Instigator / Con

1500

rating

debates

100.0%

won

Topic

#2940

Cancel Culture

Status

Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics

Better arguments

Better sources

Better legibility

Better conduct

After 1 vote and with 3 points ahead, the winner is...

janaalammari

Tags

Society

Parameters

Publication date: 03.21.2021 09:40AM
Last updated date: 04.20.2021 02:07PM
Type: Standard
Number of rounds: 3
Time for argument: Two days
Max argument characters: 10,000
Voting period: One month
Point system: Multiple criterions
Voting system: Open

Contender / Pro

Maria-Al-Shuttary

1500

rating

debates

0.0%

won

Description

Within the turbulent past several years, the idea that a person can be “canceled” — in other words, culturally blocked from having a prominent public platform or career — has become a polarizing topic of debate. This canceling and segregation has grown into a cult known as the cancel culture. The cancel culture has a negative influence on society; however, some individuals believe it's helpful.

Round 1

janaalammari

03.21.2021 09:54AM

Con

Point 1: (Jana Alammari): Dear chairperson and fellow audience, Welcome to this side of the house. Now we as of today’s opposition strongly believe that cancel culture isn’t good for society. Today’s motion is structured as follows: I, will be the first speaker, Hala will be the second speaker, and Tulin will be the third speaker
My first argument is callout culture is a slippery slope that leads to intolerance in democratic societies as people are systematically excluding anyone who disagrees with their views. This culture is the very definition of totalitarianism. It is violating our first freedom of speech and expression where everyone is entitled to their own opinion whether others agree with or don’t. The differences between people are inevitable so why cancel people if they haven’t done or said something entirely illegal or harmful. People should be able to speak out or remain silent on issues without fear of getting canceled or cut off. When there are various point of views debates and discussion arises which help to raise awareness about certain topics. Unfortunately, this free exchange of information, ideas, and opinions is daily becoming more constricted by the so-called cancel culture.

Point 2: (Hala Zaid): I, as the second speaker, would like to draw attention to the toxic phenomenon of the “cancel culture”. Let me come to my second argument, a poll of American registered voters conducted by Morning Consult showed that 44% of the respondents disapproved of cancel culture. Furthermore, 46% believed cancel culture had gone too far. Surprisingly, some members of the canceling group join in for fear of being canceled themselves. We can clearly see the effect of cancel culture, in which ordinary people have faced major consequences such as violence and cyberbullying by the increasingly aggressive members of the cult. It even has gone too far to a point where death threats were sent. These threats are designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behavior. Instead of clearing out toxicity, it created a dangerous environment of fear.

Point 3: (Tulin Melhem): I, as a third speaker, would like to ask all presents to reflect on their past mistakes? All of us are living in a world of trial and error. Humans are a series of impulses on a spectrum of time. We are constantly changing and evolving each hour a day, therefore canceling people for a mistake is just unreasonable. No one is perfect, and everyone deserves chances to show that they can change and improve. In fact, you can find many examples for this in real life just look at the famous YouTuber Logan Paul, he made a mistake by uploading a video showing a suicide victim in Japan’s forest, but later apologized for what he did, however, it was too late because people had canceled him which made him feel isolated and depressed for years trying to recover. Cancel culture leaves the victim full of misery, isolation, and dejection that shatters the victim in and out.

Sources:

Is Cancel Culture (or “Callout Culture”) Good for Society? (2021, February 16). ProCon.Org. Is Cancel Culture (or “Callout Culture”) Good for Society? (2021, February 16). ProCon.Org. https://www.procon.org/headlines/is-cancel-culture-or-callout-culture-good-for-society/
2. Network, The Learning. “What Students Are Saying About Cancel Culture, Friendly Celebrity Battles and Finding Escape.” The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2020. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/19/learning/what-students-are-saying-about-cancel-culture-friendly-celebrity-battles-and-finding-escape.html.

