An Essay Regarding Cancel Culture That No One Asked For

This essay was written in August of 2020. The thought of “cancel culture” was literally keeping me up at night, so I decided to write about it. When I wrote this essay, it had no intended audience. I wrote it to get the thoughts out of my head and on to paper. I have not updated or changed what follows in any way since it was originally written.

In the modern age, with the advent of digital supercomputers being prevalent in the pocket of anyone over the age of 8, information has become more accessible. For instance, a chef’s hat, also known as a toque, has exactly one hundred pleats in it. This is a fact that I found on the internet in less than five seconds. With the accessibility of information rising, the accessibility of everyone’s opinions on everything is also rising. Hence, the title of this essay explicitly alludes to the fact that no one asked for my opinion on this subject, but since I want my opinion to be heard, I can simply write it down on a page and it will be seen. No one needs (or perhaps even wants) another white guy’s opinion on anything. Throughout history, white men have been telling every other type of person their opinion, and usually why they’re right (or so they think). If you subscribe to the notion that white men have said enough, stop reading here, for the following pages will surely only make you more upset. Spoiler alert: it’s entirely my opinion.

I have had several conversations recently regarding the notion of “cancel culture” and what it means and why it’s good or bad. For those of you less informed, Dictionary.com defines this phrase:

“Cancel culture refers to the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive. [It's] generally discussed as being performed on social media in the form of group shaming.”

So, what about it? Why is “cancel culture” good, bad, or indifferent? As I mentioned earlier, information is more accessible now that it ever has been before. If a piece of information gets leaked that some obscure movie director used the n-word on set, it could spread like wildfire throughout social media and that director will never work again. Which once again poses the question, is “cancel culture” a good thing?

As I’ve stated before, this entire essay is my own personal opinion. Feel free to make your own conclusions. But to answer my own question, I believe that, yes, cancel culture is a good thing. Allow me to explain. For years, people have been able to get away with a lot. Harvey Weinstein is a perfect example of this. He took advantage of those who he had power over, and once that information got out, he got punished for it. The generation that was born and raised without this easy access to technology, but now finds themselves surrounded by it on a daily basis was taught that not all actions have consequences. This is why everyone has a racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/anything-else-phobic grandparent, parent, aunt, uncle, sibling, or relative. People used to be able to hate inside their heads. Nowadays, with social media prevailing, suddenly everyone has a canvas purely for sharing their opinions with the world (even though the most popular social media site of today was started by a college man in an effort to rank his female classmates on how attractive they are). Racist people, sexist people, homophobic people, and all other types of people who hate now can surround themselves with friends who feel the same way and create an echo chamber full of resounding hate.

Which brings me to the impetus for this essay, and the reason I no longer am willing to acknowledge the books, movies, and even stage plays about the little boy wizard. This is through no fault of the wizard boy, but through his creator. Jowling Kowling Rowling recently tweeted some transphobic remarks. Specifically, the original tweet that sparked controversy was one that responded to an article. In an attempt to be inclusive, the article cited “people who menstruate” as to not exclude pre-op trans men, non-binary folx, and others. She responded to this article saying, “I'm sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” The public outrage sparked by this comment was mainly from the persecuted group and allies, who tried to convince Jowling Kowling Rowling why her stance was misguided. She then turned it into an issue of gender as a whole, stating,

“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”

It is not my aim in writing this essay to explain gender issues and solve the problem. If you can’t see why these statements are misguided and offensive, then you should do some research before you continue reading. Talk to a trans friend. Talk to a non-binary friend. Maybe first make a friend who is trans or non-binary. Find out their lived experience. Then read on.

My opinion on Ms. Jowling Kowling Rowling is that because she had been told why her comments were misguided and refused to acknowledge the lived experiences of people outside of cisgender men and women, I will no longer support her. To further make me want to support her less, she has changed the subject of her original tweet to that of doctors overprescribing hormones as a cure at a young age. This is an issue and people are coming to her defense saying, “1./ Yesterday @jk_rowling expressed concern -again- over the rush to medicalise gay teens. Her concern is consistently misrepresented as "transphobic".” This is the other issue I have with Rowling. She has almost successfully steered the topic of conversation away from her original transphobia to a topic which seems entirely genuine, all while flooding her twitter page of children’s art to obscure the original tweets.

I have trans friends. I have non-binary friends. I will stand up for them when they need me to. This is why I refuse to support the billionaire author of a little boy wizard. I dislike the term “cancel culture” because, to be honest, I believe in people. I think if Jowling Kowling comes out one day that she is sorry for the ways that she has harmed the trans community, then I can support her once more. I am not “cancelling” her, only refusing to support her until she becomes a better person. Here’s hoping that we all become better people in the meantime and along the way.

Thanks for reading! If you liked what I had to say, follow for more! It’s free and it helps me out a lot! “But Luke,” I hear you cry, “what if we want a way that’s not free to support you?” To that I respond: you are incredibly kind and very generous. If you’d like to monetarily support me in any capacity, consider buying me a coffee. You’re the best.