Cancel culture continues to make headlines, but what is cancel culture? It depends on who you ask. In reality, cancel culture is a discontent manifestation of being accountable for one’s problematic actions or words.
Doomscrolling through Twitter led me to Bill Burr’s Saturday Night Live monologue.
Burr eviscerates the performative hijacking of the “woke movement” by entitled white women in his SNL monologue. However, his segment on “how stupid cancel culture is” shows a problem with misinformation and complicity.
“You ever talked to your grandparents and brought up the wrong subject, and all of a sudden, it went off the rails?” Burr asks the audience, “you don’t bring up race or religion with your grandparents. Keep it simple.” Rightfully so, the audience’s reaction is awkwardly silent, but it’s this admitted willful complicity that’s part of the problem. Knowingly avoiding unpleasant conversations accomplishes nothing; unlearning what we’ve been conditioned to learn is ageless.
This echoing misunderstanding of what cancel culture leads most seem to think it’s political correctness gone mad; it’s not. The truth about cancel culture is that it doesn’t exist.
Despite what most problematic comedians, pundits, and reply guys say— correlation is not causation. Cancel culture’s sensationalized into believing that a “woke society” is out to make things so severe that you can’t make jokes anymore; this isn’t true. It’s just that another person’s identity isn’t a punchline.
Observational humor works, but punchlines about someone else’s gender, race, sexuality, etc. how groundbreaking. Trite stereotypes add to an already uneven advantage to a marginalized person’s experience; it’s also lazy and uninspiring. Satire isn’t dead, but it’s also well-written (just ask Mel Brooks).
Frankly, the outrage over supposed “cancel culture” is more about censorship. A collective upset that boils down to being upset for getting called out for questionable behavior or tacky jokes. Grown adults should know better yet rely on problematic “humor” for attention since controversy sells with each page view and ad revenue.
The relentless common misconception distorts to fool people into thinking you can’t make jokes; this is wildly untrue. Millennials and Gen Z love to crack jokes, especially at our own expense. We laugh at our insecurities, the crippling imperialist political turmoil, as well as our mental health. Yet there are countless claims of millennials and Gen Z being fragile snowflakes.
Additionally, we also advocate for available mental health resources not to be as tired and miserable as generations before us. Meanwhile, most Boomers are silently suffering from undiagnosed mental illnesses or internalized childhood trauma because they didn’t question the abuse of power from those in charge.
In an ironic twist, critics who readily claim “cancel culture” are the ones who’ve weaponized it as their constitutional right to free speech. As if it’s infringed if their views are challenged by the public even though the First Amendment of the Constitution specifies: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
The whining and crying of ‘cancel culture’ is silly. George Carlin and Howard Stern are perfect examples of boundary pushers with offensive viewpoints that were never canceled. No matter the upset, they always recovered and even evolve.
Comedians love to be edge-lords to push the boundaries because it gets them more airtime/clicks. Pundits, politicos, and personalities rely on shock factor for relevance. Causing trolls, incels, and lemmings to back up these personalities (i.e., Joe Rogan) and exclaim “cancel culture” due to “toxicity.” As a result, “cancel culture” is now a battle cry of the GOP along with the far-right nazi’s that support them.
Yet pundits continue adding fuel to a culture war agenda complete with baited microaggressions.
Stifling lawmaking comes down with ferocity on poor and working-class People of color (a classic tactic to distract from substantive policy objections).
The above-mentioned stubborn reliance and deliberate inactivity of super conservatives like Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, and Mitch McConnell fight for agendas and profiteering lobbyists. The strive for external validation from POTUS further contributes to our society’s decline into performative living.
Not only is their job to subjugate the public, but their strong pro-Americana conservative beliefs swiftly attack others for being “anti-America” if you disagree.
Instead of understanding the #BlackLivesMatter movement, uber conservatives continue to spin a vilifying narrative to scare suburbanites and small-town America.
The labyrinth that is social media doesn’t help; there’s combative reply guys, online trolls, bots, and of course, Schröedinger’s douchebags.
This mentality is to play devil’s advocate, troll, make clickbait jokes (depending on the reaction) to recant later, and cry “cancel culture.” The human equivalent of this is Piers Morgan. Morgan’s so fragile that other people’s pronouns bother him.
This begs the question, if this supposed cancel culture truly exists— which celebrity or public figure’s canceled? Even the most publicly shamed famous personalities are still working or living cushy “regular” lives. For instance, if cancel culture is real, how are Chris Brown, J.K. Rowling, Woody Allen, Bill & Hillary Clinton, Russell Simmons, Steven King, Roseanne, Michael Richards, Amy Schumer, Louis C.K., Roman Polanksi, Vanessa Hudgens, Jimmy Fallon, Lana del Rey, and Ellen DeGeneres canceled? They’re all still getting booked and working seemingly unaffectedly.
Thus why cancel culture doesn’t exist; however, culture wars do. Purchased media networks show constant coverage of the U.S. in decline to intimidate viewers and remind them of the good ole days.
This strategy propels a “leader” yet forward as media propaganda ensues, the entire ethos of the POTUS and his following. Authoritarians have used culture war plays to distract from blatant racism, sexism, misogyny, transphobia, and homophobia for many years. This is the reason why the President has as many far-right and Neo-Nazi’s in his corner.
At its core, the truth about “cancel culture” is to de-platform a hidden, almost invisible underlayer of vitriol that seeps into these so-called jokes.
The status quo’s changing thanks to the continuing uprising of marginalized people/activists. They’re still marching/fighting for fundamental human rights, yet people are outraged over not being able to make a joke they could previously get away with ten years ago and beyond.
This is exactly the problem of those who claim PC police; the old ways they once knew are changing, and they’re not the ones calling the shots anymore. With already losing so much, those affected are hitting back at the status quo with the mighty power of those before us.
