Everyone deserves to experience inner peace no matter how bad our mistakes were or how unforgiving our society could be. Inner peace is readily available for all. In this blog post, I would like to share about cancel culture in our society and how can we neutralise the effect of cancel culture through understanding the implications of a ‘cancel culture’ society.
First, let us define cancel culture.
NOUNcancel culture (noun)
Today, we live in the age of social media and billions of people around the world have access to social media and that means everyone now has an equal opportunity to express themselves. Some of us use social media for business, to educate and to share messages of love, kindness and forgiveness and the majority would waste their time away minding into the business of another, subscribing to malicious gossip, rumour and entertainment.
Access to social media allows anyone to share their opinions, criticism and condemnation oftentimes without filter and the majority of these individuals tend to hide behind fake accounts especially when they have the intention to wreak havoc and stir more controversies into the subject matter.
Am I against cancel culture? No, I am not totally against it. I believe that every action that we do will have consequences and if an individual has been found truly guilty of sex trafficking or any form of heinous crimes, cancel culture has its merits. With anything that we do, when we go overboard, it would cause more harm than good too. Here’s why.
When Emotions are at Play, We May Say or Do Counterproductive Things
Yes, I can understand why we can get really upset and angry when we read news about individuals who acted unacceptably and disregarding the lives of another. When we want to nurture ourselves and live life with purpose, it is very important to not get too carried away with what we see, read or hear. We can talk about it to share our thoughts and get it out of our system if need be, as long as you do not add fuel to fire and cause more anger and upset or get involved in any debate of sorts that could ruin your day and bring down the entire community that’s involved.
We are all interconnected energetically, so if we got entangled with the emotions of yourself and another, it could cause a ripple effect to your life. For example, if you got into an argument online, chances are it could leave you feeling angry and upset and you may even lash out at your loved ones. If not your loved ones, the other person who got entangled with your energy might end up lashing out at people around them. This is the ripple effect of negativity, all thanks to one person who committed a serious offence that stir up a reaction within the community.
When we got too carried away, we forgot that every person online is a real person with a family, commitments, live challenges and emotions too.
The irony is that we want to stop negative actions from repeating themselves and by being driven by anger and sadness, we may cause the next wave of negativity and we are giving our power away to the one person that we tried to cancel.
ONE Mistake Does not Warrant the Person or Organisation to be Cancelled
Over the years, celebrities or organisations that have been cancelled have proven to bring much joy and benefit to the community albeit it being a publicity stunt or not, they did bring in some form of joy and hope to society throughout their glory days and they have done great work in giving back too and even when the person lacks talent and get to rake in viewership, it does not mean that we have the rights to attack the person’s personality that cause no harm to us. We can voice out and share to get our ideas or feedback across, question the particular action and behaviour NOT the entire person or organisation. It is good in everyone, this requires us to be objective and can set aside our emotions to get our message across in a way that is fair and just.
If not, it is best to leave the job to the judge or the authority.
Mental Health Concern
Our youth are witnessing all the drama that is unfolding at their fingertips, it may leave a lasting impression on our youth today about the world. When I was younger, I was more exposed to the news on TV, in newspapers and magazines. Today, we get so much access to different types of news and information and it can be overwhelming if we do not intentionally select what we read, watch or listen to. It is also a lot easier to be following what is trending and what everyone is talking about or who everyone is criticising and bashing and it may not necessarily be in alignment with our core values. If we are not firmly rooted in who we are and our purpose in life, it can be easy to be swayed away by the wind of an online ‘pandemic’. What’s worst is that some of us may be guilty of the issues that have caused someone to be cancelled and when we see how others are being shunned away and disregarded for their mistakes, it may cause many of us to suppress ourselves and not approach anyone for help and sadly, it could also be our youths today. Bear in mind that people who hurt other people are people who need help too.
Conclusion
Be a mindful user of social media, when you see hot and the latest news that invites you to join in the hate and to comment negatively, always take a pause and not react to such news right away.
Ask yourself, what do I want to accomplish from commenting? Do I want people to like my comments and agree so I can feel great about myself and feel important? Do I want to inspire real change and will my comment move the needle towards a positive outcome for all involved? Usually, when we feel compelled to criticise another person, most of the time it could mean that we are trying to divert attention from all the mistakes we’ve made in the past unto another person, so we do not feel too bad about our past mistakes. It is OK and there is no need to run away from our own mistakes.
You may book a discovery call with me if your past mistakes have been stopping you from moving forward in life. Book a discovery session with me.
