COMMENTARY: Cancel culture limits chances for growth
With the convenience of social media, it does not take much for anyone to be “canceled.” The act of canceling involves dis-involving and boycotting an individual and anything that the individual represents. Often times this is done toward an individual or celebrity who has said something that others do not agree with or find unacceptable.
In recent years, there have been many celebrities who have been canceled at one point or another. Recently, YouTube influencer/make-up artist James Charles was canceled after receiving some backlash from fellow collaborators Tati Westbrook and Jeffree Star, also make-up artists, for promoting a SugarBear product that was in competition with a similar product that Westbrook had developed. The simple act of blasting James Charles online from these two influential make-up artists started the trending hashtag #CancelJamesCharles. The accusations were that Charles was promoting the competitor’s product because he was being paid. Westbrook also accused Charles of betraying her trust amongst other things. As a result of this, Charles quickly lost followers but soon redeemed himself by providing “receipts” with proof of his truth.
Let’s face it, in today’s world there are so many opinions and points of views that it is not hard to offend someone or a group of people. On many occasions, people have been offended by celebrities who have supported our president, Donald Trump. For example, Kanye West was recently canceled because of his support for President Trump and for his statement that slavery was a choice. West apologized for his statement in light of the criticism, and it seems he has a strong enough fan base that his loyal followers accept his defense statement and continue to support him as an artist/entrepreneur.
When individuals with status are “canceled,” it is usually only temporary. Usually a good PR team is hired, and those canceled are able to redeem themselves with no real consequence. However, in some cases canceling an individual can cost them their career and overall respect.
Roseanne Barr is a celebrity who was literal and figuratively canceled. The show “Roseanne” was rebooted in 2018 to high reviews, but was canceled two short months later because of a racist Twitter post directed toward Valeri Jarrett, a member of former President Barak Obama’s administration, that was made by Barr. Although the show was canceled by ABC, it was later picked up for a second season, sans Rosanne Barr, and renamed “The Connors.”
Cancelling isn’t always immediate; an individual can be canceled because of statements or posts made to social media years ago. Case in point, Kevin Hart who was recently asked to step down from hosting the 2019 Oscars in light of a homophobic post that resurfaced from years ago.
Cancel culture has become so prevalent that last month, the Office of Student Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (SDEI) held an event called “Cancel Culture.” The event was brought about by students and took place Aug. 9. Aja Rodriguez, SDEI coordinator, wanted to create a safe place to discuss cancel culture and its implications as well as bring a learning perspective to the matter.
Rodriguez believes that the mention of something that could trigger emotions can be a reason for automatic cancellation. She also feels that cancel culture has become the norm as well as “allowed behavior.”
“Individually, what ends up happening is we see what we’re seeing now, which is people can’t even have conversations, and so if you say something that’s triggering to me, I’m going to cancel you sooner and sooner and sooner because I am practicing cancel culture because society is practicing it, and so that’s what I’ve learned is the norm,” Rodriguez said.
This point brings us to an ongoing situation on The UHCL campus involving the Student Government Association (SGA).
This summer UHCL’s Student Government Association (SGA) President Mohamed AbdelGilil was subjected to canceling in light of a social media post he made in June referencing the LGBTQ+ community. His posts were rebuked as insensitive and inconsiderate. A public apology was called for and given, however, there is now a petition for AbdelGilil’s impeachment.
This issue is ongoing. It remains to be seen how the situation will pan out and if, in fact, there will be repercussions for his act of offending a group of students who he is supposed to represent, despite his public apology, or whether AbdelGilil will be given the opportunity to learn from his mistakes and be allowed to continue as SGA President.
The act of shunning has been around since presumably the beginning of mankind; “Cancel Culture” is a recent phenomenon associated with social media and has been deemed toxic by many psychologists.
In some situations, words or phrases are taken out of context and/or people are quick to write off or “cancel” someone for saying or posting something that they are not in agreeance with, but this does not mean that there are no situations in which canceling is justified. Canceling just should not be the go-to first reaction. Canceling individuals right away takes away support and guidance to an individual as well as the opportunity of allowing people to learn from their mistakes. Calling someone out is not wrong. By all means, people should be held accountable for their actions. Striving for a positive change is something we should all wish to obtain.
With this being said, it is important to not give up on people too easily when a mistake is made. It is important to give people a chance to understand why their behavior was offensive as well as giving them the opportunity to correct it before writing them off altogether. The average age of students at UHCL is 22-29. At that age, students are still growing and learning and that’s what college is supposed to be about.
