“Should Cancel Culture Be Viewed as a Form of Accountability or Censorship?” [Censorship]

Cancel culture, in the modern world, has turned into an utterly destructive force and motive, that stifles free speech, healthy dialogue and justice. In this day and age, especially with the conversion of daily life more towards social media, cancel culture has become increasingly common. This has become a contentious social phenomenon.

On the surface, cancel culture appears to hold individuals responsible for their actions and words. Yet, in practice, it just leads to disproportionate punishments. Humans have a psychological tendency to conform to those around them and form groups based on shared views and ideas. We have seen this throughout human evolution. This primitive tendency to conform to the people around them, is a grave expression in cancel culture. This often means that cancel culture is governed by “social” laws, pertaining to a particular group. This suppresses the truth due this very social conformity that exists in us humans.

No one wants to be on the “wrong” side of any movement, because our human brains hate to be left out or alone, another human tendency that often hides the truth. Solomon Asch's famous conformity experiments prove that being “wrong” in a social setting lead us to doubt our very ability to reason, leading our brains to succumb to being governed by social justice, which is very perceptual. Once a survival mechanism, conformity now manifests as cancel culture, amplifying groupthink and punishing dissent.

The biggest nail in the coffin for cancel culture bringing actual reform is the lack of proportionality and forgiveness in this punitive culture. This is greater amplified by the emotionless space of social media, which allows the targeted individual to be stormed, face career destruction and public humiliation, with little room to recover. Worse, this trend extends beyond public figures to everyday people, who lack the resources to navigate the fallout. This creates an effect of self doubt and danger in people wanting to share honest opinions and debates. What ultimately ends up happening is cancel culture manages to stifle artistic expression and silence voices that offer unique perspectives, just because some group of people did not like the idea.

Cancel culture has been prevalent through human society for a long time. One early, yet famous example of this is the “Great Hunt” (or commonly know as the witch trials), which prosecuted 40,000 people to death without reason. It is another great example of how social conformity leads to the loss of narrative and judgement. Cancel culture, prioritizes an environment of punishment, rather than education, or understanding. It weaponizes outrage, leaving no room for empathy.

Ultimately, cancel culture creates an environment of fear, one driven by subjective ideas, disharmony and hatred, rather than free speech of dialogue. Accountability is important, but it should also be developed in justice and fairness. If one hopes to build a future of justice, free speech and harmony, we must challenge cancel culture’s elusive, yet destructive tendencies, and replace them with those of justice, fairness, and proper judgement.

Article: [bhisbhopal.edu.in/pdf/newsletter-jan25.pdf]

Image taken by me in Kazakhstan.