Cancel Culture and social media
Cancel culture one of the issues that will dictate how we move forward as a society. Its implications have become way too important to ignore now. Think of it this way, somewhere, sometime can dig something you said many years ago, even when you were a teenager and use it against you in order to remove you from mainstream media, get you fire and make you a black sheep of society in general.
Started originally from progressives and leftist activists in the US, cancel culture now affects everyone as the saying goes "the revolution eats its own [people]". In the beginning it was directed against far-right personalities or outright dangerous people now it has moved to everyday people from all spectres of all.
Furthermore, it has expanded in scope as it is not just about removing someone from social media, but it has further personal, professional, and business implications. In ancient Athens, ostracism was a voting system in seashells, where ancient Athenians would write the name of the citizen they wanted to ban / expel from the city for 10 years. In its modern form it implies losing your job, being banned from your banks and financial institutions, being alienated from your friends and family and silenced from all social media.
In modern democracies in which we live, I believe it sets a dangerous precedent. Even country leaders, or former presidents like Donald Trump can be cancelled overnight. Sometimes, it feels that the Inquisition has made a comeback, this time not a religious one, but that of thought orthodoxy. If someone doesn't think like we expect him to do, or dares to share an opinion that is midly contrarian to mainstream thought principles, he can and sometimes will be cancelled. Even if his opinions are not undemocratic, dangerous, racist, or illegal.
I think Rowan Atkinson or more commonly known as Mr. Bean made a great comparison when he said that cancel culture is "medieval mob looking for someone to burn". Even J.K. Rowling the author of popular kid books "Harry Potter" has found herself being in hot-water and nearly cancelled by woke mobs for her opinion that the demands of some trans-activist for specific rights can threaten biological women's rights.
Where do we go from here?
I believe that we are on an irreversible path, that can only change if cancel culture starts hurting en-masse its supporters and proponents. Web 2.0 is not safe from cancel culture, and most of the social media platforms we use will fall under the pressure of loud activist mobs demanding the cancelling of x and y person.
For that we need need decentralized social media. Only through blockchain we will never be cancelled, at least in our right to speak and communicate our thoughts without people trying to silence us in a form of revenge. We are still early in the process of developing those Web3.0 media platforms that will have mass adoption and will offer such protection, but I believe that sooner or later we are getting there. I am not implying here that there won't be issues with racist, misogynic, and other dangerous forms of expressions there. Nevertheless, we will find a way to solve such issues. In the end of the day, the blockchain will make us financially independent and un-cancellable.
