On October 5th, 2021 comedian Dave Chappelle and Netflix released a 1 hour episode of him doing his final special for Netflix, it was called The Closer. It was a send-off for David, one of the great comedians of not only this generation but of all time. In this special, David made some rather offensive jokes, to put it lightly. Dave has been known for that all throughout his career. He essentially roasted about every group and culture there is out there, and many, and I mean many, took it personally. Many took to social media, others made the news, lots were very offended. These people came at David and tried to shut him down, trying to ruin his career and dethrone him from the top because of what he said.
This is commonly known as Cancel Culture. The Mirriam-Webster says, “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure”. I just call it a direct way to lose brain cells but think what you want of it. Cancel Culture sucks; it has ruined the careers of some of the biggest stars out there, but overall, some people need to just grow up to be frank.
Over the years
Cancel Culture has sparked up like a wildfire within the last 2 years. In this generation, we live in a very cancerous era. If you say one thing someone does not like, you will be attacked and criticized heavily. It doesn’t even have to be recent, it could have been something you said 10 years ago that comes back to bite you. People will expose the smallest details about you to try and ruin you, it’s sad really. The biggest example of this must be David Dobrik. David was living his best life and was the 5th most popular Youtube channel out there. Then came the allegations.
Some girl on Twitter decided to expose the fact he said some things he shouldn’t have said roughly 7 years prior, just out of nowhere. And just like that, it all began. It snowballed downhill out of control. David rose to the top, and I guess people didn’t like that. Many of David’s subscribers were displeased and unsubscribed. As he lost popularity, the big blow landed. A member of a social media group David was in made a rape allegation towards David. That’s when the problem got heated, David lost roughly 200,000 subscribers and stopped posting for a while. It seems like people tend to expose what they know just to make it look like they are the good guy almost, the chances he gets accused of rape are slim to none if the tweet never came out and David picked up the heat for it.
David is not the only one who has been canceled before, far from it. The list is a mile long and includes people such as Austin McBroom, Donald Trump, Drake, DaBaby, and now Dave Chappelle. That’s not even close to it however, I could go on for days and days on which people have been canceled. Cancel Culture ruins people’s careers and it needs to stop.
People need to grow up
(Rant Alert)
As a person who is fair-minded and wants to see the other side of the argument to understand where they are coming from, I try to use that in this case, and I just don’t see the other side of it. If you don’t agree with something, there is absolutely no way you should try and shut down the other side and ruin them. You need to grow up, and learn how to take a hit. In life it can’t be just happiness 24/7, you must learn how to get knocked down and get up again. If someone says something you don’t like, you have more than one option. You can ignore it, you can choose to confront it and tell the other side you disagree respectfully, there are many options when it comes to this. Trying to share what someone said with others and trying to make them look as stupid as possible is the worst thing you can do. Let others say what they want, and quite frankly, deal with it. It ruins lives, it ruins careers, and it needs to stop.
The reason America was founded in 1776 was to be free; everyone has the right to speech, everyone is treated equally, stuff like that. And now, it seems you can’t have an opinion, you either agree with what society says, or you are wrong, and that is far from the truth. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and they are allowed to fight for what they say and believe.
Once more, I have no problem with disagreements. I think that is a very good thing. But when I see people who disagree and then try to shut down and ruin the other side, that is what makes things wrong.
Lastly, people change over time. They learn from past experiences, they mature out and become better. A person like David happened to make a stupid mistake in his younger years, and someone decided to tear him down and expose him. It ruined his career, and he will most likely never be the same again. The lives of these big stars are getting ruined, and it is very sad to see. What if it happened to you? Always be empathetic, and don’t let one small mistake or problem dictate a whole career or life.
