Having 100 million followers means that you have over 1% of the world’s population following you.
Though 1% may seem small, there are over 7 billion people on earth. With these many followers, there are bound to be many hecklers and haters. These are the types of people that have caused a rise in today’s new digital society, better known as “cancel culture”.
What is “Cancel Culture”?
Cancel culture is the process of withdrawing support from specific celebrities, brands, companies, or concepts after they have said or done something that is considered offensive. This has taken over the world the past few years and now the recent pandemic has made it even worse. With more people joining and creating new social media accounts, there are greater cruel comments which often involve body shaming, discrimination, and gender bias. Online shaming is connected to cancel culture, in that when one gets “canceled,” they start to get shamed online.
Why Now?
The recent coronavirus pandemic has caused many to stick to their devices, scrolling aimlessly for hours on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. During this lack of productivity, people have begun digging into celebrities' past, in an attempt to find any juicy content that could spark controversy within the public. Many of us must have read Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone. Just recently, the multimillion-dollar author J.K Rowling was “canceled” due to a transphobic comment she made on social media. With millions of people attacking her, she wasn’t strong enough to fight against the cancel culture and has since been out of the public eye. J. K Rowling is just ONE of the THOUSANDS of celebrities who have undergone public wrath within this past year. But, "who cares right?" It’s not like they’re people too.
Through these difficult times, the increase in toxicity is simply saddening. Cancel culture and online shaming has skyrocketed and, judging by this generation’s consistent lack of sensitivity and emotions, it will continue to increase. Yet, the larger question still remains: is this where the future is headed? In times of such distress and difficulty, is this the way the younger generation copes- and will continue to cope? Who is to blame for this?
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