CANCEL CULTURE

GLT1014 – Advanced Communication Skills

 Speech Outline
Topic: Cancel Culture

Specific Purpose: To persuade my audience to follow-up a complete research behind the incident
and view it with a perspective of the cancel culture victim.

Thesis Statement: People need to realise, cancelling people without any concrete proof might just
ruin the victim’s whole career and his future in this world

Greetings :

A very good evening to all my colleagues who may or may not be listening to everything I will talk
and discuss about on most famous topic among the youth. For what I am going to talk about is very
much related to you guys, especially the young generation.

Introduction :

Attention grabber :

Wave at me, if you use social media as an escape to get away from your stressful life and expect an
amazing response on the social media. Keep waving, if you think that everything you post, write and
comment is temporary and will be forgotten by the world after 4 or 5 years.

Listener relevance :

So, Few weeks ago, I was just randomly skimming some statistical data for the number tweets/day
on twitter. I noticed that, back in January 2009, we had more than two million new tweets each day
on the platform. While in the January of 2014, there were more than 500 million tweets/day. Well,
that's 24,900-percent increase in the numbers.

Today, these numbers have sky-rocketed not only on twitter but various other social media apps
too.

Now, with these numbers increasing at an exponential rate, it is very likely that, u will see some or
the other person getting cancelled for his/her act which might just be abusive or offensive for
someone else

Speaker credibility:

It is rare in 2020 to log onto Twitter without seeing the name of a celebrity trending. Usually, there
are three conclusions: the person has died, they have done something adorable or admirable
enough to win over the Internet, or they have been cancelled.

I would like to quote something said by Lisa Nakamura, a professor at the University of Michigan she
says, “In practice, cancellation signals cultural boycott.” Cancel culture is a way for many people to
regain a sense of control on platforms which are poorly regulated, and on which many groups are
subject to sustained abuse. Instead of waiting for Twitter or YouTube to remove an offensive
message or account, fans can de-platform the offender themselves, usually accompanied by the
hashtag as we always come across.

Now, if you might have noted, there is always a critical point which we need to take care of while
surfing on social media

Thesis :

Let me take you through, all the necessary facts, good and bad, which affects your lives directly or
indirectly. Explain why some people love cancel culture and explain the nature of cancel culture with
a perspective of the victims as well as how we should know all the necessary facts before processing.

Body :

Relevance :

Some members of the community address Cancel culture as a tool to identify who is loyal to their
movement, Highlighting the supposed wrongdoings of others which forces people to respond. While
others believe that Cancel culture is a collective activity that strengthens social bonds for members
within the group

POINT 1:

Let us look at the perspective of the people, who love cancel culture and why is it so important for it
to be there for them

1) *Cancel culture increases social status *The most powerful motive underpinning cancel
culture is social status
Research reveals that sociometrical status is more important to our sense of well-being than
socioeconomic status.
Evidence :
A recent study found that, for many affluent status-maximisers, they constantly seek new
ways to either move upward or avoid slipping downward. For social strivers, cancel culture
has created new opportunities to move up by taking others down.

2) People believe *Cancel culture strengthens social bonds* They enjoy uniting around a
common purpose and coming together against a perpetrator. Cancel culture is a collective
activity that strengthens social bonds for members within the group. People join in
broadcasting the misdeeds of others because it is more fun for them. It offers status and
social solidarity at little cost.

POINT 2 :

These facts and statistical figures might help you to know how much our public knows about the
topic and how important it is for them avoid calling out the innocents whose intentions were just
about entertainment and awareness.

Evidence 1:
Let me tell you a story. It is about a woman called Justine Sacco. She was a PR woman from NY with
only 170 Twitter followers

she would Tweet little acerbic jokes for her followers in a hope to gain 1 more at the end of the day.
So, while she was going to London from NY, Justine wrote another joke and pressed send, got no
replies, and felt that sad, turned her phone off, and fell asleep

When she woke up 11 hours later, straightaway there were line of messages waiting in her direct
chats to be answered. What had happened is that one of her 170 followers had sent the Tweet to a
journalist, and he retweeted it to his 15,000 followers. Now, she surely gained followers but while
she slept, Twitter took control of her life and dismantled it piece by piece. First there were the
philanthropists. Then came racism claims and finally a call for her be fired.