3. Romano, A. (2020, August 25). What is cancel culture? Why we keep fighting about canceling people. Vox. https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/30/20879720/what-is-cancel-culture-explained-history-debate

4. Krishnan, M. (2020). The cons of cancel culture. White Station Scroll. https://whitestationscroll.net/5966/opinion/the-cons-of-cancel-culture

5.Horowitz, Hannah. ‘OPINION: Cancel Culture Is Toxic and Does More Harm than Good’. The Seahawk, https://theseahawk.org/30325/thelatest/opinion-cancel-culture-is-toxic-and-does-more-harm-than-good/

6. Wikipedia contributors. (2021b, March 13). Cancel culture. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancel_culture

7. Harper's Magazine. (2020, August 21). A Letter on Justice and Open Debate. Harper’s Magazine. https://harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/

8.Academic English UK. (2020, July 21). Debate Language Phrases - phrases to use in an academic debate. https://www.academic-englishuk.com/debate-phrases

Maria-Al-Shuttary

03.21.2021 11:42AM

Pro

Greetings to our supervisor Ms. Renu, fellow audience, and opposing team. I, Maria will be our team's first speaker, our second speaker is Ekram, and our third speaker is Jana. We as the proposition side will begin our debate with a brief summary of what cancel culture really is.

Point 1 (Maria Al Shuttary): What is cancel culture?

Cancel culture, also known as callout culture, is the removal (“canceling”) of support for individuals and their work after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive to the society or to the people around them.

-What does it mean if a person is cancelled?

To cancel someone (usually a celebrity or other well-known figure) means to stop giving support to that person.

The individuals are typically first called out on social media to magnify the public knowledge of their perceived offense, whereupon the campaign to cancel ensues. The canceling can take several forms, including the exerting of pressure on organizations to cancel the individual’s public appearances or speaking engagements and, in the case of businesses deemed offensive, organizing boycotts of their products.

Strictly speaking, anyone can be canceled anywhere and anytime. It’s impossible, however, to uncouple cancel culture from the internet. Social media is the fuel of canceling, which first gathered attention years ago as a term and hashtag used on Twitter by African Americans.

Cancel culture serves for both purposes, either good or bad but the former is deemed more reliable. As Van Susteren, an American commentator and lawyer said: “Cancel culture is popular justice”.

And as Teron Kinnard, an MSU junior studying anthropology, said accountability is exactly what makes canceling culture beneficial.

“I don’t necessarily think it’s a negative thing, unless the people who get canceled don’t exactly need it”.

Point 2 (Ekram Alkahali): How cancel culture helps the society

Cancel culture has been incredibly effective at combating sexism, racism, or any other type of abuse or harmful wrongdoing to others. It has held people accountable for their actions in ways that weren't possible in the past. It has also prevented people from getting away with doing or saying terrible things.

Cancel culture demands social change and addresses the deep inequalities in keeping the oppressed oppressed.

Cancel culture ruins careers. It ruins people's images. And, for those who’ve already been cancelled, it’s something they’re finding very hard to climb out of. But didn't they get themselves there? Weren't they cancelled for a reason? So it is only fair that they’re judged accordingly to their harmful actions.

Cancel culture is the mass act of cutting off support for a person or brand to punish them for hurtful or offensive behavior. Think of it as a swift and impassioned boycott.

Point 3 (Jana Baseham): Is it ever OK to cancel someone?

Being canceled might be painful, but, at least among teens, it doesn't have to be permanent. Even if the person being canceled is unwilling to learn from their mistakes, canceling culture is beneficial for its potential to make people think before they act.

As we shift towards a more politically correct society, holding accountable the biggest oppressors, it’s socially expected of us to be more aware about the things we say and the way we act.

I believe calling out problematic, deeply hurtful, and damaging behavior positively impacts our society. By being able to express moral outrage, cancel culture has allowed for power dynamics to start to change.

Though the people in power are still mostly white, male, and rich — the people of color, women, and other marginalized folks are finally able to take a seat at the table — taking hold of their power with every tweet. And that serves as more than an providential reason as to why cancel culture brings justice to our society.

Round 2

janaalammari

03.21.2021 01:06PM

Con

1 (Jana Alammari): There are some issues regarding the affirmative sides’ speech that needs to be addressed, didn't the first speaker define cancel culture as “good or bad” doesn't the bad part contradict your whole motion? Nothing can be more illogical than perceiving culture as a positive agent in society. In reality, cancel culture is a political weapon used to publicly shame and punish dissenters by driving them from their jobs, ruining their reputations, and on top demanding submission to their enforced opinions. Cancel culture isn’t a peaceful act, it’s a masked, dangerous boycott of hate.

2. (Hala Zaid): The affirmative side claimed that call-out culture helps remove sexist and racist people; but in fact, it is not productive and does not bring about social change. Normal people don’t have the right to cancel others, especially if it was about a minor subject. Most people are getting discriminated against because they have a different point of view. However, we often come across racist and sexist people on social media. Immediately canceling them is not the right thing to do. They will simply become more ignorant and will continue to spread toxicity as much as possible. These major topics should be handled by the justice system because those people are qualified to handle such topics.

