Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines cancel culture as “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure. On the other hand, accountability is defined as “an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.”
Cancel culture has become incredibly popular and harmful in recent years. Instead of allowing people to change their actions and do better, society has simply chosen to go about “canceling” people, therefore terminating their opportunities to learn and grow. Cancel culture is harmful to society as a whole because we are inherently teaching the community to not allow any room for improvement or mistakes. Humans are inevitably bound to make mistakes. So with the prevalence of cancel culture, it has become harder to try to bounce back from the smallest of mistakes made within the public eye.
For example, Chrissy Teigen had tweets that resurfaced from decades ago, where she included hateful comments and disturbing language. While it is right that Chrissy should’ve been held rightfully accountable for her actions, the extreme hate she faced because of was unquestionably excessive. Instead of being given the platform to learn from her mistakes, she received unruly death threats for months and was labeled “canceled.”
Canceling people is completely ineffective because it closes the door on one’s accountability and growth instead, it leads to a toxic cycle of blame and exclusion. Particularly in Chrissy’s case, she experienced so much hateful public shaming that impeded any room for genuine understanding and left her defenseless against the cruelty she was enduring. This creates a reverse effect on the situation and leads to extreme bullying. The toxicity of cancel culture highlights the need for a more compassionate public discourse that effectively fosters one’s accountability.