The world watched the media as it was birthed into an essential part of life. Many people recall the time or the “good old days” when social media did not exist and phones were stuck to the walls with a cord.
Becoming more socially aware as a society, rights, and wrongs have pretty much written themselves out for us; it is now common sense. Do not call someone a slur, watch what you post on the internet, and be appropriate. These rules have taken time to form and so have many others. What was trendy 20 years ago is stuffed in the trash cans of thrift stores, and ideologies from 20 years ago have also been set on the back burner. The special thing about the internet though, is that everything is always there. So as the world changes, trends shift, and common sense shifts, the internet logs each moment of it, storing anything and everything for safekeeping. It sits in the back of the thrift store, unpurchased, untouched, until…
Cancel culture is toxic because not only does it prompt further online usage (with clicks and views) but it exposes these pieces from years ago that back then, were irrelevant. Hidden away either by numerous posts or deleted long ago, social media content shows a true representation of our world throughout different periods in time. The toxicity from cancel culture stems from the resurgence of old pieces of media. For example, a superstar says r-slur in a tweet back in 2000. Back in 2000, what are known as slurs today was commonly used language or a part of culture that had not yet been exiled by the public. It is unfair to hinge the career of someone on something that they posted to the media years ago due to the drastic amount our society has evolved. Significantly and most obviously, people change. If someone is not who they were 10 years ago, why should they be held to the consequences now? In the government, it is illegal to charge someone with a crime they committed if it was not a crime when they committed it; this is known as ex post facto laws. Shouldn’t the same go for social media?
As a planet, we have watched the birth and evolution of the internet. Alongside, we have had the ability to understand how people grow similarly to the way technology is. Cancel culture is toxic and harmful due to the fact that it sets aside the growth of a person and does not consider the time period of a post or reaction.
It just simply makes no sense.