***First, it’s important to remember that calls to “cancel” don’t always mean the same thing, and they certainly don’t always mean the same thing to everyone involved in these conversations. What started as an online/social call to damage and even end the careers of people in the public eye who had done or said truly egregious things, has now morphed into a way of expressing concern, outrage, and a personal desire to not support certain people or things. In other words, it’s often simply a way of calling attention to something that people find problematic.***
If that's "simply" what it is -- and calling attention to something that people find problematic is of course valid -- then the word "cancel" SHOULD NOT be used with hashtag or in any other context, even though that's the buzzword of the moment. To misuse the word when "cancellation" is not the intent is EXTREMELY dangerous, in my opinion. |
