Is Our Generation Too Soft?

By: Tashana Wright

Chelsea Stahl / NBC News; Getty Images; AP

Cancel Culture

What is cancel culture you may ask? Cancel culture or a call-out culture is a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles, whether virtually or in person. When you think about Gen Z the first thing you think of is social media. I know it has some upsides to it but it also has many negative effects. Cancel culture has made its mark this year from Shane Dawson to Rihanna. Celebrities are getting canceled daily making it hard on the fans who are now put in a tricky position: choosing whether or not to continue supporting the celebrity or to abandon them and allow their name to be slandered across the internet. On apps like Twitter and Tik Tok, influencers can be canceled over the smallest things including not putting a trigger warning on a post or not giving awareness towards a topic. On the other hand, they can also be canceled for making comments that are racist, homophobic, ableist, etc.

My Opinion

My opinion on cancel culture is that we are too quick to cancel others for little things but are also unable to reflect on our actions and hold ourselves accountable for the many mistakes we’ve made. We've all done something we aren't proud of. I believe cancel culture exists because our generation wants to fix the mistakes that were made in the past and finally be able to properly hold people accountable so that justice is given to the people who have been hurt by their words or actions. However, sometimes we end up playing God, writing all these names in our death notes and we end up going overboard. The problem is we don’t let people learn from their mistakes because we are too quick to cancel even though everyone needs time to change. Another problem I see constantly is that we are so selective about who we cancel. This is because someone with a lot of fans can do something wrong and then give an apathetic apology they would still have people accept it whereas a smaller influencer does something problematic and gives a sincere apology, people will give them a difficult time which gives cancel culture an unjust outlook.

This leads back to my question of our generation being too “soft”. I would say we are not as we just want you to stop viewing rich or famous people as being above basic human decency and start holding them accountable. Similar to holding the people around us accountable if they said anything that promoted any type of discrimination. In some situations, we go overboard; however, that doesn't make us soft or sensitive but desiring accountability.

Is There Some Good To Cancel Culture

I think there is and I say this because many people believe that our generation is too “sensitive”, but honestly, I believe we are not allowing problematic behavior to go unchecked. We are in an era where individuals want to stop the spread of harmful beliefs, so if we keep allowing those to make mistakes, how can we fix the problems we have in our society?

Things We Can Do To Change

We can start by letting people learn from their mistakes instead of canceling them immediately. If they refuse to accept that they made a mistake, we can simply choose not to associate with them by halting our support instead of constantly stalking their accounts and waiting for them to speak out just to spread hate comments. It is a waste of time and just allows their victim complex to grow, creating mass guilt from the public that allows them to re-enter the limelight.