To define what cancel culture is can be highly rampant; the term cancels culture has recently come to light in the last couple of years due to the outcomes of free speech, what it can and can't be viewed as through media platforms. Some freedom of speech can pose a significant danger to an audience. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, consider this comment, and every person has their own opinion (therefore, controversy arises). There have been cases of high profile individuals being questioned and examined for their wrongdoings by the media for years, where the opposing side of the public has formed outrage at either sexist, racist, or morally unjust comments made by such figures. In this day and age, it is seen as a way of opposing the high majority of society by everyday people such as me and you. Due to these harmful narratives, people in power are losing their positions and the status quo, and I believe it needs to happen. (in some cases).
“Canceling” someone means to stop giving them attention or money because of something they said or did. Effectively, it is crowd-sourced punishment, and it has grown more prevalent this year as social media use accelerated during the pandemic"
https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2020/8/22/21362516/cancel-culture-forgiveness-j-k-rowling-carson-king-apology-moral
One of the most prominent cases of cancel culture in the last decade falls for JK Rowling, the writer, and publisher of the Harry Potter series. The now 55-year-old has been referred to by media as being cancelled. On a Thursday morning back in 2019 Rowling faced a series of backlash due to her comments on the status of transgenders…. The tweet wrote.
The addition of adding the hashtags ##IStandWithMaya" and "#ThisIsNotADrill, clearly shows she stood with British researcher Maya Forstater, who lost her position in a nonprofitable think tank, due to a series of tweets that were deemed transphobic.
Maya Forester filed a complaint against ThinkTank (The centre for global development). The judge had stated that Forester's speech had infringed the 'dignity' of transgender people, which was invalid under UK law.
With someone of such a legacy, being politically correct is placed into question whether J.K Rowling obtained a social media presence as significant as hers, 14 million followers on Twitter needed, to continually post regarding her accusations of 'transphobia' from the LGBTQ community.
Responses to JK Rowling.
Exhibited below are numerous public responses to the matter of JK Rowling standing up for Forester.
The strengths and weaknesses of a publisher of her calibre for me are clear. Growing up through a different time to make yourself known and prominent in their society showed courage to speak freely and discuss what's truly on her mind. Due to the theme of being classified as cancelled, I believe this could be a little overdone. She viewed her own opinion on the matter, and if it were someone who wasn't known or isn't a well-known figure, there would be very little or no repercussions.
Words from Amanda Knox stating 'it breaks my heart' demonstrate the effects these comments from rowling are on her community and fans. It's difficult to sit here and say that all her actions were unjustifiable. With someone of such following to branch out and say these things to a specific group or community (in this case, the LGBTQ) and insult their nature and way of living is a detrimental comment on someone's legacy; they've grown. I understand the age gap and differences of growing up at various times, yet sometimes there need to be times when no comments are necessary. Selling over 500 million copies of her famous Harry Potter series, it's inevitable that statements like these could be harming a majority of the crowd involved with the sales.
More cases…
Alexi McCammond
'In March 2021, McCammond was primed to assume the editor-in-chief position at Teen Vogue. However, offensive tweets from her teenage years resurfaced. Staff members were outraged and McCammond resigned before she even started'.
It's a strange world where comments from your passed can and do jeopardise the job you've worked for your entire life, although racist towards people of Asian culture, isn't there a focus on change and regrowth.
Shane Gills
“Why do the fucking ch*nks live there?” Gillis asks, explaining why Chinatown disgusts him. “Get those ducks out of that window.”
There are many questions in the case of Shane Gills being a comedian, where most would say the only place to freely speak without receiving a backlash, yet due to some racial and homophobic references, gill was deemed ‘cancelled’ by the media.
It's extremely hard to determine if these cases deserved the title of being classified in ‘cancel culture’ so let's dive into a bit more theories on the topic.
The right to free expression
Democracies worldwide, including places such as Canada and the United States, express their intentions of promoting free speech, therefore creating the question of ‘does cancel culture threaten the deep-rooted constitutional freedom these countries oblige by?’
The ongoing argument on what and how to approach this cancelled culture leaves many other concerns. Do these people deserve to lose their entire hard-working careers over one comment that potentially was started decades ago, and has their words so-called ‘cancelling’ got a time limit?
The conversation brings up a great point of an ideological divide. This divide brings into light the direct split between what is possible right and remaining in politics we know today; the gap has never seemed to be more spread apart. The debate on cancel culture is caused by the perception of how we treat one another, usually another party being frustrating with a lack of realism or consequences for people in power. Although cancel culture at times can affect celebrities and their careers, some audiences take part in a more exciting direction: The failure to show forgiveness or letting the situation slide.
She exhibited through the corporate diversity and inclusion consultant Aaron Rose. Rose identified that those who partake in the call-out culture create an objective to form a focus on how we honestly communicate with each other and question how to treat people.
He discusses the mainstream media solely based on calling out and placing blame upon other people, where a focus should be on not this cancelled culture but perhaps something that provides us with "more than a short-term release of cathartic anger". As rose understands the main reasoning for this cancellation of the high class, he wants to turn a page and find more stories of a transformation rather than the punishment and so-called cancelling.
There's an everlasting controversy about being 'cancelled; do these people deserve it? Can passed comments determine your future? So many questions on how the media world can decide if you're compensated. In a world where freedom of speech is prioritised, there are still so many factors stopping us from doing so. To come up with a finalised opinion on the cancel culture is a tough one for me; there are so many factors and circumstances that need to be considered. People with public status, I believe, should strain away from any derogatory comments about either sex, race, demographic or anything that could potentially cause harm to another human.
References
2022. [online] Available at: <https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1507364792834666511> [Accessed 31 March 2022].
2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/08/jk-rowling-cancel-culture.html> [Accessed 31 March 2022].
Deseret News. 2022. You’ve been canceled. Now what?. [online] Available at: <https://www.deseret.com/indepth/2020/8/22/21362516/cancel-culture-forgiveness-j-k-rowling-carson-king-apology-moral> [Accessed 31 March 2022].
The Conversation. 2022. Can we cancel 'cancel culture?'. [online] Available at: <https://theconversation.com/can-we-cancel-cancel-culture-164666> [Accessed 31 March 2022].
Vox. 2022. Why we can’t stop fighting about cancel culture. [online] Available at: <https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/30/20879720/what-is-cancel-culture-explained-history-debate> [Accessed 31 March 2022].