The Number 1 Problem with Cancel Culture? We’ve Ignored Context.
Get ready! Unpopular Opinion Ahead.
You may not like this 411, but there's no denying that context matters and ignoring it borders on censorship.
Recently, the long-awaited ‘Friends’ reunion aired on cable TV. Did you catch it? I can’t say that I did. I was too busy trying to find pants now that I actually have to go out in society.
But I did catch word that the TV Show ‘Friends’ original directors were questioned about their choice of an all-white and heteronormative cast. They were asked if they regretted the casting choices that they made in the early 1990s.
Can we just stop?
It’s time to stop looking at everything through the current looking glass.
A lot has changed in our culture for the better. But as a writer and communicator, I know that context is everything.
Context about the time producers created these works - and the era they were meant to reflect. I know women who couldn’t watch the critically acclaimed Mad Men because the sexism and misogyny were too on the nose. But Mad Men intended to inform, not inflame. The show’s premise was to serve as social commentary - the same way All in the Family called racism to task in the 1970s.
With the fabulous invention of the ‘interwebs,’ we now have access to everything. And I’m not just talking about cat memes. Catalogs upon catalogs of movies, books, songs, tv shows… we can consume anything we want RIGHT NOW. Anything from TikToks uploaded 30 seconds ago to TV shows from the 1960s.
So we’ve lost all sense of time and space...and context.
Or, as Andrew P. Street eloquently points out, we are living in The Endless Present. We can tune in to anything whenever we choose, and with that, we have lost the concept of time and the timeline.
Contrary to popular belief, history doesn’t start with us and our generation. Spoiler alert: there were a whole lot of people who came before us with their thoughts, ideas, and preconceived notions, as flawed as they were.
Speaking of flaws...for those of you who haven’t seen my posts about the word “irregardless” - yes, I said it. Irregardless IS a word. You heard it here first.
Now, it will be a cold day in hell before I use the word “irregardless” in an actual conversation. But, if I do, it’s because I’m being held hostage against my will, and I’m secretly signaling for someone to call 911.
But that doesn’t mean that the word “irregardless” (as horrible as it is) hasn’t actually been part of our language.
The dictionary isn’t an arbiter of our language but rather a chronicler of our language, the same way many creative works catalog the annals of our collective past.
These shows aren’t necessarily condoning or promoting specific cultural themes - but rather reflecting them.
We can rewrite a lot of things, but history isn’t one of them. Believe me; I’ve tried.
There’s no getting around it. Our culture has deeply ingrained racism, sexism, homophobia, and other terrible indoctrinations of discrimination and abuse. It’s a severe problem.
But canceling books, songs, movies, and tv shows created in (or depicting) a previous era because they reflect the injustices or harmful attitudes of that time not only is censorship but robs us of an opportunity for discourse, especially when educating the newer generations.
These works reflect a sharp and honest reminder of where we’ve come from and a kick in the pants to push us towards where we need to go. And it’s still a long way.
To borrow Andrew P. Street’s phrase once again, The Endless Present is getting us nowhere.