Graphic courtesy of Gabby Gagnon ‘24.
By Zora Lotton-Barker ’25
Staff Writer & Copy Editor
As I engage in class discussions, I feel like I am in the film “Groundhog Day,” hearing the same watered-down conversations on political issues over and over again. The heedless repetition of political phrases is a byproduct of cancel culture.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, cancel culture is “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.” Cancel culture creates a hierarchy of opinions where certain opinions are given ascendancy over others. It encourages students who believe in the superiority of mainstream opinions to cancel those who disagree, preventing any chance to have educational moments and empathy within political discourse.
I have often felt the overwhelming presence of cancel culture on campus at Mount Holyoke. As a first-year, a lack of balanced discourse is something I have been unnerved by at college. In many of my classes, I have often felt like we could not complete a discussion without the reductive mention of “no ethical consumption under capitalism.”
According to the Canadian Marxist organization, Fightback, “no ethical consumption under capitalism” is a phrase that is often used within liberal or leftist circles and has grown in popularity in the past few years. It appears around campus quite often, but without much thought.The term is an oversimplification. Though the slogan may be punchy and memorable, it fails to acknowledge a lot of the nuances of ethical consumerism. When arguments become diluted to appeal to the masses, people may begin to see things in extreme polarity, convincing themselves that those who disagree aren’t worth talking to.
The prevalence of following this kind of thinking at Mount Holyoke makes it difficult for students to voice unpopular viewpoints. Many first-years, myself included, feel that we cannot articulate any opposing opinions challenging the majority without facing ridicule and ostracisation.
Sonia Ramanathan ’25 described feeling constricted about sharing views that she didn’t think would be well-received by other students.
“I constantly encounter students who are so fearful of being subjected to the Twitter mob that they are engaging in self-censorship”
“I often feel very uncomfortable expressing my pro-death and anti-natalist viewpoints because of the stigma associated with having negative viewpoints towards life,” Ramanthan said.
Ramanathan is not alone. At the panel Coming Together or Breaking Apart, which premiered on Jan. 26, former ACLU president Nadine Strossen remarked on the dangers of cancel culture on the average social media user. “I constantly encounter students who are so fearful of being subjected to the Twitter mob that they are engaging in self-censorship,” Strossen said.
The censorship of certain topics and opinions is exacerbated by the presence of social media. Emma Gundrum ’25 noticed the more general negative effects of social media activism on discourse around mental health.
“People start these discussions with highly academic language and little context for how those concepts actually affect people,” Gundrum said. “When they’re approached from a place of trying to be technically correct, these conversations seem more detached from people’s humanity.”
Additionally, Gundrum found that, so far on campus, conversations surrounding mental health were less authentic than ones she had back home.
“I think people might benefit from more open-ended conversations. I think many of us have stories around mental health, and drawing upon the similarities and differences could help provide that unity and ease,” Gundrum said. “If we could let go a bit and focus on understanding people instead of saying the ‘right’ thing or intellectualizing, I think we’d all benefit from that.”
Original ideas are not given the chance to flourish, because cancel culture does not incentivize critical thought. Mount Holyoke is touted as being one of the leading liberal arts colleges in the United States, but a liberal arts education includes an emphasis on empathetic listening, critical thinking and engagement, which I am not seeing currently on campus. Students should be encouraged to form their own opinions about issues rather than parroting what they have heard from others. They shouldn’t be so afraid of being cancelled that they fail to grow and learn. There should be room for failure, research and experimentation. That is what we need to foster. That is what Mount Holyoke should champion.