Cancel Culture and its Attack on Free Speech Rights in America

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Today's America would be totally unidentifiable to the Forefathers of this country. Thomas Jefferson, who penned the phrase 'All Men are Created Equal' [U.S. Declaration of Independence. (1776)] would be unable to recognize what America has evolved into. True though, it would have been an impossible task for the Forefathers to contemplate the impact of technology, social media, and the rise of cancel culture on American society.

But, nonetheless, the Forefathers did recognize the human predisposition to argue about topics concerning just about every facet of human existence. Checks were added to address this by amending the Constitution that was signed four years earlier. The very first Amendment to the Constitution covers this right to free speech.

James Madison is rolling in his grave looking at the America of today. For those of you unfamiliar with American History, James Madison authored a majority of the Bill of Rights, which is the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. At the heart of this article lies the First Amendment which provides:

 Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or 
 prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of 
 the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the 
 Government for a redress of grievances.

[U.S. Constitution, Amendment I]

"Cancel culture is used to call out behaviors and actions of individuals and corporations that convey opinions or feelings which are objectively questionable or not appropriate from a public perspective." [UAB Institute for Human Rights Blog. "Cancel Culture: A Societal Obligation or Infringement on Free Speech". https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2020/12/04/cancel-culture-a-societal-obligation-or-infringement-on-free-speech/ (Accessed May 20, 2021)]. Cancel Culture has been used to rename buildings named after slave owning American patriots or other alleged white supremacists, to topple allegedly racist statues, to call out celebrities and other prominent figures, and to address "racist, sexist, or homophobic views or ideologies" [Ben-Porath, Sigal. "Free speech advocate discusses talk of 'cancel culture'". https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/free-speech-advocate-discusses-growing-talk-cancel-culture. (Accessed May 21, 2021)].

Thus, the question addressed by this article is does cancel culture infringe upon the constitutional right to free speech? And, if so, why? In answer thereto, it depends.

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Basically, there are two ways to view cancel culture. The first involves people who, for the most part, are advocating against cancel culture. Due to the policing nature of cancel culture, people in this first category are afraid of being criticized for their opinions and are upset their free speech rights are being infringed upon. However, these people more often than not possess large audiences, so the stifling effect of cancel culture is more of an inconvenience rather than an abuse of free speech rights to them.

The second view, however, is patently more disconcerting. This second category involves people who do not engage in exercising their free speech rights for fear of repercussions resulting from cancel culture. This fear results in people's individual choice simply not to exercise the right to express themselves. Why this category is so disconcerting is because it involves an active suppression of a person's ideas, beliefs, ideologies, or perspectives. In effect it is a true cancelling of one's voice in violation of one's constitutional rights.

An equilibrium must be reached balancing the right to speak freely with the necessity of holding both individuals and corporations accountable for their actions. The major problem with cancel culture is there is no built in graduation of consequences - it is an all or nothing proposition with regard to the severity of punishment. Cancelled is just that - cancelled.

And even more troubling is the fact that for the most part cancel culture attempts to cancel trends rather than individual actions. Especially as we live in a society where people jump on a bandwagon to cancel a trend without the slightest idea of that which they are cancelling. Until some balance can be reached between free speech and accountability, our future as a society is threatened as the growth factor of a diversity of ideas is removed from the equation. This was not a result envisioned by the country's Forefathers.

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No one has the right to tell another what they must or must not say.