The Myth of “Cancel Culture”: How the Phrase Has Been Weaponized to Destroy Debate
You know that disoriented feeling you get when you pass by a favorite store or restaurant that’s been there for years—and it’s gone! Fond memories of the place may rush into your head so quickly you might experience a slight panic at the sudden loss. And from then on, every time you pass the empty storefront with the For Lease sign, you may shake your head at how the world—your world, anyway—is changing so rapidly. And not for the better.
That is what “cancel culture” means to many people and why the phrase has been so effectively weaponized by some right-wing pundits and commentators to immediately poison the well of any discussion. The idea is to frighten the audience into thinking there’s a cultural SWAT team crouching outside their homes ready to burst in and confiscate their family photos and television remote. This fear tactic is especially effective on older people who already have to constantly readjust as the tides of time keep washing away the precious landmarks of their memories. It’s the same technique pundits always use when tossing out the words “communism” and “socialism” to describe something they don’t like, which their target audience hears as “pornographer” and “pedophile.”
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I understand the temptation to strike out and blame someone for taking away things we care about. It always feels like a direct and personal assault on our world and the wonderful memories we have that are the foundation of that world. In the past few months national icons have faced scrutiny: Jeopardy, Dr. Seuss, Chris Harrison (host of The Bachelor), Gina Carano (from The Mandalorian), Mumford & Sons’ Winston Marshall, country star Morgan Wallen, Pepe Le Pew, Mr. Potato Head, Captain Underpants, and more. To some, like Sharon Stone (“I think cancel culture is the stupidest thing that’s ever happened.”), it may seem like the pop culture Adjustment Bureau is rounding up free-thinkers to silence their truth. To others, it’s a cultural righting of a ship that has drifted off course, a liberation of those who have been confined and marginalized by stopping the mainstream bullying—whether intended or not.
The stakes are high: will TV shows, movies, novelists, song writers, comedians, and other artists begin self-censoring their works in order not to offend, leaving us with a bland pabulum of pop culture? Or are we merely establishing long overdue guidelines concerning how art helps perpetuate hate crimes and systemic racism?
The answer lies in facing the reality that there is no such thing as “cancel culture.” Cancel culture, as Shakespeare said about life, is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury—signifying nothing. It’s merely a hocus-pocus incantation to fog the mind, like “These are not the droids you are looking for.” Though it is meant to have the effect of “These are not the ideas you are looking for.” This is the conservative dream to Build That Wall—except this wall is meant to keep competing thoughts out.