Public opinion holds so much power. It has so much power that people can cancel each other now, ending careers. Cancel culture has spread massively in the past couple of years; it’s basically when everyone starts to dislike a well-known person’s behavior and decides to just “cancel them.” However, what is cancel culture in the Middle East?
With social media, and cameras pointed at every celebrity or figure of authority, everyone knows everything about everyone. These well-known people have authority and influence on a big scale over people. Once they hurt a person, a group of people, or a community, they receive public backlash. When the public doesn’t like what they see, they simply decide collectively to stop supporting them. Canceled individuals are deemed unlikeable, losing their influence along the way.
Even though the idea of “canceling” someone has been around for a while now, the term became mainstream in the last couple of years. Opinions about cancel culture vary: some believe that it holds public figures accountable for their actions and their words, especially since they influence people. Others believe it’s more of a mob mentality. Meaning, the public just wants to silence whoever disagrees with them, regardless of being wrong or right.
Canceled in the Middle East
This is famously widespread in the USA, but it’s in the Middle East as well. Time after time, social media platforms have been turned into battlefields, filled with chants of disapproval. To name just a few, there was the time it became known that Zeina and Ahmed Ezz were married, and Ezz denied having children. People went crazy, spewing words of how Ezz did wrong and for a while, he was rejected as an actor.
Another time was when Amr Warda was publicly known for sexually harassing girls online, and the people just wouldn’t have it. Then comes the upheaval against Saad L’Mjarad for rape. Last but not least, the public tried to cancel Hany Shaker for canceling their favorite singers!
The canceled person doesn’t necessarily get their careers thrown in the trash and their lives turned upside down. However, cancel culture does create a balance between the powerful, influencing people, and the ordinary fans. Public figures get heard, and they might overestimate their own powers. Nonetheless, their powers come from having fans and if their followers decided to take away their support, this public figure loses their power.
Cancel culture is sort of a reality check that holds people accountable for their words and actions. What’s wrong with that?
