Is Cancel Culture Good for Society?

Source: https://www.procon.org/headlines/is-cancel-culture-or-callout-
culture-good-for-society/

Cancel Culture – Top 3 Pros and Page | 1

Cons
Last updated on: 1/20/2022 | Author: ProCon.org

Cancel culture, also known as callout culture, is the removal (“canceling”) of support for
individuals and their work due to an opinion or action on their part deemed
objectionable to the parties “calling” them out.   [1]

The individuals are typically first called out on social media to magnify the public
knowledge of their perceived offense, whereupon the campaign to cancel ensues. The
canceling can take several forms, including the exerting of pressure on organizations to
cancel the individual’s public appearances or speaking engagements and, in the case of
businesses deemed offensive, organizing boycotts of their products. [1]

Celebrities and social and political leaders are frequently the targets of cancel
campaigns.  Actor and comedian Bill Cosby, who was found guilty in 2018 of drugging
and sexually assaulting a woman and accused of assault by more than 50 women, is
only one of many, recent, high-profile examples. [2] But everyday people can be caught in
the crosshairs as well. A public relations executive, for example, tweeted an offensive
joke about AIDS before boarding a plane in London and traveling to South Africa. An
uproar on Twitter followed, and by the time her plane landed, she had been “called out,”
“canceled,” and fired. [3]

The cancel campaigns are not always so successful or one-sided. In July 2020, after
Goya Foods CEO Robert Unanue praised President Trump for promoting an Hispanic
prosperity initiative, liberal Latino leaders organized a boycott of Goya products despite
Unanue’s similar praise of President Obama. Instead of bankrupting the company, the
attempted cancellation prompted the Bodega and Small Business Association to come
to the company’s defense with a “buycott” to support the more than 13,000 shops that
sell Goya products and thousands of black and Latino Goya employees. [4] [5]

Anyone who remembers reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter knows cancel

culture is not new. What is new, however, is social media’s ability to boost the speed,
scope, and impact of a “cancel” and the influence this has had on traditional bastions of
free speech. The now endemic quality of cancel culture has even spawned college
 Is Cancel Culture Good for Society?

classes, such as one taught by Visiting Professor Loretta J. Ross at Smith College, in
which Ross says she is “challenging the call-out culture.”

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 Is Cancel Culture Good for Society?

