I think when it comes to cancel culture by all means boycott those who committed heinous crimes.
Lock away the paedophiles and rapists.
Punish them for their indiscretions.
Show them there are consequences for their actions.
But for those who simply have different opinions, I don’t think this is sufficient to cancel them.
The way I see it is akin to the same sex marriage legislation update here in Ireland.
When the proposition was tabled and the country had to vote on it, it sparked a lot of conversations in households.
Which then revealed which family members differed in opinion.
Now there may be exceptions but I think the majority of those for same sex marriage didn’t disown those against and vice versa.
We forgave them for their differing opinion and vowed not to discuss the matter with them again.
So, I can’t see why this shouldn’t apply to celebrities too.
If they express a contrary point of view then we simply don’t invite them to our cause’s next event.
We know now to exclude them from future conversations as to how we reach our goals.
Rather than bombarding them with death threats, abusing them and trying to remove their sources of income.
To hazard a few guesses at why celebrities attract more hate than friends or family:
Maybe it’s to do with celebrities sitting atop a pedestal and we have a deep desire to bring them down to our level?
Perhaps it feels like a betrayal? This person was a beacon of outstanding character but now they’ve revealed an opinion we don’t agree with and it feels like a stabbing in the back?
Potentially we unknowingly hold celebrities to higher standards?
Possibly the hate feels justified because everyone else is doing it?
Thomas Duggan 