Allie Bernstein, '27
According to Merriam-Webster, the definition of cancel culture refers to, “The practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.”
If you have any platform of social media such as TikTok, Twitter (X), or even Facebook, then you very likely have heard or even participated in cancel culture. “Canceling” celebrities and influencers has become a normalized part of our modern society, and many have begun to call it into question. You may recall the infamous canceling of Colleen Ballinger, a YouTube star and social media persona.
Colleen Ballinger is a 36-year-old wife and mother of three young children. She was known for her internet character, Miranda Sings, who wore an abundance of lipstick and an obnoxious manner. Now, she is known as a child predator. How did her reputation get destroyed so fast? It all started with multiple allegations about inappropriate interactions with minor fans. A former fan of Colleen, Johnny Silvestri went to social media recently about being sent inappropriate photos and questions/comments from Colleen while he was 13 years old. After sharing evidence of these interactions, many other people started to speak up about their experiences with Colleen as minors, especially about her inappropriate performances at children’s shows. Within the span of weeks, Colleen lost nearly 200,000 followers on YouTube, not to mention her reputation. After so many allegations and pieces of evidence against Colleen, victims and the internet came together to “cancel” her. She attempted to apologize through a ukulele song, but that ended with the whole internet mocking her even further. Now, at the end of this road, we can ask ourselves one question: was cancel culture effective in this situation? Many would argue it was. A predator was exposed, and victims gained closure and justice. Colleen now has no respect and no chance of making money preying off of children again.
Even though in Colleen Ballinger’s case, cancel culture did more good than harm, it is still valuable to examine the other side of the argument that cancel culture is bad for our society. Barack Obama stated once, “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.”
While cancel culture may bring justice, it can also create bad habits in our society’s behavior. When Colleen Ballinger was canceled, social media was not solely focused on helping the victims, but instead spent a considerable amount of effort attacking Colleen. People mocked her looks, her family, her upbringing, and likely sent death threats. Her home address was exposed on Twitter and Tiktok, the home in which her own three young children live. Even though this hate towards her may have been justified, does it instill the habit of feeling justified to harass people who have committed much smaller mistakes?
Every human makes mistakes, whether that’s being ignorant or just needing some character growth. Breaking the law or intentionally having a prejudice against a group of people is not comparable to simply making a mistake, but public figures live in fear of being canceled for errors much smaller than that. I believe that moving forward when you see a video online criticizing a person’s past mistakes, it’s best to have self-awareness. It’s important to not immediately agree with the ‘louder voices’. Your opinion and outlook matters, especially when it contributes to a bigger cause.