Pro 1
Cancel culture allows marginalized Cancel culture amounts to online
people to seek accountability bullying, and can incite violence
where the justice system fails. and threats even worse than the
The #metoo movement gave innumerable original offense being called out.
women (and some men) the ability to call
out and maybe cancel their countless
abusers in a forum where the accusations
might be heard and matter.
Olivia Goldhill, Quartz science reporter,
explained, “Men have sexually assaulted
and harassed women with impunity for
millennia. Incredibly, ever since the
allegations against Hollywood impresario
Harvey Weinstein stopped being an ‘open
secret,’ a few famous men have finally
faced repercussions for their actions.
Where inept courts and HR departments
have failed, a new tactic has succeeded:
Women talking publicly about
harassment on social media, fueling the
public condemnation that’s forced men
from their jobs and destroyed their
reputations.” [6]
Constance Grady, Staff Writer at Vox,
stated, “Historically, we as a culture don’t
do much to the rich and famous and
powerful men of the world when women
say that those men have hurt them. We
give them Oscars and a seat on the
Supreme Court and in the White House,
and we call their accusers liars or
hysterical or unreliable. We treat the men
and their power as sacrosanct and the
women and their pain as disposable.” [7]
By Oct. 2018, the end of the first year of
#metoo, 429 people faced 1,700
Con 1
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Sam Biddle, the journalist who retweeted
Justine Sacco’s joke about AIDS that
resulted in her firing while on a plane to
South Africa, later regretted his actions
and their results, stating, “it’s easy and
thrilling to hate a stranger online.” [22]
Asam Ahmad, author and community
organizer, notes that canceling an
everyday person without compassion for
the complexities of that person’s life
amounts to bullying: “For instance, most
call-outs I have witnessed immediately
render anyone who has committed a
perceived wrong as an outsider to the
community. One action becomes a
reason to pass judgment on someone’s
entire being, as if there is no difference
between a community member or friend
and a random stranger walking down the
street (who is of course also someone’s
friend). Call-out culture can end up
mirroring what the prison industrial
complex teaches us about crime and
punishment: to banish and dispose of
individuals rather than to engage with
them as people with complicated stories
and histories.” [23]
Like the incident with Sacco, a single call
out frequently snowballs into a mob
attack on an individual. Anna Richards,
MA, Vice President at The Neutral Zone
Coaching and Consulting Services, notes
that those doing the calling out are
 Is Cancel Culture Good for Society?
allegations of sexual misconduct. That
cohort included Harvey Weinstein, now
convicted of third-degree rape and a first-
degree criminal sexual act. [8] [9] [10] The
allegations against Weinstein date to the
late 1980s, and had long been an “open
secret” in Hollywood. [11] Without cancel
culture, Weinstein may still be in a
position of power.
Weinstein is the outlier in terms of
criminal justice. Few powerful men are
convicted of sexual misconduct. As of
July 3, 2020, #metoo allegations have
resulted in only 7 convictions and 5 other
people charged with sexual
misconduct. [10] However, 201 men in
positions of power lost their jobs in the
first year of #metoo due to sexual
misconduct allegations that were posted
on social media. [9]
As Jill Filipovic, JD, lawyer and writer,
explained, “for the powerful, criminal
convictions are rare, in part because
these people have better tools to work
the justice system and rarely fit the
stereotype of a convict. So the court of
public opinion ends up being where
accusations–and just as often,
accusers–are tried.” [12]
Beyond #metoo, other movements are
able to demand justice. Black Lives
Matter has repeatedly called out the
killing of black men in particular by police
officers. The result was perhaps the
biggest global civil rights movement in
history when 15 to 26 million people
marched globally for black rights in June
2020. [13] [14]
“taking this moral high ground, with a lot
of righteous indignation, and inviting
others to participate in a public shaming
exercise.” And that is frequently
counterproductive because the people Page | 4
being canceled “feel as though they’re
already on shaky ground and if they have
some sort of mistake highlighted it would
be drawing from an empty cup. Generally
what I see is just a total collapse, where
the person’s sense of self is eroded, or a
kind of counter-attack, where they double
down on their position and don’t want to
learn.” [24]
Alex Miranda, a high school student,
explained, “All too commonly… users feed
off the negativity presented in these
online boycotts to create a hate train of
mass cyberbullying targeted at one
specific individual. Death threats are
oftentimes among the list of obscene
proclamations directed toward canceled
individuals, which elevate the resented
climate to an even more alarming state
and can lead to real-life detriments. From
this perspective, social media users’
retaliation against those who are
canceled is sometimes more offensive
than the exposed behavior of the offender
themself.” [25]
Sameer Hinduja, PhD, Co-Director of the
Cyberbullying Research Center at Florida
Atlantic University, stated cyberbullies are
“more likely to feel free from social norms
and morals and ethics and rules and
possible punishments and sanctions
when they’re behind a screen and
physically distant or geographically
Is Cancel Culture Good for Society?

separate from the target.” [26]

