Cancel Culture: The New Scarlet Letter

Do we want to be more inclusive by doing the opposite?

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” — Mahatma Gandhi

In the novel, The Scarlett Letter, Hester Prynne is a woman who has an affair and gets pregnant. When people in her town find out, they shame her and make her wear a Scarlet Letter “A” to identify her as an adulterer. 

This was a way of publicly humiliating her and punishing her for breaking the social norms of the time. 

Today, we have our version of a Scarlet Letter: Cancel Culture.

Cancel Culture is when someone is publicly shamed and ostracized for their views or actions. It’s a way of punishing people for breaking today’s social norms. 

Just like in The Scarlett Letter, Cancel Culture can be used to humiliate and punish people publicly. And like Hester Prynne, many people subjected to Cancel Culture feel like they have been branded with a Scarlet Letter.

While Cancel Culture may seem like an excellent way to hold people accountable for their actions, it often do…