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We’re so busy debating whether cancel culture exists or not that we’ve lost sight of a deeper issue: why do offended audiences feel the need to “cancel” the career of someone simply because they were offensive?
When it comes to the topic of cancel culture, we need to focus less on the result (i.e. the damage done to a celebrity’s career) and more on what causes audiences to want to “cancel” them in the first place. It’s a dangerous symptom that’s taken root in the very bone marrow of 21st century life, and so far nobody of importance is talking about the cure.
I try not to criticize those who are offended by something that doesn’t bother me, as it’s not my place to lecture others on their reflexive emotional responses. Everyone has their internal sore spots; we all have idiosyncratic sensitivities to certain ideas or images that make us personally uncomfortable, and have the right to ignore or condemn that which disturbs us.
But that’s not what worries me.
What worries me is what some people choose to do with that offense, namely their decision to turn their offense into a weapon that they brandish with the care of an…