Further, the cancellation can damage

both parties if it has devolved into
bullying. A 2020 study found 39% of Page | 5
cyberbully victims and 29% of
cyberbullies showed signs of PTSD (Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder). [26]
 Is Cancel Culture Good for Society?
Pro 2
Cancel culture gives a voice to
disenfranchised or less powerful
people.
Osita Nwanevu, MPP, Staff Writer at The
New Republic, states, “The critics of
cancel culture are plainly threatened not
by a new and uniquely powerful kind of
public criticism but by a new set of
critics: young progressives, including
many minorities and women who, largely
through social media, have obtained a
seat at the table where matters of justice
and etiquette are debated and are
banging it loudly to make up for lost
time.” [15]
Meredith Clark, PhD, Assistant Professor
of Media Studies at the University of
Virginia, elaborates on the power given to
disenfranchised voices, “To me, it’s
ultimately an expression of agency. To a
certain extent: I really do think of it like a
breakup and a taking back of one’s
power.” [16]
Oscar Schwartz, PhD, author, elaborates,
“While there may be instances of
collateral damage [in cancel culture], even
people innocently accused, a more
pressing problem to address is how and
why institutions we are supposed to trust
are deaf to many of the problems facing
women and minority groups.” [17]
While not everyone has access to
legislators or other powerful people,
everyone can sign up for a Twitter
account. “Canceling is a way to
acknowledge that you don’t have to have
Con 2
Cancel culture is not productive
and does not bring about social
change.
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President Barack Obama, JD, stated,
“Like, if I tweet or hashtag about how you
didn’t do something right or used the
wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel
pretty good about myself, cause, ‘Man,
you see how woke I was, I called you out…
That’s not activism. That’s not bringing
about change. If all you’re doing is
casting stones, you’re probably not going
to get that far. That’s easy to do.” [27]
As Patrisse Khan-Cullors, Co-Founder of
Black Lives Matter, notes, “People don’t
understand that [social activist]
organizing isn’t going online and cussing
people out or going to a protest and
calling something out.” Activism is hard
work entailing sometimes boring
meetings, strategy sessions, building a
campaign, and getting petitions
signed. [28]
Aaron Rose, Corporate Diversity and
Inclusion Consultant, explained,
“Mainstream internet activism is a lot of
calling out and blaming and shaming. We
have to get honest with ourselves about
whether calling out and canceling gives
us more than a short-term release of
cathartic anger.” Rose admitted that
cancel culture did not give him the
conclusions he wanted: “I was not seeing
the true change I desired. … We were still
sad and mad. And the bad people were
still bad. And everyone was still
 Is Cancel Culture Good for Society?
the power to change structural inequality.
You don’t even have to have the power to
change all of public sentiment. But as an
individual, you can still have power
beyond measure [online]” and “for black
culture and cultures of people who are
lower income and disenfranchised, this is
the first time you do have a voice in those
types of conversations,” explained Anne
Charity Hudley, PhD, Chair of Linguistics
of African America at the University of
California Santa Barbara. [18]
Dee Lockett, Music Editor for Vulture,
summarizes the results of the social
media call outs during the 2020 Black
Lives Matter protests: “It’s been most
effective as a collective public display of
pointing the finger at a problem. It’s a
massive signal boost, but that doesn’t
mean it’s valueless. It’s performative … to
post these screenshots of our donation
receipts, swipe ups to anti-black reading
lists, and lying en masse on the grass for
eight-plus minutes as George Floyd’s last
words are recited over a mic. It’s also the
language and currency of this era. Purses
are opening. Cops (in one case) have
been charged. There’s also a lot of value
in seeing your faves turn into grassroots
activists overnight. Halsey is a war nurse
out of nowhere?! John Boyega is an
anointed civil-rights leader. Kehlani is
mobilizing on the ground. I’ve never seen
anything like it.” [20]
traumatized.” [18]
Frequently, cancel culture backfires and
engenders sympathy for the alleged
offender, leading to continued support by Page | 7
fans. Louis CK took what amounts to a
10-month vacation before selling out
dozens of comedy shows. After enduring
decades of cancellations and
documentaries about their alleged
misdeeds, both R. Kelly and Michael
Jackson’s music saw increases in
streaming. Kevin Hart withdrew from his
Oscars hosting job but saw no decline in
