Doing some thinking today about ‘cancel culture’ and cancelling this toxic behavior within our modern civilization by using ‘sage scifi.’ As I’ve said before, science fiction has done a lot to help people think rationally and mindfully about social challenges. ‘Woke culture’ doesn’t really exist in scifi – scifi has always been woke. But now I’m thinking about current events and the hot topic of ‘cancel culture’ and wondering what scifi can teach us about this moment.
Fiction can be a powerful thought exercise as we contemplate where things are, and where they could go if circumstances do not change. Think about the cautionary tales inside the scifi TV shows of the 1960s – Twilight Zone and Star Trek shaped our culture by poking holes in our emotional bubbles. Social change has accomplished much good by poking holes in the emotional bubbles protecting sexual predators, racists, and exploitative economic systems.
But those social changes and their mechanisms exist in emotional bubbles, too. The sad case of Johnny Depp, for example, helps illustrate the importance of getting all the facts before acting. And even if the facts point to toxicity, very few people are human Superfund sites to be walled off for our safety. Sage scifi can be used to poke holes in these emotional bubbles, too.
Not sure what I mean? I’ll tell you. The famous novel ‘Enders Game’ taught us the value of respecting and regarding our enemies for what they teach us. ‘Enemy Mine’ might be a horrible scifi movie – I dare you to watch it all the way through – but you cannot ignore its message of forgiveness and trust when it comes to pure survival. ‘The Other Foot,’ one of my favorite Ray Bradbury short stories, is a beautiful meditation on mercy, empathy, and compassion.
And by the way, I’m not suggesting that some people don’t need to be cancelled. Bill Cosby? Cancel him. Harvey Weinstein? Cancelled. Joe Rogan?
Okay, here’s something else to think when it comes to ‘cancel culture’ and I’ll use Joe Rogan as the example. Instead of wasting your time and energy on ‘we need to cancel Joe Rogan,’ what if we just realized the truth: he’s one guy, he’s a self-proclaimed ‘idiot with a podcast.’ Why are we – the public – giving him so much energy?
I mean, sure: there are those that latch onto his ‘I’m just asking questions’ persona and use that to legitimize racist, sexist, or anti-science points of view. But so what? How does it hurt us that some people are making a conscious choice to be stupid? Science fiction has the answer to that question, too. Go check out ‘The Day the Earth Stood Stupid’ – it’s an episode on Futurama. It turns out that mass populations of stupid people are a self-solving problem, as long as you can stay out of their way.
Really, you can’t talk about ‘cancelling cancel culture’ without realizing a deeper truth. “Cancel culture is about judgment; no trial, no jury – presumed guilty before being proven innocent,” they say. Stings, right? That’s how marginalized people have been treated since like, forever. Welcome to the neighborhood.
I’ve experienced this kind of treatment myself, but it’s never embittered me toward others. My take is: if you don’t like it, don’t let it happen to other people. Call it out, support the victims, recognize opportunities to right the wrong. Uncancelling people takes time; commit yourself to being a long-haul supporter. Commit to recognizing how painful it must be to be judged before being understood, and recognize opportunities to eliminate those kinds of prejudice for others.
The main thing is, science fiction has a long, sterling record of demonstrating that cancelling cancel culture is in all our best interests. You don’t need a culture to enforce cultural norms. No movement is needed to hold people accountable. Each of us are an army of one that can speak up with our own voice to say “Yeah, no. Not cool.” Or, if someone is saying something we find intolerable, isn’t it a mark of mental and emotional maturity to find out why people believe the way they do? Is there something we can learn from their perspective so that, even if we don’t agree, we can understand?
Science fiction teaches us that curiosity is a better practice. Sometimes curiosity validates our choices. Maybe when we try re-connecting with a formerly cancelled person, we’ll find out that yes, we did make the right choice when we cancelled a relationship or made a personal choice. If that’s the case, we can say “Yes, we did consider alternatives. Now I’m even more comfortable with the decision I made.”
Mindfulness, sagacity … those are survival tools now.
Here are some of the thoughts that led to this post – check out Betty Hart’s TED talk on ‘Cancelling Cancel Culture:’
