TUAIRIM
October 20 2020
Is it time to cancel cancel culture? By Donagh Broderick When it comes to cancel culture people seem to fall into two broad camps. Those people such as Comedian Tim Walker who are against it, and those such as left-wing politician Ruth Coppinger who thinks it is not a real thing at all. However, I would argue it is, and needs to be stopped for the sake of political discourse and to end polarisation. If we look at people such as Mrs Coppinger who insist it is not a real thing, it’s easy to see why they hold this belief. No one Mrs. Coppinger likes or supports has been cancelled. Perhaps if they had been, over something Ruth agreed with, then she too would be on board with the idea of cancel culture being a real thing. As was seen when those in the leftwing contingent of the UK Labour party were angered when Rebecca Long Bailey was fired over sharing an imflammatory article from The Independent. Cancel culture seems to fall into two broad realms: people being cancelled from events due to their views, and people having their past tweets discovered which espouse views no longer considered mainstream in contemporary society. Cancelling people for old tweets seems to have become a part of the madness of our times and society needs to learn to reject this practice. If we look at the recent swing in public opinions, such as the mainstream acceptance of gay marriage or the recognition of transgender rights, these are incredibly recent changes. Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter predate them.
If our socials were representative, they’d portray something quite different. “Just spent half an hour in the loo checking Twitter then watched 14 episodes of Peaky Blinders”. Now that’s real life. Wouldn’t social media actually be more fascinating if people were offering brutally honest updates? Perhaps I’m just nosy.
As British journalist Douglas Murray, a gay man himself, highlighted in his recent book ‘The Madness of Crowds’, we have no mechanism as a society to atone for these past misjudgements. If nothing can truly be forgotten on the internet, and the past can always be brought into the present, then why should people have their careers damaged for simply thinking out loud 10 years ago? Especially when the view they may have held was the norm at the time. Cancel culture has also been critiqued by British radio presenter Maajid Nawas - by cancelling people in the present for their past views we aren’t giving people room to grow and improve. Maajid is particularly aware of this as he himself used to be an Islamic extremist before setting up the Quillian Foundation, a think - tank that seeks to counter such extremist ideas. Cancel culture also creates an attitude of immediately dismissing ideas we don’t like, rather than engaging with them, something that needs to happen to prevent polarisation in society. One person being cancelled ultimately makes it easier for another to be, until as a society we simply shout down and banish those we do not like from discourse rather than learning how to engage with differing views. It starts with the extremes and slowly works its way in, just like censorship. Such is the case with The College Historical Society (The Hist) in Trinity College Dublin deciding to cancel their invitation to Richard Dawkins over some of his views, citing that the “comfort of their
Bad News, Bad Mood – An Escape By Katie Barragry JK Rowling . Photo: NBC News. members” was most important. How a debate society cannot see how ridiculous that reasoning is is truly worrying. For healthy discourse to happen people must learn that cancelling people for views they disagree with will not amount to anything. And lastly, in case I haven’t convinced you that cancel culture needs to go, I advise you to look at the recent situation of J.K. Rowling, where people have attempted to have her newest book not published and employees have walked out in protest of the publishing house. Now whatever you think of her views, they are definitely not the most extreme, as can be seen from the fact many trans people, such as popular Trans YouTuber Blaire White, came to her defence. However let’s look at where she was before this. J.K. Rowling was undoubtedly the saint of the New Left. she made Dumbledore gay to anger the right - wing Christians and prooted the rights of asylum seekers. All of these and her many other progressive views counted for nought the second she stepped out of line and was in disagreement in one area. If you think that cancel culture won’t come back to bite you, you should think again.
