Alexi McCammond’s journalism career was rapidly ascending. She was a political reporter for Axios and a fixture on cable news.

Jeffrey Toobin was an award-winning lawyer-turned-journalist. He wrote for The New Yorker, provided legal analysis on CNN, and authored a New York Times best-selling book on O.J. Simpson.

Mimi Groves was accepted to the renowned University of Tennessee’s cheer team, who were reigning national champions. But social media’s penetrating gaze and uncontrollable virality unearthed troubling personal moments for each of them. Their lives became disrupted in ways once unimaginable.

Digital fall from grace

In March 2021, McCammond was primed to assume the editor-in-chief position at Teen Vogue. However, offensive tweets from her teenage years resurfaced. Staff members were outraged, and McCammond resigned before she even started.

Toobin was caught and exposed during a staff Zoom call, costing him multiple jobs, and a seconds-long Snapchat video showed Groves stating a racial epithet. Public pressure forced Groves off her beloved Tennessee cheer team, and she later withdrew from the university.

Different circumstances, similar results, and each was embroiled in cancel culture. Cancel culture” promotes the ‘canceling’ of people, brands, and even shows and movies due to what some consider offensive or problematic remarks or ideologies.”

This phenomenon has exploded due to social media’s amplifying powers, society’s deep divisions, and difficulties redressing longstanding inequities.

Violating standards of public morality can exact severe consequences, both online and off. This includes penalizing transgressors and those harmed by their offensive words or deeds.

The Roots of cancel culture

Cancel culture arose in the popular consciousness decades ago. It is paradoxical that a term now used to counter problems such as sexism emerged from a song about a bad romance and was later incorporated into a misogynistic movie scene.

Legendary Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers wrote the song Your Love Is Cancelled in response to a date gone awry.

And in dialogue based on that song, Wesley Snipes’ character Nino Brown dumps his girlfriend in 1991’s iconic movie New Jack City: “Cancel that b—h. I’ll buy another one.” Nino’s fiery command is harsh and unforgivable.

At its best, cancel culture minimizes regressive attitudes like Nino’s sexism. It brings them public attention and earns disapproval. And even better? Ideally, the targets rethink their position. They make amends.

The right to free expression

Democracies celebrate free expression — it is essential to their functioning. In liberal democracies, constitutional protections safeguard a wide range of speech.

But at its worst, cancel culture curtails speech. It threatens this longstanding fundamental freedom. If we limit speech by balancing those we disagree with, other societal pillars also face peril. When is an expression compromised, and which space is next? Freedom of assembly? Freedom from fear?

Endless purgatory

Cancel culture can grievously impact the canceller’s professional status. Their livelihoods could end. Think of comedians Louis C.K. or Aziz Ansari — their once-flourishing careers have withered indefinitely.

The debate regarding what to do with those canceled persists: Should their careers be terminated entirely, forever, and without review? Should they be penalized in proportion to their offense? Should their punishment have an end date?

Cancellation is a widespread viral online phenomenon. Due to its essence, it must exist within public discourse to produce its full effects. Given that it occurs among members of wide-ranging internet communities, trying to tailor cancellations on a case-by-case basis seems improbable. Once guilty in the court of public opinion, there is no appeal.

Ideological divide

We live during a particularly fraught political moment. The ideological division between right and left in today’s politics seems like an impassable chasm. This dangerous gap has never felt wider.

One month before the last presidential election in the United States, nine out of 10 voters believed the other side’s victory would lead to “lasting harm.” And both sides claim their speech has been unjustifiably chilled.

During this era of cancellation, opponents’ transgressions are demonized. They are slamming someone as irredeemably wicked on Twitter becomes common. We no longer reconcile differences with respectful conversations. Lives are irrevocably upended.

The long-term outlook for public spaces as marketplaces of ideas become worrisome.

Nuanced considerations

But there is hope. A Politico survey conducted in July 2020 found that 27 percent of American voters believed cancellation could positively impact society. From this, the negative valence of cancel culture has the potential to be marshaled for more positive ends.

For example, cancel culture could champion pro-social movements that are broadly accepted, like the fight against racism. Following the unspeakable death of George Floyd, support for intractable social problems is vital. A 2020 poll showed that two-thirds of Americans supported racial justice protests. This work is of fundamental social importance and requires constant vigilance. Cancel culture could combat racist expression, ultimately promoting social justice.

Coping with COVID-19 and financial inequalities has brought longstanding inequalities into sharp relief. These include racial and class differences driving unacceptably poor health outcomes. Cancel culture’s dependence on the whim and will of the masses means that we cannot move forward together if we speak separately and alone.