Is Cancel Culture Even Effective?

The Effectiveness of Cancel Culture

    As technology progresses, more and more people are on the internet if you're creating content or watching that content, were on the internet. We all have that one YouTuber or content creator we can’t stop ourselves from watching. You watch all their posts and like every single one of their videos, you even bought some of their merchandise. Then one morning you wake up to a message from your friend, “Hey, isn’t this about the guy you watch?” the text said with a link attached to it. Confused, and incredibly curious, maybe they did some kind of crazy stunt or something, you click the link. Just to send you to an hour-long video about your favorite content creator and their terrible and hurtful behavior. “No way,” you thought, but the further you looked for answers, the more things began to make sense in the video. They were being cancelled.

    We’ve all heard about Cancel culture in some way or another. Some kind of celebrity or content creator is always being called out about any kind of behavior, if it's people you like or, people you hoped to see their career fall. Cancel culture refers to the deplatforming of an individual with a following in hopes of holding them accountable for hurtful behavior. This often causes their career as an influencer to plummet, even if they were falsely accused or have changed for the better. This kind of behavior is a common occurrence throughout the internet, but is that the right way to hold someone accountable? Is that fair for both sides? Is it even effective? When it comes to the internet, cancel culture is not effective.

    When it comes to accountability it could be seen in several different ways. Most people on the internet seem to blow up without explanation and immediately expect the accused to condemn their wrongdoings. In some cases, this is true, most creators will just accept their hate and simply apologize. This will further fuel the controversy due to some fans that might not feel validated enough to move on. According to Psychotherapist Shirani M. Pathak, in her argument about lack of accountability “[cancel culture] amplifies the problem rather than addressing it.” (qtd. Lyons, Dubin), this becomes very evident when problems with an individual on the internet involves a large group of people. People have the need to be correct in something they strongly believe in, which makes it harder to prove what they think might not be true. It’s even harder when it’s not just one person, but a large group of people that refuse to listen to the accused. This will eventually push the other party or the accused to step down from their beliefs without understanding why they are receiving hate. So, it stops any way to harm their image as an influencer. This is way to keep their image on the internet as positive as possible.

When it comes to accountability it could be seen in several different ways. Most people on the internet seem to blow up without explanation and immediately expect the accused to condemn their wrongdoings. In some cases, this is true, most creators will just accept their hate and simply apologize. This will further fuel the controversy due to some fans that might not feel validated enough to move on. According to Psychotherapist Shirani M. Pathak, in her argument about lack of accountability “[cancel culture] amplifies the problem rather than addressing it.” (qtd. Lyons, Dubin), this becomes very evident when problems with an individual on the internet involves a large group of people. People have the need to be correct in something they strongly believe in, which makes it harder to prove what they think might not be true. It’s even harder when it’s not just one person, but a large group of people that refuse to listen to the accused. This will eventually push the other party or the accused to step down from their beliefs without understanding why they are receiving hate. So, it stops any way to harm their image as an influencer. This is way to keep their image on the internet as positive as possible. 

    

    The internet is covered with false claims and information. Celebrities and famous influencers are very prone to this kind of behavior. Specifically, Youtuber and Twitch Streamer, Kwite, who was accused of sexual assault, transphobia, and manipulative behavior by another content creator. The accuser's fan base began to blow up in defense of those allegations, supporting and believing everything they had claimed about Kwite. People would begin to express strong hatred towards Kwite, and despite trying to explain his part of the situation he was immediately shot down. He would later disprove all the allegations in a video named “For The Record” going through every detail he needed to prove his innocence, which would save his career as a content creator. In his video he explains that most people during his situation and even outside of it have a mentality of only believing the phrase guilty until proven innocent, which silenced his view on the situation. He expresses his disproval of that behavior by saying “this type of thinking is harmful and need to stop.” (Kwite 1:27:42), which is very true. He later states that although it is best to support a victim and trust them when they are coming out, it’s also best to verify that those actions are true so neither party is hurt. Those false allegations hurt his career and his voice on his situation immensely.

False claims and allegations don't just affect someone's career but also their mental health. In Kwites situation he began to receive a large amount of hate. The large amount of the hate was not just about the allegations towards him but were several attacks on his personal self, involving several messages threatening his life. He expressed “I am genuinely so anxious to go outside,” he continues by stating “there are ways to never recover from this,” (Kwite). These quotes show the seriousness of false allegations how much they really do affect the other party. Even after years of his allegations he still to this day has a hard time witnessing situations like his. He’s gone off the internet several times after anything that resembles what he went through.  For example, someone he is not entirely friendly with but were mutuals internet was receiving a large amount of backlash over some old drama that had recently been brough up. Kwite’s response to it was leaving the internet for a couple of weeks so he could avoid anything similar to what he went through. To this day those false claims still affect Kwite and his wellbeing on the internet.

    False claims and allegations don't just affect someone's career but also their mental health. In Kwites situation he began to receive a large amount of hate. The large amount of the hate was not just about the allegations towards him but were several attacks on his personal self, involving several messages threatening his life. He expressed “I am genuinely so anxious to go outside,” he continues by stating “there are ways to never recover from this,” (Kwite). These quotes show the seriousness of false allegations how much they really do affect the other party. Even after years of his allegations he still to this day has a hard time witnessing situations like his. He’s gone off the internet several times after anything that resembles what he went through.  For example, someone he is not entirely friendly with but were mutuals internet was receiving a large amount of backlash over some old drama that had recently been brough up. Kwite’s response to it was leaving the internet for a couple of weeks so he could avoid anything similar to what he went through. To this day those false claims still affect Kwite and his wellbeing on the internet. 

    

    Overall, when it comes to cancel culture, it does bring serious problems to light, but it does not make it an effective way to hold public figures on the internet accountable. Most influencers refuse to inform themselves of their harmful behavior or to keep themselves in the limelight of fame they will continue their problematic behavior just to have their name on the internet some way or another. In the most harmful side of cancel culture, people are faced with false claims that not only ruins their career as a public figure on the internet but also their mental health. Cancel Culture does not have a positive effect on either parties involved.