OP/ED

I don’t care that Dr. Seuss has been canceled.

Cancel culture has been a very controversial topic since the beginning of quarantine last March. With many people on both extremes of liking and disliking the new movement, it has continued to show the great divide of people in America.

For those who may not know what cancel culture is, the definition according to Merriam Webster is “the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure.” People, such as Ellen DeGeneres, J.K. Rowling, and Lea Michele, are all examples of someone saying or doing something “wrong”; and as a result, have received massive amounts of hate and backlash online.

It doesn’t just have to be people either, it can be as specific as certain TV show episodes to children books that have “inappropriate” and “uncalled for” content. This is often where the controversy starts; someone’s favorite episode of a show is now disbanded or favorite childhood book now barred from schools and public libraries.

The act of canceling isn’t something new, paraphrased by CBS news in a recent article, cancel culture has been alive since 2014. So why is it gaining so much attention now?

Is it a way for people to let off some steam? Is it a way for people to get a moments glimpse of stardom? Is it a way for people to ruin their enemies? All of these very well could be the answer, but I like to consider myself an optimist so I want to look at this in another perspective.

With the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, people across the world have been striving for equality. Whether it be racial, religious, or political freedom, the world has been caught on fire in this fight for social justice.

I see cancel culture as a way to give power to the people and create a more fair place for people to live.

I overheard this one quote in the movie theatre by a middle-aged man, and it was my motivation for writing this piece. “Life isn’t fair; we live in a generation full of wussies, when can they realize that the world will never be fair. You look at what the older generation has done for this country, and this new generation is destroying all of their hard work, and for what, because the Cat in the Hat offends you. They seriously need to grow up.”

As a society, I believe we should be striving to create a more peaceful world. We shouldn’t settle where things are now. We shouldn’t give up because it seems to hard, instead we should fight as hard as possible for a better future — where skin color isn’t profiled as a threat, where religious affiliation doesn’t mean you are a enemy of this country, where your wealth doesn’t mean you have nothing left to offer, where your political alignment doesn’t mean that your ideas don’t matter to society, where your gender doesn’t mean you get less rights.

This is the type of the world I want to live in, if that means cancel culture has to get rid of the Dr. Seuss books, then so be it. If it makes a world closer to a place where everyone feels equal, then I say it is a necessary sacrifice.