What is cancel culture? Lately I’ve been seeing it everywhere on my timeline like an itch that won’t go away. Articles, memes, discussions, the lot. It had me thinking I have to dig deeper.
Simply put, cancel culture is a variation of the term “call out culture”. Previously when a music artist stepped out of line, they would have been shamed, ridiculed, and held accountable for their actions. But, and it’s an important but: they still had a chance to recover.
Now, with Gen Z’s fans ruling culture in the digital age there’s no hope for artists. If you step out of line, you are gone forever. Never to be seen again. Flushed into the endless abyss of public consciousness. Capiche.
Believe it or not, cancel culture is an age old phenomenon and has existed for thousands of years. Dating back to the stone age where people had tomatoes angrily lobbed at them. This is essentially Gen Z’s way of carrying on that tradition. Except it’s not tomatoes being thrown, its rocks, or well I guess whatever it would take to kill them off.
A month ago at the annual Camp Flog Gnaw festival held by none other than Tyler the Creator, I saw the true power of cancel culture, in full blown real life. Fans gathered around the main stage in anticipation all day in the hope that Frank Ocean would be the special guest for the evening. Who were they met with? Drake. Did they like it? Nope. They booed him. The obnoxious and entitled Gen Z generation kicked and screamed and pulled a communal hissy fit until he gave up and walked off the stage. It really showed the true power young people have, even if sometimes they don’t realise it.
Now for the serious part. Is cancel culture healthy for music artists and celebs in the public domain? Should we demand it be stopped? Yes and No. In my opinion, It ultimately depends on the severity of the perceived wrong actions. There are definitely some moral guideposts that need to be addressed.
Let’s start with R Kelly. A once loved and adored singer. Now ruined by endless allegations and court battles relating to sex abuse of minors. Is his cancellation from culture rightfully deserved? I would argue it is. Should his careers work now become void and invalidated? I would argue again that it should be. Although it’s hard to disassociate an artist from their art, I believe cancelling artists or at least not engaging with them is acceptable at the genuinely serious end of the spectrum.
Cancelling artists can have serious implications on careers. Artists who have worked hard at their craft and dedicated their existence to music should not be cancelled for trivial and senseless reasons just because it’s the cultural buzz phrase.
Like Uncle Ben said in Spiderman. “With great power comes great responsibility”. I think Gen Z’s should be careful how they use their power to erase people from the public domain and only cancel people who truly deserve to be cancelled.
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