I cancelled myself.
“This is going to be a controversial article. But I figure that if I can’t express my opinion completely, there is no point in writing on Medium. Yes, I’m going to receive hate. But it’s time for me to stand up.”
This was the beginning of a draft that I started in writing a political defense statement. I was going to write about leftist dogma propagating in liberal arts classrooms. I was going to write about the political correctness that took down a school’s conservative student union.
But when I opened this article draft today, besides how passionate I was about voicing my long-buried opinions, I decided not to. Here’s why.
In reality, I was going to write an article that only added to the thread of cancel culture and political arguing.
2020/1 was a hard and confusing time for many. A global pandemic + vaccine controversy, dem/rep polarization, and widespread lockdowns forced many onto their phones — me too. And where did all this frustration release itself? Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. So it’s no secret why a dynamic of canceling opposing partisan opinions, later nonpolitical topics like Elon Musk, emerged on the Internet. Look, even I myself was guilty of gaslighting others.
But arguing over all of this nasty conflict — especially like 6-year-olds — doesn’t serve to get us anywhere. I totally respect people having their own opinion, but canceling others’ is the opposite of providing value, and agenda advancement, to society. In fact, it just divides us further and farther from a key element of interaction: genuine rational discussion. It’s through intuitive debates, not arguments about abortion, that we shed light on problems like personal finance/health, college education, and relationship connection. That’s value.
Don’t get me wrong, I have political opinions, open-minded ones too. But as much as I want to express them, even make fun of/cancel others’, only serves to cause additional arguing and division within our society. From now on, I’m keeping them to myself. Otherwise, I’ll save this Medium blog for bringing real value to my readers.
That said, it’s also important to note that not everything should be taken as a political statement. It’s a dangerous dynamic if partisan conflict sprees are used to prevent casual disagreement from starting a rational discussion in one’s comment section. Which is I’m also going to quit canceling.
Lex Fridman’s twitter page and tweet are an example to follow:
Final Thoughts
Why don’t we as a collective species, stop canceling/arguing and start having real, nonpolitical, discussions that bring value, even if they involve disagreement?