She was so ashamed and humiliated that she could not show her face in public despite of her
innocents in this matter. This is where public lacks awareness.

Evidence 2:

Let me talk about a similar incident that occurred in a university. Erika Christakis, a lecturer, and
associate master of one of Yale’s residential colleges who questioned administrations costume
guidelines for Halloween function. She encouraged students to speak with each other if they found
someone's costume distasteful or offensive. Students claimed that Christakis defended “cultural
appropriation” and that her email was an emblem of systemic racism within the university. They not
only claimed that Christakis violated the “safe space” of the residential college but that her presence
posed a threat to their mental health. Eventually, she must withdraw from her position at the
college.

Transition : Cancelling, by contrast, seeks to organize and manipulate the social or media
environment to isolate, de-platform or intimidate ideological opponents. It is about shaping the
knowledge battlefield, not seeking truth and its intent. Its time, we change that

Point 3:

“Cancel culture” has become a reliable way to achieve upward mobility, establish social connection,
and identify allies and enemies by isolating people who have violated ideological rules about race or
gender.

So, if we want to continue with cancel culture and making sure innocents are not simply cancelled
for the sake of it, we need to come up with a detailed statistic about the incident.

Firstly, the five warning signs make up my personal checklist for cancel culture are

1) Punitiveness - Are people denouncing you to your lecturer, your professional groups, or your
social connections?
 2) De-platforming - Are they claiming that allowing you to be heard is violence against them or
makes them unsafe?
3) Organization - Does criticism appear to be organized and targeted? Are the organizers
recruiting others to pile on?
4) Secondary Boycotts - Is there an explicit or implicit threat that people who support you will
get the same punitive treatment that you are receiving?
5) Truthiness - Are the things being said about you inaccurate? Do the people saying them not
even seem to care about their veracity?

These signs just might help people around the victim figure out what is going on and ask out help to
talk about the issue with the victim.

Second step might be, making people aware about what exactly the incident meant and did not
meant.

Thirdly, supporting for the right motion

Transition : Now that we know everything about how even an insignificant post can change your
lives; we have realised that it is not the victims who need to change but it is the people and their
perspective which needs to be widened

Conclusion :

Restatement : Realising the situation with a perceptive of the person going to be cancelled, bringing
out the necessary reports, facts, and intentions, and making the public aware about it instead of
following the crowd is a duty of every individual we know.

Main review : Since mostly the problem arises from social media, the users need a hand in walking
towards right direction to decide what’s wrong and right, users mostly are encouraged to go deep
behind the topic and know all the relevant information

Now to do this, it is necessary for someone or other to take a step forward in bringing out the
necessary facts and choices representing the right thing to do whenever a trending topic overloads
the internet

Clincher : Stories have the amazing dual power to simulate and to inspire

So, next time when you see someone trending, it is unnecessary to get involved in it without any
concrete proof of how and what led to this

Thank you
References

1) Henderson, R. (2019, December 01). 5 Reasons Why People Love Cancel Culture. Retrieved
December 24, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/after-
service/201912/5-reasons-why-people-love-cancel-culture

2) Henderson, R., Sandberg, E., Voegeli, W., & Seminara, D. (2019, September 30). The
Atavism of Cancel Culture. Retrieved December 24, 2020, from https://www.city-
journal.org/cancel-culture

3) Beyond Borders: Should we cancel 'cancel culture'? (2020, July 23). Retrieved
December 24, 2020, from https://tedxlondon.com/news/beyond-borders-should-we-
cancel-cancel-culture

4) Harvey, D. (2014, June 23). Protecting Twitter users (sometimes from themselves.
Retrieved December 24, 2020, from
https://www.ted.com/talks/del_harvey_protecting_twitter_users_sometimes_from_the
mselves/transcript

5) Ronson, J. (2015, June). When online shaming goes too far. Retrieved December 24,
2020, from
https://www.ted.com/talks/jon_ronson_when_online_shaming_goes_too_far

