#CANCELLED

The Cases of Racism, Cultural Appropriation, and Stereotypes in Social Media

By: Danisha Emmanuella | X IPS
Ditulis untuk Mata Pelajaran Lintas Minat Antropologi | 7 Oktober 2021


If you have been around social media, you might be familiar with the term ‘cancelled’ . If you are not familiar with it, the term is a definition where a person will not be supported publicly because of one’s negative action. This essay was inspired by a pattern I see in social media, the pattern had always been almost identical it wasn’t surprising. In the social media world, an influencer is a start where everything in social media flows, or also known as a trend. To be supported by the public and stay ‘relevant’ one has to have a certain image. The image you show to the public will always stay on the internet. As an influencer, keeping up with the image or the part you decide to play in social media has its certain ups and downs. 

    One of the things that has peaked my interest about this topic was how it happens a lot of times on the internet, especially in Indonesia. How are the three topics (Racism, Cultural Appropriation and Stereotypes)  associated with being “Cancelled” if you may ask?  The pattern of influencers getting ‘cancelled’ will always start when a certain media of them in the past doing controversial things gets leaked on the internet. (some influencers immediately get cancelled after they did a certain offensive action, but the most common cycle is how they were most likely ‘exposed’) the cycle of the influencer is always the same.

➔ One has done a certain action resulting one to get viral in social media and have enough viewers to have a platform in social media and be known as an ‘influencer’

➔ Until an old media (can take the shape of a video, picture, or a leaked conversation etc.) of the certain influencer resurfaces of them participating in an offensive action. 

➔ The certain video of one’s doing an offensive action spreaded over the internet, resulting in the public and viewers ‘boycotting’ and stop supporting the influencer (Or also known as ‘being cancelled’)

   What really puzzled me was how almost every single influencer in the social media world who has been uncovered to be a horrible person who was nothing like their image they have pursued to be has been so called ‘cancelled’ for doing something similar with the other influencers who has been so called ‘cancelled’. You might be confused, what is that certain action that some cancelled influencers have done?

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