THE EQ SERIES: On Cancel Culture
The volatility of our FIAT-based economy means that it’s never been more urgent for everyone to grow a personal brand for themselves even if you’re a bus driver or an executive at a private equity firm.
For the top influencers (including celebrities i.e. musicians, athletes etc) who have been able to leverage their large following it has given them the chance to earn multiple income streams and live a life of luxury. Unfortunately, the downside to this is that it seems the more exposure an individual has, the more they must minimise their unpopular opinions to avoid being subjected to a ‘Cancel Campaign’.
People are always like ‘be you’ ‘be yourself’ but then as soon as someone says or does something that is contrary to what society deems as acceptable that person is ‘cancelled’. It’s like the world wants you to ‘be yourself’ but not too much of yourself.
Sometimes it’s not a recent action of an influencer that results in them being negatively scrutinised. A lot of the times it is because someone with clearly a lot of time on their hands has dug up an old interview that an influencer did where they said something controversial.
Eventually what happens is that the influencer posts an apology from their ‘Notes’ app onto their social media. Most of the times I am not convinced that they are truly remorseful but instead are acting in the interest of self-preservation to not have their finances compromised. Which is only natural.
I think human beings fundamentally have a hard time dealing with change. Many are under the illusion that people’s mindsets are cryogenically frozen and fail to acknowledge that everyone is subject to change according to the knowledge and wisdom one acquires as they go through life.
Things said/done in the past may not always reflect who an individual is presently. Also people should be allowed to have an alternative mindset/opinion — even if they are in the public eye.
As a Christian this is something that I am passionately against and someone may argue back that God ‘cancelled’ people in the Old Testament forgetting that that was before redemption. In the New Testament there are several verses which encourages humans to be patient in our judgement whilst holding others accountable and when we’re in disagreement with others.
Above everything, love one another earnestly, because love covers over many sins. 1 Peter 4:8
There’s no one I admire that I one hundred percent agree with all the time and this includes family members, friends, colleagues, and people I follow on social media. And that is okay. We are human beings. We are both good and bad. It’s the equation of life.
There’s no one that’s just good and there’s no one that’s just bad.
And this is when people like Nina Simone, Madame Coco Chanel, Fela Kuti, Thomas Sankara, Bob Marley, Che Guevara come to mind.
They were so raw and clear in what they believed in. And if they were living in today’s world they would no doubt have been cancelled.
This is why being an influencer scares me because the more attached you are to brands, power social circle (i.e. political) the more you must keep your true opinions to yourself. And it would end up leaving me empty because the ones that fed me have actually turned into vampires This is why I sympathise with influencers that admit struggling with having such a public life where everyone is entitled to vandalise their existence over an opinion they hold on something.
I want to retain my own way of seeing the world. Unapologetically.
Hence the reason why I’m still hesitant about being part of communities because I know I have unpopular and possibly controversial stances about certain subjects.
Recently I watched a video from Gary Vaynerchuk where he was responding to an executive’s question about how he should deal with him feeling his tarnished his reputation and Gary’s suggestion to him was to create content that basically makes himself vulnerable and accountable of his previous action. So this is basically by admitting his mistakes upfront so that others in the future would have no way of attacking him. In other words 8 Mile Eminem.
In other words, going on the offense.
I just never ever want to be put on a pedestal. When I am put on a pedestal is when I become increasingly anxious and I subconsciously and also maybe consciously do something to remind whoever is putting me on a pedestal that I am human and I will fuck up. Many times over.
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