*I don’t claim to be a political scientist or a philosopher; just a lefty sharing her thoughts. 

To many on the left and right, Cancel culture is a modern plague. At its worst, it is public beheading, figurative burning at the stake driven by brutish groupthink. It hunts mercilessly for momentary (and human) lapses in judgment, and anyone who exists or speaks publicly, including academic lecturers, can fall victim.

Damaging as this tendency is to those who have a platform, doesn’t it reflect the natural order in a true democracy though?

What Cancel culture boils down to is public opinion. Being hated by peers is not a new phenomenon. Society has always had its outsiders, ostracized for handicaps, physical appearances, sexual proclivities, and more. Traditionally, common people have been influenced from the top down: first by religion, then government, then corporations, then mass media. We’ve been trained, typically by way of fear, on what is acceptable and non acceptable. The emergence of the Internet, however, has led to the democratization of influence. Information is no longer distributed in a one way broadcast. While in the past, we had a few official sources for news and guidance, and we digested information in the isolation of nuclear families, now, social media’s comments sections have created a space for discourse and dissent. What we’ve learned is: what is official is not always what is true; and those in power can be disempowered. 

My stance is not that Cancel culture is always correct or that it is morally right. Misinformation on all levels, from televised propaganda to internet trolls, is an endless peril, and the democratization of influence is not guaranteed to bring us closer to truth. Greg Lukianoff, civil rights lawyer and author of The Canceling of the American Mind, advocates that Cancel culture is an endangerment to free speech. He hones in on doxing as a method to silence individuals whose views dissent from public opinion. What he warns against is the tyranny of the majority, the idea that mob mentality can destroy a minority of nonconformist voices. During his interview on Lex Fridman’s podcast, Lukianoff shares examples of speakers who have been disinvited to college campuses, and university faculty members who have lost their jobs. 

While targeted campaigns to take down an individual’s career are unkind, I don’t see Cancel culture’s doxing as worse than smear campaigns operated by politicians and lobbyists. One distinction I believe Lukianoff fails to emphasize is that “Canceling” must come from the unranked masses–here is where it differs from traditional censorship. If an individual, whether a professor, news anchor, or actress, is fired due to falling out of favor with its organization’s leaders or investors because of their views, I see this as traditional censorship. “Canceling,” on the other hand, is when an individual loses popular appeal and is thereby fired due to an inability to satisfy audiences or the people they are meant to serve. You get censored by the few and mighty, but you get canceled by the common masses.

Of course it’s much easier to champion Cancel culture when it’s a viral video divulging a clearly racist former presidential adviser–a man not apt to hold any position of power. And it is more difficult to justify when it doxes a budding comedian for a tweet written ten years ago. Is it the worst thing to hold public figures to higher standards though? Not everyone deserves a microphone. Celebrities and politicians have influence so long as the People provide it–we choose to pay attention, and we can withdraw our attention at any time. It’s rather indulgent to ramble on a public platform without putting an ounce of thought into how words may be received. One could argue that Cancel culture inspires generally better behavior, and it reminds powerful figures of their duty to serve and entertain.

I acknowledge I have the commoner’s bias. Being of the proletariat, I am the one leaving the review, signing the petition, joining the boycott. As an individual, I lack influence, but my power is derived from joining the masses, and I’ll likely never taste the other side of it. Greg Lukianoff, on the other hand, had nearly ended his own life because of the despair brought on by Cancel culture’s bullying. Most of us lefties and progressives, I believe, have the goal of a kinder society in mind, and so we must realize the potential damages of our hostility. There’s a clear line between dissent and cruelty, and we need to employ good judgment on heeding it.