To me, the term "cancel culture" is a weapon of the unencumbered mind. It is the last ditch "Well you’re wrong" defense of someone that’s purposely keeping themselves ignorant.
It’s the anti-Woke.
"You want me to realize that my actions have further consequences than me simply eating a burger?"
Yeah, dude. That’s part of being a citizen of the world.
Here I am, dealing with an overwhelming amount of cat poop, and you’re questioning why I don’t want to buy from certain retailers or eat from certain restaurants? Why I don’t want to give money to people that support detestable views and/or commit unacceptable acts? (Looking at you, big game hunter man. Real tough shooting endangered animals with your high-end scope from half a mile away. Real sporting. A nice look for you and the company you’re the face of. Real fancy.) Why I won’t put up with massive amounts of abuse from companies that have a long history of treating people badly?
I have cat poop to deal with. Lots, and lots of cat poop.
Why?
"Because you have two cats? Duh?"
Naw, man. I have tons of cat poop to deal with because I don’t buy those little plastic cat litter bags anymore. I haven’t used them for a long long time. From the moment I first realized that plastic is bad for the environment.
They’re finally notifying the general public that bits of plastic have made their way into the food we eat and the water we drink. They’re suggesting drinking tap water to help limit plastic consumption.
Like, it’s not just fish, people!
I knew it wasn’t just fish from the first moment they cut that fish open and all those tiny microbeads came rolling out. That’s why I stopped buying the face cleaner with the little balls in it. Because they were plastic being washed directly down the drain. Their purpose was to be washed down the drain.
And humans are the most disgusting creatures on the planet. Even knowing that we’re fouling the water, we run our sewers right into the sea. Just a bare minimum of cleaning, then we release contaminated water back into the wild. Back into our food supply.
"But I didn’t know. Don’t blame me. It was my parents’ generation that started it."
The information is freely available. Holding your hands over your ears and going "La-la-la" doesn’t mean you didn’t know or have the opportunity to educate yourself.
Human greed is ruining the environment.
Just like human greed is ruining the human body.
"What?!?"
Yeah, brah.
There is tons of sugar in everyday foods–some that shouldn’t even have sugar in them–because the sugar industry falsified scientific reports. They pointed an accusatory finger to FAT (which messed up the butter industry, the snack industry, the diet market) and denied, denied, denied.
It was an epic tapdance number of "Nah, nah, sugar doesn’t cause heart problems. That’s all fat and cholesterol. Diabetes? Never heard of it" as they DUMPED sugar into cereals, packaged meals, meat products, childrens’ drinks, BREAD. Everything got a healthy dose of sugary sugar.
And the current Big Sugar? "Don’t blame us. It wasn’t us. It was those other guys we bought this multibillion dollar industry from. We’re sweet young lambs. We’re just as shocked as you all are" doesn’t work.
We’re still irate.
Even though people had been yelling for DECADES that sugar is unhealthy, we’re still irate. Because sugar is addictive. Our brains love it. We can remember where sugary snacks are more readily than we can remember where we put our glasses down.
The human brain is wired to respond to things. And the people we trusted made us distrust things we shouldn’t have while pouring poison-levels of sugar into every food on the shelves. To the point that a whole market for "sugar free" and "organic" foods developed into a multi-multibillion dollar industry.
And on the whole, we still don’t know what’s in our food.
Sometimes, we’re not even sure if our food is actually food, and not "food." There’s so much filling and pilling going on that I low-key expect that I’m eating cancer causing stuff when I buy store brand packaged food.
I overcome my sense of dread to eat the food I buy, because I don’t trust the government to enforce the "All food must be food" laws.
So with all that stress happening everyday, where I’m side-eyeing cans of coffee and slowly chewing my bread to see if I can taste the cancer causer, why would I CHOOSE to give money to transphobes and racists? Why would I support homophobes and women-haters?
Why would I climb off my couch to give money to horrible people I wouldn’t spit on if they were on fire?
"Cancel culture" is the excuse small-minds give as to why their businesses are tanking.
Take a look at themselves? Consider why people might be disgusted or angered by something they’ve done/said/supported with money earned from the company? Nah. It’s better to scream "They canceled us? They can’t do that!" and hire a trollfarm to go out and spam message boards and blogs and just make everyday a little bit worse for regular people.
A CEO gives money received from the company to a horrible cause.
I can choose to not give that company my money.
That’s pretty much the definition of capitalism.
There’s a free market out there, and I’m freely choosing not to eat racist chicken or use misogynistic crafting supplies.
I am dealing with massive amounts of cat poop even though the most convenient thing would be to buy the plastic cat litter bags. I could scoop the poop into a bag, tie it off, toss it in the trash, and that would be that. No muss, fuss, or visible proof that cats even defecate.
Instead there are dried cat poops filling the bathroom garbage, and even if they don’t smell, they are far from sightly.
And that’s what I deal with, day after day. Massive amounts of cat poop.
Because plastics are killing the planet I’m living on. Fracking is ripping holes in the planet’s crust. People washing their cars are letting the polluted runoff flood into the storm drains. Internet service providers are cheating us. Cable TV is running out of content. And the thought of eating racist chicken, and having to deal with the subsequent guilt, is just too much for me.
Cancel culture is simply the public expressing their free-market choice to not give money to terrible people.
Because just like all the filthy water trickles its way down into the sea, that burger that tastes so good in the moment was purchased with money that will trickle into the pockets of those that should not be supported.
I don’t judge what other people choose to do with their money. But when I’m constantly bombarded with people complaining about "cancel culture," I feel like those people are trying to tell me what to do with my money.
This is a democracy. Stop acting like fascists.
It’s tired. It’s old. And it’s killing everything.
Wake up.