3. (Tulin Melhem): Those who disagree believe that cancel culture is a way of bringing people together while in real life it is a way of setting out and separating people by raising conflicts between individuals. These conflicts originate from suppressing contrasting points of view. Instead of choosing segregation, we could become a single hand that supports each other. This can help people to notice their mistakes and aid them to modify and make a difference in the world. Understanding and helping those victims is vital.

Maria-Al-Shuttary

03.21.2021 01:21PM

Pro

The negative side has stated the cancel culture ruins people's careers and destroys their public image, sure that is the case and we aren’t denying that, but all people, no matter their status nor wealth, must be punished for the crimes they’ve committed. The people won’t get cancelled if it’s a minor issue, no in fact it is because the action they've done would harm not only the society but everyone else as well.

In my opinion, it is wrong on so many levels to stand against cancel culture because that just means that you are willing to support the wrongdoings of those ‘well-known’ figures and standing by what they did and not considering that even a small fraction of what they’ve done could cause harm to our society.

What cancel culture mainly does is puts awareness and allows people to reflect on their actions before even thinking about committing a crime. And as we said, cancel culture has brought peace and stability in many ways that weren’t possible in the past and that’s all thanks to social media. Social media is what brings people from all over the world together and they can either agree or disagree on a certain topic.

And as the popular saying goes: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing” if you are willing to support the wrongdoings of others that just means that you’re not far from committing that crime yourself. And if more and more people support them, then crimes will increase and neither peace nor stability will be a factor in today's world.

Round 3

janaalammari

03.21.2021 01:26PM

Con

Closing statement: And for all these reasons I mentioned before, I urge you to oppose the cancel culture. The world right now needs more tolerance and acceptance between different perspectives and points of view; therefore, instead of canceling people for their contrasting opinions, we should be encouraging more people to tell their stories, to add inclusivity and complexity to our society. As an individual, you can stand against the cancel culture by advocating for exposure, argument, and persuasion not by ignoring and washing these attackers or their culture away.

Maria-Al-Shuttary

03.21.2021 02:07PM

Pro

Closing statement:

I would like to sincerely thank everyone who got to be a part of this debate as well as our lovely audience, and I would really appreciate it if you took our points into consideration. To sum up everything, cancel culture has helped those who couldn’t have a say in any topic to share their opinions and raise their voices to be able to take part in the discussion and argument.

In cancel culture, we appoint ourselves the arbiters of right and wrong and also the judge and jury, because thanks to social media, we as citizens get to dole out punishment for anyone who thinks they can harm our society.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancel_culture

https://onourmoon.com/cancel-culture-the-good-the-bad-its-impact-on-social-change/

https://statenews.com/article/2020/09/a-look-into-cancel-culture?ct=content_open&cv=cbox_latest

https://thepuristonline.com/2020/08/pros-and-cons-of-cancel-culture/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/cancel-culture-words-were-watching#:~:text=To%20cancel%20someone%20

Undefeatable

03.21.2021 03:01PM

Criterion

Con

Tie

Pro

Points

Better arguments

3 point(s)

Better sources

2 point(s)

Better legibility

1 point(s)

Better conduct

1 point(s)

Reason:

Swap pro for con and con for pro in this vote. I got confused

Pro argues that Cancel arbitrarily censors views, that ordinary people fear it, and that people's mistakes remain unforgiven, which is counter productive.

Con argues that Cancel gives accountability, punishing celebrities for inexcusable actions, and can prevent people from being hurtful.

Pro counters that Con admits there is negative, and that it is hateful in essence. They continue by saying regular people will not be affected in general, and advocate for support rather than separation.

Con repeats that the people who violate must be punished, and that not canceling is equal to supporting the bad actions. They repeat that awareness will be raised due to cancel culture.

It's very hard to judge without a framework, but based on what I've read, Pro successfully argues his side slightly better. I've got a lot of counter productive ideas on Con's side, especially that punishment is for retribution rather than rehabilitation, thus making Cancel culture questionable. Furthermore, the awareness backfires on Con as he doesn't stress enough why it's so important that you never say offensive things. In the future, I recommend highlighting why the offenses are so destructive that is is absolutely necessary to censor speech.