Shut Up Kristyn! | Misc

15 | cancel culture

Some people are in desperate need of hearing this.

Cancel culture should not exist. Its very existence is hypocritical; the people who point fingers and cancel celebrities for things they've done are not perfect either and have probably done stupid and ignorant shit in the past. The only difference is that one person is famous.

There is a distinction between wanting someone to be held accountable + take responsibility for their actions and making #personisoverparty trend on Twitter. Of course, when a celebrity does something ignorant, we want them to acknowledge it, apologize, and do better. But saying that person can never be redeemed or that their entire career is over because of something is ridiculous.

(Of course, these things don't apply when something a person did was truly horrendous, like Chris Brown, who shouldn't even have a career after the number of times he has continually assaulted and abused women, but here we are... AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON R. KELLY)

This REALLY grinds my gears when people dig through celebrities' Twitter accounts and pull up something they said over a decade ago. Like, I remember people going off about one where Halsey said a transphobic slur in 2009. 2009. She was FIFTEEN. Should she have used that word? Absolutely not. Should her entire career be shut down because of it? No. She hasn't said it since and is not only a part of the LGBTQ+ community, she's also a trans ally. (I know she's done other stuff that people haven't liked but I'm specifically talking about that tweet.)

I always wonder what people could possibly have been trying to achieve by scrolling that far down on someone's account. If you want to dig that kind of stuff up, you have to have been looking for something. You had to have combed through that person's account with the intention of finding something problematic and bringing it up.

Also, celebrities are people. They are going to fuck up and also do things we don't approve of. You cannot expect to agree with every little thing a person says or does. It doesn't help that everything they do is blown up because of their fame. Expecting them to be perfect is hypocritical since nobody is flawless.

Example: I admire Mark Ruffalo for consistently raising awareness to tons of different issues. He has been an activist for YEARS and doesn't do it for the clout and looking good, he does it because he genuinely cares. However, I didn't like the way he stuck up so quickly for Chris Pratt, who was receiving valid criticism for joining a homophobic church with a history of funding/supporting conversion therapy (and allegedly cheating on Anna Farris, but idk if that's true or not) but was silent when Brie Larson and Tessa Thompson were receiving so much hate online for simply being women in the MCU and not taking shit from misogynists or racists. Am I canceling Mark? No. He's a human being. I'm not going to like everything he does. Am I still a fan of his? Yes.

I'm not saying you have to like everyone. Heck, I don't like a ton of celebrities. But canceling them is stupid. If someone has done something bad in the past, I look at them as a person and how they are now. Taking the Chris Brown example again, he has abused MULTIPLE women across the span of many years and has not ONCE seemed apologetic or changed his behavior.

I also think it's important how a person addresses these issues when they're brought up. If they beat around the bush, like Camila Cabello taking 5 light years to address the racist way her fans were acting toward Normani and then capitalizing off of the announcement by making merch. She also didn't even address the issue directly, she was just like "spread love❤️"

But sometimes, the reason behind something that was said so long ago is that the person was young and uneducated, but they've learned from their mistakes and are sorry for saying it in the past, and I think that should be enough. Some people hear that and think it's not good enough, but in some cases it's just the truth. When you're young, you're not always going to realize what you're saying. Kids are impressionable and pick up on what others are doing. Again, it does not make it right, I'm just explaining.

Cancel culture doesn't take into account that people change. It doesn't want people to learn from their mistakes (I use that word loosely because some things aren't "mistakes") and better themselves. We as people are always learning. Sometimes you need to be called out on your bullshit before you can realize that what you're doing is harmful or wrong.

I can use examples from my own life. A few weeks ago, I found my old diaries from when I was like 9-13 and started reading them. I found that I had used the R word to refer to something I thought was dumb and was horrified. I never use that word now and I always call out the people who do and educate them. But I was literally 11 and didn't know any better. I was a child. But I bet that if I had tweeted that back then and was a celebrity now, people would dig it up and cancel me over it. What I said was absolutely wrong, but I educated myself, have never used it since, and call out other people who do (*cough* my cousin).

Literally everyone has said or done stupid shit in their lifetime. Celebrities are human beings and aren't exempt from this. People who participate in cancel culture are putting up a holier-than-thou front as if they've never done anything they regret. Some people pick up things from their peers and don't think much of what they're doing because everyone else is doing it, even if it's wrong. Then, they can realize it's wrong and stop. It's like those children's rhymes/hand clapping games that have racist lyrics and you don't realize until you're older and are like "oh shit, I really was out there saying that when I was 9."

I do think it's acceptable to bring up things a person has done in the past if they clearly haven't changed their behavior. It's like Trump's "Grab 'em by the p****" remark from 2005. He obviously does not respect women at all and dismissed the statement as "locker room talk". Not to mention he was a grown ass man in his late 50s who was married (for the third time) and a father. It's not like he was a 10 year old boy.

Also, if a celebrity does something and you feel uncomfortable supporting them afterward, that is completely okay. Do whatever you have to in order to keep yourself healthy. Lord knows I've done that a crap ton of times with Jennifer Lawrence, Dominic Sherwood, Chris Pratt, and more. But throwing a "canceling party" is, in my opinion, immature. You can raise awareness of what they did without doing that. For example: a Twitter thread called "why people are upset with Jennifer Lawrence" not "why everyone should cancel Jennifer Lawrence."

And if someone doesn't like a celebrity that you do like, don't hate them for it!! Don't tell them the reason they don't like them is stupid. Sometimes people just don't like someone and that's the way it is! I'm not a fan of Timothee Chalamet and I literally could not tell you why! Don't attack other people. It's basic internet/human courtesy. Also, if you treat a person horribly for not liking A Person, you're only making them more likely to not like A Person ever because now they associate A Person with their horrible encounters with fans.

TL;DR– Stop canceling people when you aren't perfect either.