We‘re seeing this tossed around a lot by B-level (C? D?) influencers. Now, it’s a badge of honor to get cancelled – and people are going out of their ways to get that badge. And it’s fucking STUPID.
“I’ve been CANCELLED!”
Hold on. No – you haven’t.
Getting called out for stepping out of your lane and posting shit to purposely inflame people is not being cancelled. It’s people’s natural reaction to you showing up and being an asshole. They’re going to call you an asshole. Their friends and audiences (you know, the ones they’re actually talking to) will think you’re an asshole. Some of them might block you. Some of them might make fun of you. Some of them might make a parody site to poke holes in your methods.
But that’s not cancelling. That’s a natural byproduct of you being a dick. Not an honor, and – especially in the current climate – not a difficult thing to do. It’s EASY to twist nipples – especially when you go out of your way to find things you KNOW will get you “in trouble.”
OFFICIAL JIMBO STORY™
A while back, I had a different life on Facebook. I was a bit of an asshole, and I wound up in a position of being a weird sort of “investigative journalist” in my hometown. I went after a local restaurant for lying (and produced proof,) went after a local radio station for violating FCC rules (and produced proof,) and went after a couple of fakers on a TLC show about living off-grid (and produced proof.) PEOPLE HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATED ME – especially the “offending” parties.
What ensued was a couple of years of law suits, death threats and all sorts of other nonsense. I became persona non gratis to a very large portion of the population of my home town. Business suffered and my family was scared. Beth didn’t even use her last name when she went to the salon to get her hair did. People knew me.
And I wasn’t really being an asshole (well, a little.) I was just dropping documentation of truth. People didn’t like that.
I got cancelled before cancelling was a thing. There was a concerted effort (that still goes on to this day) to destroy me. Didn’t work – but it was a hard hill to climb for a while.
Now, however, people crow about being cancelled for being kicked out of a Facebook group.
No, no, no darling. That’s not cancelling. That’s normal.
If you went into McDonald’s and started throwing shit and making an ass of yourself and they kick you out, did you get cancelled? No. Same fucking thing.
I enjoy upsetting people, and I will run my mouth and get kicked out, blocked, unfriended, ridiculed, fussed at and have people leave my sphere. I’m not being cancelled – I’m getting what I’m looking for.
So – to all you people out there claiming “cancelled,” SHUT THE FUCK UP. You’re not getting cancelled.
You’re being an asshole – and surprise, surprise – you got treated like one.
You don’t need to be intentionally polarizing, unless being considered an asshole is part of your brand.
Stop going out and trying to get cancelled.
Stop pretending it’s a hard thing and that we should all be proud of you for being a dick to people who disagree with you.
Want to really get cancelled? Say some real shit. Do some real shit. Give people a reason to want you to suffer.
Sitting behind a keyboard and claiming victory for being a dipshit in the midst of people you consider a dipshit isn’t an honor.
Stop pretending it is.
