I would argue simply that ‘cancel culture’ does very little to change racism. The consistent policing of social media and going back through historical tweets to find evidence of previous wrongdoing, whether racism, sexism or just being a bit of a dickhead will mean only two things. Firstly, you’ll catch people out, and you’ll hold them accountable and those people who do the hunting can feel smug, self satisfied and superior.

Secondly, and this is perhaps most important. The next generation of social media users will simply become aware that this is a thing. Racist attitudes which are prevalent in all cultures and all races, will go underground and social media will become exactly like polite society. On the surface it will be polite discourse and the racism, sexism and intolerance will go underground either to reddit or secondary accounts. I would think the latter…. and then someone will find a way of outing more people as secret racists and the whole merry go round will begin again.

All of the ‘isms’ need not be condoned by society, but recognising that they are part of the human psychology and we are pre-disposed to them is a starting point. Pretending it’s a simple and solvable issue is not the way forward. Human beings are complex and this is a nuanced problem that requires intelligent discussion from a whole lot of people of all races and ages. This article is a good starting point though and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The cancel culture is retrograde, but so is the belief that this is a white people problem. As Bertrand Cooper explained so eloquently in his comment below. Thanks for writing the article and great food for thought.