Should we be cancelling cancel culture?

Cancel culture is one of the biggest movements to rise up in 2020. With celebrities getting cancelled left right and centre it’s hard to understand who has been cancelled and who is still acceptable to listen to, watch or read. Cancel culture is described as the ostracism of someone who is then pushed out of the social or professional circles. A lot of cancel culture is brought about through social media as people search for controversial opinions from some of the most well known names. It is incredibly hard to know the line within cancel culture of whether it is damaging to a persons freedom of speech or whether it is needed to produce solidarity. With Trump weighing in by saying that cancel culture was a political weapon of the left, while also proceeding to cancel people he didn’t agree with, emphasises how blurred the lines are for the process of “cancelling” individuals.
 
J.K. Rowling who is best known for her ‘Harry Potter’ books has been one of the biggest ‘cancelling’ of 2020. She caused the uproar of many on twitter as she mocked the use of the phrase ‘People who menstruate.’ The voice of the many was that her views were ‘transphobic’ with multiple people pointing out that ‘transgender men who haven’t transitioned still menstruate’. These comments resulted in an LGBT+ rights organisation GLAAD getting involved in the debate saying the Rowling was aligning herself with ideas that ‘distort facts about gender identity’.
It is interesting that not all people making controversial opinions gets cancelled, while other’s careers are ruined. So this begs the question: is cancelling anyone the correct method for showing your disagreement with his or her opinion?
 
To gather an idea of what people think about cancel culture and how it is affecting freedom of speech, I released some questions to the general public. 85% of people said they did not agree with the aims and actions of the cancel culture. With people expressing that ‘it’s often used to cancel someone for views they had when they were younger’ and others suggesting that as a group on social media you should not have the right to decide if that person is guilty of the accusations.  83% of people who took part in the polls also showed that they felt cancel culture affects a person’s freedom of speech and shouldn’t be followed. When asking if people thought there was a better solution to disagreeing to someone’s opinions rather than ‘cancelling’ them many people said giving people a ‘chance to learn’ and ‘having more meaningful debates and discussing’.
 
The need for communication is key within this rise of cancel culture as many people learn and grow from their previous actions. Everyone has a right to learn from past mistakes or make right a misunderstanding.
This misunderstanding/ mistake can then cost people their careers or professional stance. There is a need to be aware of what you do online and how these may affect yourself but also those who read the views.
 
What do you think?