Emotional Manipulation and Cancel Culture

Originally published March 21, 2021

One of my biggest issues with cancel culture is that I’ve often seen call outs that are very obviously written to evoke strong emotions yet when you actually dig into the content of the call out, the evidence cited for why a person is so dangerous that they need to be cancelled is incredibly vague.

One of my biggest issues with cancel culture is that I’ve often seen call outs that are very obviously written to evoke strong emotions yet when you actually dig into the content of the call out, the evidence cited for why a person is so dangerous that they need to be cancelled is incredibly vague.

For me, more than anything else, opposing cancel culture after years as a fierce advocate for it has been about critical thinking, reclaiming my ethics and integrity, and my deepening commitment to opposing abuse.

People enmeshed in cancel culture believe that opposing abuse is what they are doing yet they very quickly sweep the fact that cancel culture relies on abuse and manipulation to function under the rug.

As a person who has spent years of my life healing from the trauma of abuse and learning about how to cultivate healthy relationships and communities, there came a point where denying these truths became a threat to my growth and healing.

Any framework that manipulates our emotions, denies us the right to think critically, ask questions, or make decisions that are aligned with our integrity is abusive. Full stop.