Cancel Culture: A Systemic Explanation
European Straights, 2020-07-27
This snippet looks into the Cancel Culture issue without taking sides.
Def: Cancel Culture – the removal of support (i.e. boycotting or refusal to promote their work) for public figures in response to their objectionable behavior or opinions.
[MK] needless to say, the keyword is “objectionable”, which means different things to different people.
Status Seeking
Most humans are in search of status, and attacking a personality subjectively raises this status.
Social media’s echo chamber [thanks to Facebook, Twitter, etc.] amplifies the perceived support of the attacking position.
One Against the Crowd
Best conflict resolution is getting 1:1 with the most fierce attacker and finding common ground.
Not possible in social media (anonymity, too many attackers).
Personalities routinely address audiences larger than they can handle ignoring the fact that it’s no longer a one-to-many communication.
Or personalities can double down on their positions, enlist supporters and rage an all-out war with attackers. Force against force.
… or play victim (rightly or not), attacking their attackers from the side.
[MK] And, of course, the dichotomy is that the person whose position you respect and who can attack you the hardest are often two different people.