From students to celebrities to politicians, cancel culture will come for you. Comment sections are becoming toxic due to ‘cancel culture’. Constructive criticism is supposed to be written respectfully; cancel culture does the opposite. Most of these comments turn into death threats, racism, sexism and more. Social media is a great source of entertainment but canceled culture is starting to take that away.

Famous people and cancel culture.
A Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released to The Hill, a popular online newspaper website on Cancel Culture being a threat to freedom of speech. “Sixty-four percent of respondents said that there is “a growing cancel culture” that is a threat to their freedom, while 36 percent said they did not view it as a threat to their freedom” (Manchester,2). Jim Jordanohio representative from Ohio held a public hearing on ‘cancel culture’ “Everyone has said things they wish they didn’t say. Everyone has done things they wish they didn’t do, so who’s next? Who will cancel the culture attack next?” Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling was canceled for making transphobic comments in June 2020. A lot of fans and actors from the movie spoke out against and called her out for the tweet. Mostly they were upset because her book helped misfits feel accepted. Fan’s used Harry Potter as an escape from the real world; seeing the author not supporting transgender people is heartbreaking.

UHS students’ views on cancel culture.
Let’s take a look at what Urbana High school thinks. Six out of the six students interviewed believe J.K Rowling should be canceled. One student said there are some exceptions despite being against it. Also, because J.K Rowling knew what she was doing was harmful and offensive so, instead of taking into consideration how disrespectful her comments were, she decided to still make the remarks. Again all the students agreed that cancel culture started from people calling out celebs for problematic actions from the past or present that fans disagree with. Cece Harford is a 10th grader in my business class. Ethics are important to learn in order to succeed. When asked if canceling culture was ethical, she responded by saying “not always because sometimes people can cancel culture to extreme measures that were not necessary. This does not include, racism homophobia, transphobia, sexual assault, ect. Now those are serious topics that people deserve to be cancelled for or acknowledged”. Abby Bennett added “cancel culture is wrong because people say things that shouldn’t be said like death threats”. Cancel Culture cancels people for saying something wrong in their past. These comments are doing the same thing by posting some scandals. Making them hypocrites.

Solution
The six students and I came up with a solution. Learning the whole situation from both sides is important. Thinking before posting is a moral that most people should live by. Instead of posting negative comments, post something that is helpful. Calling people out on stuff does not include calling people profanities. With that being said, it’s time to cancel ‘cancel culture’ and begin giving helpful advice.

Wood, Peter, and David Klein. “‘Cancel Culture’ Comes to Science.” The Wall
Street Journal, 12 Jan. 2020, www.wsj.com/articles/

Manchester, Julia. “64 percent view ‘cancel culture’ as a threat to freedom: poll.” The Hill, 29 Mar. 2021, thehill.com/homenews/campaign/ 545387-64-percent-say-they-view-cancel-culture-as-a-threat-to-their-freedom-poll. Accessed 3 Sept. 2021.