[FairyKing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurona

Can someone please tell me what they mean by “””cancelling””” already it’s thrown around so much as a scary word but as far as i can tell means fucking nothing

Okay, it's been a while since I read up on this and I can't find my sources so don't take this as gospel, but IIRC talking about "cancelling" in this context originated in certain black communities, to mean coordinatedly withdrawing support from a celebrity or piece of media to get them to stop doing harmful things. It was an actual form of activism, similar to a strike or boycott.

And then people outside those communities decided saying things were "cancelled" was fun and trendy, and started throwing the term around meaninglessly to show off how "woke" they were or insult anything they didn't like. Which in turn enabled other people to turn "cancel culture" into a scary buzzword that they can use to make themselves (or whoever they're defending) seem like the victims whenever anyone tries to make them take responsibility for doing something bad. To those who aren't used to their actions having consequences, being held accountable feels like being persecuted.

This article talks about things in more absolute terms than I agree with, but it does make an important point that many people who "get cancelled" don't actually suffer any lasting damage to their careers, even if they make no attempt to fix their awful behavior:
https://newsone.com/3852268/cancel-culture-is-a-myth/