Time and time again there have been many instances of cancel culture. As it became more well known it became more popular and seemed to have no limits on its effect. But what is canceling culture? From what I’ve seen it is a culture that always jumps quickly to a conclusion on a person but almost seems abused especially by ethnic groups and other communities. It feels like the whole world is trying to psychoanalyze you, getting every last drop out of you and pushing you to the side. I’ve seen it happen more and more making it feel like it can reach anybody. Most can never actually recover, once it happens to you it follows you for the rest of your life. The internet will make sure of that. A lot of the time the idea of being canceled has different effects. I believe that it is a social issue since it is able to sway the opinions of many and the ones that abuse it have way too much power to affect someone's life just from having the internet There are plenty of good examples and bad examples. One example that stood out to me in particular is the Kyrie Irving situation. After allegedly posting a supposed anti semitic documentary on his instagram he would be called by {by the higher ups in the Brooklyn Nets Organization}.Should he be permanently canceled for this? He was the then interviewed to clarify what had actually happened

Kyrie Irving 

It was during the conference of the away game. Kyrie sat himself in a chair with his mic to talk to the reporters. Despite him in this situation he looked pretty confident being in a brown hoodie with hood up. He almost looked annoyed. You see all the reporters in his face waiting for him to be ready. You could tell how much the reporters wanted an answer out of him. 

“I went on amazon prime. I was like let me see if there were any documentaries on Yahweh. I typed in the search bar and that's what came up.”

He would reassure himself by saying”We’re in 2022 history isn’t supposed to be hidden from anybody.’’ 

He goes on further explaining himself believing that his actions justified and it actually doesn't determine who he is as a person. He looked very confident in his demeanor when making his points. He sat in a way were he seemed relaxed and not worried at all.

“I embrace all walks of life. You see it on all my platforms.” He would go on with this but eventually would get to his main point.

“My response is that its understanding that its african heritage belongs to the people. Africa is in it whether we want to dimmise it or not.” 

Kyrie then ends his point with this”I’m not here divisive so they push their agenda-I don't want to say they because I’m not identifying any group or race of people but I'm in a unique position to have an influence over my community. But just because I post something that doesn’t I’m with everything that's being said.”

Kyrie's final response to the question really interested me. You think that him saying that is the obvious answer especially him having such an influence it's literally impossible to agree with all the things being said about his post. This is where the problem stems. I've seen all the time of people on the internet overlooking this and focusing more on a person that gets what they call accountability. But even with it would end poorly for kyrie leading to a 3 game suspension and the suspension of his millions of dollar shoe deal. It would only get worse from here since he would eventually be traded to the Dallas mavericks. This here is the eventual consequences of being canceled. You could lose your reputation in an instant. 

It always seems as if that no matter what a person regardless of status can fall victim to culture. I remember being bored scrolling through my TikTok for you page, eventually coming across the alleged assault charges on Jonthan Majors. At the time he was starting to become a hit after taking up the role as Kang for the MCU. As I watched the video laying on my bed I gave a confused look. ‘’Already??,’’as if I expected it but just couldn’t believe it was happening so soo.. I continued to watch, eventually clicking the comments. I can’t recall the exact reactions but I remembered going into the search bar seeing thousands of creators give their opinions on this situation. This is where I eventually come across so many videos just completely degrading Jonathan Majors as a person.

These content creators just simply went in on him with complete lack of evidence already saying like he should get his roles taken away. It only took one day of information for people to lose it on Jonathan Majors. Unfortunately these are the exact type of reactions that lead to the downfall of these famous actors. After a few months of little to information it would come up that Jonathan Majors may actually have been innocent. This was further proven when{the opposing side could not present a case due to the ex- girlfriend having fled the country.} This posed a question to me: should those who talked down to Jonathan Majors be held accountable for bringing him down? I always wondered things like this. 

Watching all of these people losing careers off of false information and being dragged I can't say I haven't been apart myself. Back in 2021 when then the johnny depp v heard trial. I remember watching all the clips on twitter and youtube about how the case was going. I’ve never been that mad about seeing a person canceled before. What they did to him simply wasn’t fair at all. Amber heard it completely ruined his career and for what? Ounce the evidence came out it almost seemed like she did it just because she wanted to ruin Johnny depps career. Unfortunately she succeeded almost everything that he was associated with, especially disney who completely dropped him in his biggest role.   

Johnny depp

Before the trial Johnny Depp had already given his thoughts on cancel culture. The way he responds to questions it's pretty clear that he doesn't care. He says”I don’t feel boycotted by Hollywood because I don't think about hollywood. I don’t have any further need for Hollywood myself.” This was his first take on it.

He would later explain this”We’re in a very strange time where everybody thinks we're everybody would love to be themselves but they can’t because they must fall in line with the person in front of them.” This to me is exactly how I viewed canceled culture and with trial right after it really does give you a grasp how far it can go. The only question now is could it get worse than this.

He finishes his statement with” You want to live that kind of life I wished you the best. I'll be on the other side somewhere.”

Being involved in these types of situations can really show just how bad it can get. Seeing the videos and the tweets shows just how much a person can start something and swing the opinions of so many. This is the type of abuse of power that I’ve been.But the worst part is that there are no consequences to it. Not even a little. While one person leaves off with almost knowing saying that they should apologize or take accountability the other has to get their entire life back. These put into perspective how much influence a person can have. This is why I believe you should always hold both sides accountable instead of blaming one person or group.