Cancel Culture: Is It Really That Bad?

After writing about how the disagreeing opinion is not valued equally to the agreeing opinion, I realized it is probably important to understand why someone would be in support of cancel culture or excluding offensive speech. Firstly, before cancel culture unraveled into a big debacle, it was able to rearrange structures of power in ways that had never been done before (Owens). Cancel culture enabled minority groups to establish their opinions as equal, because everybody now had the same access to a platform. Cancel culture created a society where people are held accountable for their actions, and that has proven to be incredibly valuable. People argue that this new wave of accountability is better for the future of democracy, and that the people opposing this progressiveness are the ones that have benefited the most from its absence. According to an article by Rolling Stone, “Those who fear cancel culture may claim they fear suppression of speech, but it’s accountability that they want to avoid.” And this makes a lot of sense, especially for older generations who are not accustomed to these new concepts. But ultimately, cancel culture has normalized accountability and has leveled the playing field, which is a positive step toward a more inclusive and equal society.