“Cancel culture” refers to the idea of a person or company being deemed as offensive because of a situation that might have occurred, then being shunned out of social or professional circles — either on social media or in the real world. Cancel culture has recently become a popular trend on social media.

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There’s a spectrum of different severities of cancel culture. On one end of the spectrum are situations like Bill Cosby and R. Kelly, who were canceled by the public before their sex-crimes trials. This is a severe offense, they were canceled during the beginning of the #MeToo movement.

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According to dictionary.com, “#MeToo is a social movement originating among women advocating for survivors of sexual harassment or violence to speak out about their experiences in order to expose and combat various forms of sexual misconduct.”

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Comedian, Bill Cosby, was deemed guilty in court for three separate occasions of committing sex crimes in 1982 - drugging women and aggravated indecent assault.

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According to the Associated Press, Cosby, 83, was sentenced in September 2018 and is serving a 3 to 10-year prison term. NBC no longer plays reruns of “The Cosby Show” and plans for a future spinoff show have been canceled. Cosby’s reputation is ruined forever and, in my opinion, for a very good reason.

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On the opposite end of the cancel culture spectrum are situations that occur mainly over social media. For example, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling recently faced controversy and cancelation in December 2019 on Twitter.

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“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”

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According to NBC News, the tweet referred to Maya Forstater, a British researcher who lost her job at a non-profit research institute, the Center for Global Development, which works to reduce global poverty, following a series of tweets that she posted that were criticized as transphobic. Rowling sent her tweet shortly after the word got out about Forstater losing her job. Forstater tweeted several statements that offended the public and ultimately got her fired.

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"Some transgender people have cosmetic surgery, but most retain their birth genitals,” Forstater said in her tweet. “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, or sports teams."

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Rowling’s support for Forstater led to transphobia accusations from the LGBTQ+ community. Rowling had over 14 million followers on Twitter before being canceled and has lost about 100,000 since then. 

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Many comments said Rowling sharing her opinion in support of Forstater was "dangerous" for a popular public figure with her large size of a following. A majority of the people who were leaving these comments were long-time fans of "Harry Potter" and considered Rowling a "childhood hero."

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There has been a pattern lately on social media of public figures stating their opinions that may not be seen as the popular choice and getting hate for it. 

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There is also a type of cancel culture called “boycott canceling,” which is where the number of people getting upset about a situation continues to grow to the point where the majority is offended, which causes a cancelation and can affect the person’s professional circle. An example is the cancelation of TV personality and cooking show host Paula Deen. The southern chef was forced off the air and lost most of her corporate partners after Deen admitted to using the N-word in the ‘60s.

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Personally, I don’t think cancel culture should exist. I think it’s a toxic way of thinking. Although there should be consequences for your actions, everyone deserves a second chance. People should stop seeking out ways to cancel others, as it ruins more lives than necessary. Everyone makes mistakes, and a lot of times the people being canceled regret it themselves. 

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With big offenses — for example, the Bill Cosby lawsuit — being canceled is more than necessary; it lets others know that behavior like that isn’t going to be ignored, even if it happened many years ago. But everyone has a right to their own opinion, and I believe situations like tweeting how you feel about a situation shouldn’t get you fired.

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“I believe cancel culture has been created by social media as a way for us to ‘correct’ each other’s actions,” Jordan Boyce, Missouri State University junior family and consumer sciences major said. “I do have a hard time accepting the idea of cancel culture when it is over a situation from someone’s past, well before society has created this black and white’ idea of what is acceptable to say or not. Just the same as how PG-13 movies in the ’80s would be rated R today. Cancel culture can also give more attention to an offensive public figure, resulting in them making more money.”

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Boyce makes a fascinating point on how the “norms” of our cultures have changed over the years. Things that were not as offensive, say 40 years ago, might be considered highly inappropriate to say today. Especially, if the situation is from someone’s past decades ago; they shouldn’t be canceled for it now.

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Julian Petty, freshman software development major, shared differing opinions on cancel culture.

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“I think cancel culture is stupid but necessary,” Petty said. “It can be stupid because some people go out of their way to uncover something about someone or a company, just for the sake of canceling them. On the contrary, cancel culture gives people incentive to not say or do cancel worthy things, which could be beneficial.”

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There could also be a progressive outcome that could come from some situations of “canceling”. It could let some public figures know that offensive behavior isn’t acceptable in our society today by people trying to make a difference and see all as equals.

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Cancel culture is a controversial topic. I think, overall, the mindset surrounding cancel culture is toxic because everyone has different phases of their life and different opinions and mistakes they made. I think cancel culture is publicly humiliating, not always accurate and not always necessary. Apology and forgiveness may no longer be enough, and that’s startling.