguments;
Possible legal proceedings related to the latest bills on “hate speech”, etc.;
Impact on your social credit score (in certain countries);
Loss of followers and subscribers (for content creators);
Loss of sponsorship;
Businesses going bankrupt.

As you can see, getting “canceled” can be detrimental and life-changing. Mobs are ruthless, and they care little to none about rationality and rightfulness. Actual justice means nothing to them, as long as their targets are met.

“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it.“
– Kay, MIB

The effects of “cancel culture” on society.

This is a prevalent and serious matter, and is getting uglier by the second. People can no longer express their concerns for fear of being silenced or stigmatized. Actual justice becomes dysfunctional. Laws become loose. And the punishment is avoided or unfairly exercised, resulting in true injustice.

The irony here is that cancel culture takes place in modern societies and developed countries. Those countries are where social accountability and the protection of human rights supposedly is important and enforced by every institution. The cancel mod also claims that everything they do is for love, peace, and justice, while the opposite is true. You would also expect that the citizens in those countries, will all the knowledge and education in their hands, would be understanding and rational. But, again, the opposite happens.

The result? A society full of people being afraid to speak up. A society that is afraid of words and negative feelings. A society where freedom of speech and democracy are being praised, but totalitarianism prevails. A society that ends up being shadow-ruled by the dictatorship of the media and social justice mobs.

Just take a look at the example below. If you’re bad at math, then math is probably racist! That means you no longer need to study. Just label anything you don’t like as racist or oppressive, and the problem is solved. Before you do, let me ask you something: how dumb do you think society will become if you keep this up?

math is racist durham university — *The objectivity of science is now racist.*

How can you fight against “cancel culture?”

Combating this phenomenon is no easy task. The majority of the population lives in fear of being stigmatized. They have completely been conditioned to be subservient and avoid questioning anything. That makes winning against the majority as hard as it sounds.

Nevertheless, once you wake up from your slumber, you have to be adamant You have to act like a free person. You should not be afraid of speaking up or questioning the world around you. As long as you make constructive arguments and point out the injustice, you have nothing to fear. The more courageous you are, the more likely you’ll successfully stand your ground. You will also inspire others to follow suit. If the mobs try to cancel you, then you’ll know you’re doing great.