audience for his movies or stand-up
specials. [18]
Rose, among others, have promoted
individual conversations with people to
encourage growth on both sides.
Sometimes termed “calling in.”
Author and Digital Strategist Maisha Z.
Johnson offers “Addressing harmful
behavior is important, but so is
understanding that everyone is on a
different step of their journey, so we all
make mistakes. And we all have different
strengths – so if someone’s lacking in
one area, like knowing vocabulary words,
we don’t have to treat them like they’re
totally disposable to the movement. We
can help them grow in that area, and hope
that others would help us in the areas we
need to grow, too.” [29]
 Is Cancel Culture Good for Society?
Pro 3
Cancel culture is simply a new
form of boycott, a cherished tactic
in the civil rights movement, to
bring about social change.
Lisa Nakamura, PhD, Professor and
Director of the Digital Studies Institute at
the University of Michigan, states that
cancel culture is “a cultural boycott. It’s
an agreement not to amplify, signal
boost, give money to. People talk about
the attention economy — when you
deprive someone of your attention, you’re
depriving them of a livelihood.” She
elaborates, “Socially irredeemable things
are said on platforms all the time” but
cancellation provides “a culture of
accountability which is not centralized
and is haphazard, but needed to come
into being.” [16]
Hudley, states simply, “If you don’t have
the ability to stop something through
political means, what you can do is refuse
to participate.” [18] Boycotts have long
been associated with civil rights
movements with the most famous,
perhaps, being the Montgomery Bus
boycott began in 1955 after Rosa Parks
refused to sit in the back of an Alabama
bus. [19]
Craig Jenkins, Vulture Music Critic, refers
to cancel culture as “a redrawing of the
balance of power between brands and
consumers — a necessary one, I think. I’m
thrilled the brands are scared to death of
saying the wrong thing for once.” [20]
Jenkins’ colleague, Senior Writer, E. Alex
Con 3
Cancel culture is a slippery slope
and leads to intolerance in
democratic societies as people
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systematically exclude anyone
who disagrees with their views.
Loretta Ross, author, deems cancel
culture a “cannibalistic maw” that is
“[s]ometimes… just ruthless hazing.” [30]
In a July 4, 2020, speech at Mount
Rushmore, President Trump stated, “One
of (the left’s) political weapons is ‘cancel
culture’ — driving people from their jobs,
shaming dissenters and demanding total
submission from anyone who disagrees.
This is the very definition of
totalitarianism, and it is completely alien
to our culture and our values, and it has
absolutely no place in the United States
of America.” [31]
Instead of canceling people, we should be
encouraging more people to tell their
stories, to add inclusivity and complexity.
Connecting cancel culture to the
dismantling of historic statues, Christian
Sagars, Assistant Voices and Opinion
Editor for Deseret News, stated, “Instead,
they have come for the opportunistic
Columbus and the slave-owning Founding
Fathers. They have come for Brigham
Young, the eponym of my alma mater and
the leader of one of the largest religious
migrations in the country’s history. It’s
healthy to expose the thorny characters
of history’s pages — and there’s a
distinction for those who fought against
their country and those who built it — but
to ignore or eliminate wholesale their
 Is Cancel Culture Good for Society?
Jung responded, “Accountability is a
really good way to frame it. It’s actually
asking, well, if Amazon is suddenly going
to uproot systemic racism (lol), what
does that actually mean in terms of their
labor practices? Or Twitter trying to stand
in solidarity with Black Lives Matter even
though as a company they haven’t taken
racism and misogyny that affected their
users seriously for years. The question is
how deep this reckoning goes” [20]
Meanwhile, at least 800 big brands like
Coca-Cola, Unilever, and Ford are using
cancel culture to boycott Facebook
advertising due to the platform’s refusal
to censor the speech of organizations
deemed “hate groups.” [21]
contributions to the nation’s foundation is
a slippery slope, indeed.” [32]
Cancel culture is also a slippery slope for
those doing the calling out as Steven Page | 9
Mintz, Professor Emeritus at California
Polytechnic State University in San Luis
Obispo, explained: “Some members of the
canceling group join in for fear of being
canceled themselves. People should be
able to speak out or remain silent on the
issues without fear of retribution.” He
continues by calling for more tolerance
and “willingness to allow the existence of
opinions or behavior that one does not
necessarily agree with and not seek to
harm the offender.” [33]