Where does the truth lie in the world of social media? By Darragh Nolan The buzzwords have been done to death; fake news, alternative facts, fact check. But do we really live in a post-truth era? Social media has certainly blurred the lines between fiction and reality. The wider world and the political sphere have of course been ravaged by heated debates around the notion of truth. Our personal lives, unfortunately, are no different. For all its benefits, social media has made it harder for us to know what’s really going in the lives of people around us. Instagram feeds are filled with nothing but nights-out, holidays and artsy sunset photos. It would have you thinking that all of your friends were hurtling through a life of non-stop craic, when in actual fact life is going on as normal. The reality of social media is that it’s just there to paint a picture. Profiles only show the highlights of an otherwise everyday existence and we’d do well to remember that. There’s plenty of posts featuring the latest sesh or the most recent trip abroad. The more boring stuff gets thrown aside in an effort to make ourselves seem perpetually interesting. If our socials were representative, they’d portray something quite different. “Just spent half an hour in the loo checking Twitter then watched 14 episodes of Peaky Blinders”. Now that’s real life. Wouldn’t social media actually be more fascinating if people were offering brutally honest updates? Perhaps I’m just nosy. As harmful as getting caught up in the feeds of our friends can get, it pales in comparison to the impact social media is having on the search for truth at a macro level. Political discourse has been upended by
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platforms on which leaders say whatever pleases them with little regard for the legitimacy of their claim. The U.S. President has had tweets labelled as false by Twitter’s fact checkers on multiple occasions. Indeed, Trump is probably the biggest driving force behind the company implementing fact checking on their site in the first place. Of course the truth is more difficult to attain when the most powerful man in the free world is having public spats over his pathological lying. It’s not just those in power dragging us into a posttruth world though. The pandemic has shown us a nasty side of people, with Covid-19 hoaxes a regular occurrence on WhatsApp in particular. The early days of lockdown saw fake news spread across the messaging app about Garda powers and the status of pubs and restaurants, among many other things. Thankfully our media publications did an excellent job of swiftly debunking many of these fabricated stories. However, that they have to be debunked in the first place just hampers our ability to obtain the most accurate information. Social media presents those with ill intentions to poison the well and throw others into a state of confusion. The truth is still out there. Social media makes it ever more difficult to find. Even when you come to something you believe to be the truth; you can be sure there’s someone in the replies there to tell you why it’s not. And then you have to figure out if that person’s telling the truth and the whole act of chasing your tail starts all over again. That’s before you even consider the possibility that you’re dealing with a Russian bot. The line between fact and fiction has never been more difficult to identify.
In these uncertain times, many of us can find ourselves completely swamped by bad news. Constant Covid notifications and depressing social media updates have been taking its toll on us over the last few months. For the majority of the time, it seems to be all doom and gloom. Between radio, television and social media, hearing bad news every day undoubtedly has a serious effect on our mood and mental health. Here are a few tips and tricks to limit the amount of “bad” news you receive every day. Turn off the phone: Easier said than done but give yourself a break from the constant stream of bad news that makes its way onto your home screen every hour. Distract yourself from the updates and do something different. Keep busy: With even more time spent at home, we often find ourselves scrolling aimlessly through our newsfeeds. Establish a daily routine and keep yourself occupied. Get some exercise, read, bake, or attend that online lecture you have been avoiding. Turn off notifications: If your phone is constantly hopping with RTÉ News, Irish Times and Irish Independent updates, turning off live updates might be a good decision in limiting your news consumption every day. You don’t need hundreds of tweets constantly popping up on your screen informing you about daily case numbers. Change your feed: You have the power to control who and what pops up on your social media feed. Take the time to go through your Instagram and Twitter accounts deciding what you want to see every time you open the app. There is an account for every interest be it sport, fashion, motivation, celebrities, music, or comedy. Unfollow those who clog up your feed with things that no longer interest you. Remember that you can also mute some accounts if necessary. Stay Connected: It can be difficult to stay in touch with family and friends in these unprecedented times. With constantly changing regulations, we can find ourselves lost and lonely. Although the Zoom group call phase seems to have ended, pick up the phone, check in on your friends and have a chat. Speaking to our loved ones can come as a welcome distraction from the neverending stream of Covid news. Only read from trusted news sources: With the added panic and anxiety that the pandemic has brought for many, we do not need any inaccurate news reaching us. Make sure you are getting your news from legitimate, trustworthy sources to avoid even more stress and worry.
