You’re Canceled!
Being canceled is one of the worst things that can happen to you. Everyone in my generation knows the term ‘cancel culture’ because it is so popular in the world we live in today. We are finally living in a culture where people are being held accountable for the cruel things they are saying or doing. If someone gets canceled, the news will most likely be posted all over social media the next day. Making the decision to cancel someone should be deeply thought out because it can severely mess up someone’s life. Cancel culture is a serious topic of discussion that should not be taken lightly.
Being canceled is not limited to just celebrities; any human-being can get canceled. You can be anywhere at any time and anyone can cancel you; the only thing they need is proof of you saying or doing something worth canceling. Although, it is harder to cancel celebrities because they have a PR team trying to make them look good and innocent at all times. People who are higher up on the totem pole are supposed to act as role models for our culture and societies, but in today’s world, social media brings out the ugly side of these “heroes” and “mentors.” The celebrities that we look up to may not be as innocent as they seem, and it is becoming more obvious that this is true when they use their voices online in a negative fashion or people dig up things they have said in the past that are culturally or socially unacceptable. One specific example of alleged “cancelling” that first comes to my mind is J.K.Rowling.
J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter fantasy series, faced backlash after tweeting support for a “transphobic” researcher. The story starts like this: Maya Forstater, a British researcher, lost her job for tweeting allegedly transphobic things. Forstater sent out tweets such as, “Everyone’s equality and safety should be protected, but women and girls lose out on privacy, safety and fairness if males are allowed into changing rooms, dormitories, prisons, sports teams” (Aviles, 2019) and “I wouldn’t try to hurt anyone’s feelings but I don’t think people should be compelled to play along with literal delusions like ‘transwomen are women’ (Aviles, 2019). J.K. Rowling starts to have a part in all of this when she tweeted on her personal account: “Dress however you please. Call yourself whatever you like. Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you. Live your best life in peace and security. But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill.” She also tweeted something along the lines of the only people who menstruate are women, no one else is considered a woman if they do not menstruate. J.K Rowling immediately received negative feedback, saying that it was dangerous that someone with such a large following would tweet out something so appalling.
The negative feedback did not stop. People were giving J.K Rowling a very hard time, even going the length of tweeting pictures of them getting their Harry Potter tattoos removed or covered up. Rowling attempted to explain her stance on trans identity while explaining her own experience as a woman and an abuse survivor. She did not apologize for anything she said, but instead asked for empathy and respect. Harry Potter fans came together and realized they wanted to keep the J.K. Rowling that wrote the books, but cancel the one that lives today. But alas, they knew they could never talk about J.K. Rowling in any sense without being reminded of the hateful things she said. Therefore, J.K. Rowling had to be canceled for good by the Harry Potter community.
Social media plays an important role in cancel culture. Everything seems to be all out in the open, especially on platforms like Instagram and Twitter. If people do not like what you post, you run the risk of being canceled; it is as simple as that. J.K. Rowling is still an author and people are still going to buy her books, so it is hard to say that she is canceled for good. She is always going to carry the weight on her back from people being mean to her, and I do not think that is going to go away. But, I think people like J.K. Rowling can never be fully canceled because they have such a big impact on so many people. It has to take A LOT for someone to be fully canceled. People throw out the word ‘cancel’ like it is nothing and I think that that is a big reason why not as many people get fully canceled.
