The Frontierman's Blog (Where We Talk About Random/Mundane Stuff)

Disclaimer: This will get into or mention some heavy topics. Reader discretion is advised.

In all my years on the internet, I have seen several trends, subcultures, and social phenomena. I have seen several come and go, and I have seen some still stick around to this day. Cancel culture can be categorised as the latter.

What exactly IS cancel culture?

Now, what exactly is cancel culture? Well, if we want to know that, then we’ll need to look at its general definition. Cancel culture, also known as call-out culture, is an online phenomenon in which people criticise and disassociate from others who say or do something they consider “unacceptable”. In layman’s terms, “You did something bad, we can’t associate with you and have to persecute you.”

Origins of cancel culture?

The term “cancel culture” first circulated between 2014 and 2015 within the Black Twitter community, coinciding with the #MeToo movement in late 2017 and early 2018.

If we go further back, we can see other examples of concepts similar to the phenomenon of cancel culture, specifically religious and community excommunication, as well as several forms of persecution.

What causes a “cancellation”?

Since the term “cancel culture” usually has negative connotations, let’s take this scenario as an example: Let’s say you posted something deemed insensitive online on a platform like X/Twitter.

Once other users find out about your post, they will shame you and ostracise you for your insensitivity to whatever or whoever you post about online. That’s what cancel culture is in a nutshell.

Why does cancel culture even exist?

Cancel culture exists so that the targets of persecution are held accountable for their actions, allowing groups that are usually marginalised to call out wrongdoing by any individuals or conglomerates when they act in an insensitive manner.

It is essentially a form of digital social regulation, driven by the desire for moral alignment and the need to combat perceived harm. 

Famous examples of cancellations:

Let’s take a look at some famous, or rather infamous, examples of cancel culture.

Let’s start with a famous one: J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books. Ever since June of 2020, Rowling has been the subject of cancellations and backlash due to her controversial statements on gender identity. This mostly destroyed her reputation due to how bigoted her statements were.

Another famous example is Mandalorian actress Gina Carano. She was fired in February of 2021 due to her comments about the 2020 election. comparing modern-day political disagreements to the Holocaust, and other right-wing comments.

Example of a false cancellation and its consequences:

Brace yourselves, this is why I added a disclaimer. Reader discretion is highly advised.

While a cancellation can be acceptable because someone did something unacceptable, there are also cases of people who have been falsely cancelled, leading to their lives being changed for the worse.

An example I can think of is the late Italian TikTok user Inquisitor Ghost, real name Vincent Plicchi. He was a user who did cosplays on his account. Around 2023, he was falsely accused of some inappropriate misconduct by another user, AJ. This caused extreme backlash against him despite the falsity of the accusations. Unfortunately, due to the pressure from the unjust backlash, he’d sadly take his own life.

This highlights the blind mob mentality that cancel culture is highly known for. Due to that mentality, the people who cancel their target end up neglecting vital information when it comes to these sorts of accusations.

Final thoughts on cancel culture:

In conclusion, cancel culture is like a double-edged sword. On one hand, cancelling someone for acceptable reasons can be justified, but cancelling someone due to false statements or accusations can have major consequences.

And that will be that.