6) Rauch, J. (2020, August 06). The Cancel Culture Checklist. Retrieved December 24,
2020, from https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-cancel-culture-checklist-c63
 CANCEL
CULTURE
Why should everything that happens be the entire world's business?
January 2009
More than 2M tweets per day

January 2014
More than 500M tweets per day

2020?
This has grown more than

Increase over 5 years 800M tweets per day

24,900 percent
 "In practice, cancellation signals cultural boycott"
-Lisa Nakamura

Cancel culture - way to regain a sense of control over poorly regulated platforms on which many
groups are subjected to sustained abuse

Fans often de-platform the offender themselves, usually accompanied by the hashtag as we
always come across, instead of waiting for Twitter or YouTube to remove an offensive message or
account
FOLLOW-UP AGENDA
Breaking it into small structures

• Describing facts and figures

• Why is cancel culture still alive?
• Realizing this culture with the eyes of the victim
• Importance of obtaining report and exact fact before
proceeding/re-tweeting
 Cancel culture strengthens social bonds
The most powerful motive underpinning cancel

WHY DO culture is social status. Research reveals that

sociometrical status is more important to our
sense of well-being than socioeconomic status

SOME LOVE Cancel culture increases social status

CANCEL Cancel culture is a collective activity that
strengthens social bonds for members within the

CULTURE? group. People join in broadcasting the misdeeds

of others because it is more fun for them. It offers
status and social solidarity at little cost
HAVE YOU WITNESSED A CANCELLATION FOR SOMEONE WHOSE
INTENTION WAS JUST ENTERTAINMENT AND AWARENESS?
 Background
Write some acerbic jokes - 170 followers on twitter

JUSTIN SACCO A single tweet which got her fired and humiliated

Senior director of corporate communications at IAC

 Background
Lecturer and associate master of one of Yale’s residential colleges

• She questioned administrations costume

guidelines for Halloween function.
• Students claimed that Christakis defended
“cultural appropriation” and that her email
was an emblem of systemic racism
• They claimed that Christakis violated the “safe
space” her presence posed a threat to their
mental health.

ERIKA CHRISTAKIS • Eventually, she must withdraw from her

position at the college.
American educator and writer
WHAT CAN WE DO TO AVOID THESE INCIDENTS AGAIN?
FIVE WARNING SIGNS MAKE UP MY PERSONAL CHECKLIST FOR CANCEL CULTURE
Punitiveness -
Are people denouncing you to your lecturer, your professional groups, or your social connections?

De-platforming -
Are they claiming that allowing you to be heard is violence against them or makes them unsafe?

Organization -
Does criticism appear to be organized and targeted? Are the organizers recruiting others to pile on?

Secondry Boycotts -
Is there an explicit or implicit threat that people who support you will get the same punitive treatment
that you are receiving?

Truthiness -
Are the things being said about you inaccurate? Do the people saying them not even seem to care
about their veracity?
HAVE YOU TRIED THIS?
Realize the situation with a perceptive of the going to be cancelled
victims, bring out the necessary reports, facts, and intentions, and
making the public aware about it instead of following the crowd is a
duty of every individual we know
 Most of the problem arises from To do this, it is necessary for someone
social media, the users need a hand or other to take a step forward in
in walking towards right direction to bringing out the necessary facts and
decide choices representing the right thing
“Stories have the amazing dual power to simulate and to inspire”

THANK YOU
 Interview Questions
1) Have you ever come across the phrase cancel culture, be it social media apps, newspaper
articles or journals?
2) What do you understand by cancel culture? Is it good or bad? and why do you think so?
3) Have u discussed about cancel culture among your friends/family/relatives and tried to
persuade them with what you think? If yes, how? If no, hypothetically how will you do it?
4) Some people tend to defy rules, and some follow them blindly but sometimes taking an
action against someone who is not so good to the world would be a right choice? What are
your thoughts on it?
5) What do you think might be the best alternative for cancel culture as in a method where
cancel culture is not harmful to any party?