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Publication: The Oracle, SUNY College at New Paltz, New Paltz NY.
“Canceling” celebrities and other influential figures is a powerful action, despite its flaws.
Cancel culture has been trending on the internet since 2015, originating from Black Twitter (a network of black users active on the social media platform) as a hashtag. Upon its initial use, the term “canceling” was coined to mean a rejection of an individual who promotes inappropriate or unacceptable ideas. Canceling celebrities for this type of behavior gained traction quickly, and as of 2018, Twitter users began a widespread canceling of celebrities for these reasons.
Cancel culture works as a digital version of a boycott, in which people rally together to demonetize, disapprove of and protest famous figures in our society. Cancel culture allows people who find out about injustices to gather a huge following online and demonstrate their distaste for someone’s actions and demand retribution. It forces these figures into the spotlight for their wrongdoing, and demands answers. Canceling these celebrities became a way of taking control and power back from this system of wealthy elite that grants them the ability to dominate the popular narrative.
This method of civil disobedience is unlike any form we’ve seen before. In the digital era, people have found a way to level the playing field and...