In my part of the world, one of the main reasons online cancel culture, especially on issues that are meant to be legally handled, has been on a high magnitude is because the legal sector is corrupt and people no longer believe in its judgement. So, people take it upon themselves to call the suspect to an online panel of judgement.
Is this enough reason for people to make judgements for themselves online?
Some time ago, there was a man, a famous man in the Nigerian music industry, who was suspected of having a hand in the death of one of his crew. The evidence was so clear that everyone believed he did what he was accused of. But hey, everyone knew that the court of judgement would declare him not guilty even though he was guilty because the man was an influential person. So, the internet took it upon itself to judge the case and label the man a murderer. But just as predicted, the law found him not guilty, but then, the tag had already been given to the man, and till today, people still call him all sorts of names whenever they come across him on social media. People online feel he's guilty and should be jailed.
We've seen this kind of thing play out a lot, even when it is evidently clear that someone committed the blunder.
What if the person is found guilty by the law? Is online cancelling still necessary?
In this modern age, we can't take away the place of online cancelling. It has come to stay, even though sometimes it appears that people are declaring judgement more than the court of law. I won't lie, I support the idea of online cancelling. It buttresses the offence and creates awareness for people to learn from, even though it takes a toll on the mental health of the person being cancelled.
An awful event happened in my state some months ago, where a police officer boldly picked up a gun, cocked it and shot at a suspect who was tied in both hands and legs and begging for mercy. The event happened on camera, and there were hailings on the police officer.
When the news got to the internet, the internet went on fire. Everyone started calling on the Federal Government to quickly address the issue, and everyone was raining insults on the police. Finally, the case got to court, and the policeman was found guilty. But even after that, there was still a need for online cancelling, which is a form of telling the government that everyone saw what happened and also pushing for further restructuring of the police system. But guess what? After the whole saga, everything died off, and no one heard about the concluding judgement of the policeman who killed a suspect in broad daylight.
Online cancelling, even after a charge has been made or a person has been found guilty, brings a lot of things to notice and puts them on record.
Thanks for reading.
Photo: Chatgpt
