Opinion: Cancel Culture Should Be Cancelled

By: Vraj Shah

We’re all imperfect, but there’s no reason for faux moral absolutism, not in the world we live in now. The judgy looks, the rumors, and gossip, the lack of nuance in our discussion; society is headed backward.

We grow up because we want more freedom in our choices, to think through and gain perspective on some of our deepest problems, and mature, but we all face the same dilemma: fixating on the destination and ignoring the journey. We’ve forgotten about what it feels like to have an inner compass and decide how we interact with a complex and ambiguous world. The culprit? Instant gratification.

We get more likes on this picture than our last? I guess it’s okay to keep posting about the story of our breakup because people want to see more of that content, right? But what about our partner? What about our own feelings, our own morals, our principles? We cater to what others think of us more than ever now, rationalizing what we do with how others feel.

People say we’re more divided than ever, but we’ve been going down this path ever since we chose to reward those who chose short-term gains over long-term gains. Whoever covered our crumbling infrastructure with a new coat of paint got the vote, those who accrued enough capital to be able to dish out plea deals never really faced the hand of the law. We do what we do because of how it looks if the ends justify the means, but we ignore if the means are justified in the first place.

Short-term gratification has got us living in the future. All of a sudden, we’ve forgotten how many screw-ups we’ve made to get us to the position we’re in now. We don’t remember the realization, the feeling that we got once we realized, “Oh, everyone else is just like me.” Do we think cancel culture will get rid of the screw-ups? Our quest to hunt for the perfect person and our fake moral posturing has gotten us to a place critical thought would never: perfection. Perfection is always soon. We want it, NOW.

In a society run by frivolous labels like “woke” and “deep,” we’ve mischaracterized what it means to be influential – influencers are not influential, they’re popular. And just because something is popular, shouldn’t make it influential.

Facing societal issues head-on is tough, but facing doubt and fear head-on is near impossible because doubts and fears are subjective. So if you’re going to sacrifice someone’s well-being so that you don’t feel so “awkward,” or you’re more inclined towards self-preservation and “protecting your own feelings,” or, “protecting the feelings of another person,” then it might be time for you to change your subjective semantics – don’t conflate conformity with empathy.

The truth is, there aren’t evil people and good people, there are stubborn people and there are people that are hurting. And the irony is, everybody fits into those categories. Not even that everyone fits into one, I’m saying everyone fits into both – everybody is, at some point in their lives, or maybe simultaneously, both of those people. The stubborn people have no reason to believe that what they think is wrong, and the people that are hurting have no reason to believe that what they think is right. Sound familiar?

The diagnosis of cancel culture is right, though: people are narcissistic, some aren’t willing to be inclusive of everybody just because of personal biases that they impose on others. But the fact is, no one but themselves decides what’s right or wrong for themself, and once we let people be their own critics, those that always think they’re right will realize that even they fit in a society where everyone is accepting of everyone’s opinions because it’s not just the minority that’s being heard, it’s them too. Everybody just wants to be heard.

It’s every man for themselves in the world that cancel culture is creating – believe me, there’s nothing comforting about others throwing people on the ground just to get a fake “Thanks, I owe you.” Don’t think they won’t throw you on the ground too.

It’s easy to be a misanthrope in today’s society. People act as if what’s going on is just that those that are marginalized are being brought to the forefront and protected, like society is unifying to protect certain people and ostracize others, but don’t forget about those “others.”

“But some people just can’t be fixed, Vraj. Some people are too far gone to fix, so they don’t deserve a regular life, to create their own world and live in it like we’re all given the opportunity to do.” In other words, we decide whose life is lived righteously, and who’s broken. But of course, the one problem with that is no one is broken in the first place. What we’ve agreed on as a society is FAR from what’s real, and MUCH FARTHER from what’s right. What’s right is dependent on you. Be a critical thinker, screw fear, say what you want, because it’s okay to be wrong. I don’t want to live in a world where everybody’s right, because then there’s no reason to be unique.

The feelings we feel are and always will be invasive, corrosive, and hard to handle, but we expect that from our feelings, the volatility of them. Hating your feelings, not being able to separate your feelings from yourself, should not be the reason that we impose our insecurities on others – hating others that are on their journey isn’t fixing any problems anytime soon, because those are the same problems we have.

The people we should be going after are ourselves – “am I the best version of myself I can be?” is the question we all should be asking. No one understands you like yourself, and that can come with perks as well as plights. When we realize that we’re the only ones we truly have, other people’s opinions become perspectives, and nothing more. There’s no room in society for judgment of character, so if we’re going to try to pass judgment, let it be for intent if anything. What kind of person says they have the right to judge someone and then control their livelihood? We’ll never find the answer to how to survive by ostracizing others. This isn’t a political issue. This is a human issue. Where has the place for opinions gone?

Some may say we at least have art, but here’s a list that might suggest otherwise: Harvey Weinstein, Brett Ratner, Bill Cosby, O.J. Simpson, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Hart, Derrick Rose, Michael Jackson. You probably felt some contempt when you started, “These motherf***ers.” But what happened when you got to the last 4 names? What’s happened with society’s impressions of Kevin Hart, of Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, and Michael Jackson? All of them have been accused of cheating, sexual assault, or even rape, so where is their contempt? Where is the public consensus on our opinion of them? It’s not society’s place to decide who we like and don’t like, it’s our own. Social judgment, ostracization, and cancel culture are all just synonyms for conformity. Let’s not lose ourselves in public opinion.

Today, art isn’t about personal expression, it’s not composed of the subjective reality through which artists see the world, it’s filtered – even art has to be “politically correct.” Personally, Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, and Kevin Hart are my idols, but they don’t have to be anyone else’s. Who gets to decide on their character? If Mozart was accused of these heinous things, who would judge the merit of his character? The uncomfortable answer, but the one I hope you’re all thinking is nobody. Nobody gets to decide someone’s character, nobody can grapple with the nuance of what people are made of.

The merits of our character are judged by ourselves.