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Home , Black Twitter, Cancel culture

CTP0010.1177/2057047320961562Communication and the PublicClark 961562research-article2020

Commentaries for Special Forum

Communication and the Public 5–­1 © The Author(s) 2020 DRAG THEM: A brief etymology Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions of so-called “cancel culture” DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/2057047320961562 10.1177/2057047320961562 journals.sagepub.com/home/ctp

Meredith D. Clark University of Virginia, USA

Abstract The term “cancel culture” has significant implications for defining discourses of digital and . In this essay, I briefly interrogate the evolution of digital accountability praxis as performed by Black , a meta- network of culturally linked communities online. I trace the practice of the social media callout from its roots in Black vernacular tradition to its misappropriation in the digital age by social elites, arguing that the application of useful anger by minoritized people and groups has been effectively harnessed in social media spaces as a strategy for networked framing of extant social problems. This strategy is challenged, however, by the dominant culture’s ability to narrativize the process of being “canceled” as a moral panic with the potential to upset the concept of a limited public sphere.

Keywords Black Twitter, cancel culture, intersectionality, public sphere, Twitter

In July 2020, Harper’s Magazine published “A Letter tellingly counter-framed through application of the on Justice and Open Debate” signed more than 150 reductive and malignant label “cancel culture.” notable public figures who aligned to speak out against the development of “a new set of moral atti- Called out, called in, canceled tudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differ- Jonah Engel Bromwich, a style writer for the New ences in favor of ideological ,” or more York Times described the digital phenomenon of colloquially put, the threat of “cancel culture.” While being canceled as “total disinvestment in something limited in scope, I use this essay to briefly map an (anything)” (2018, npa). As I explained to him, etymological examination of “canceling” as digital “canceling” is an expression of agency, a choice to discursive accountability praxis, from its origins in withdraw one’s attention from someone or some- Black oral tradition to its misappropriation by social thing whose values, (in)action, or speech are so elites. I begin with a definition of what it means to be offensive, one no longer wishes to grace them with “canceled” by contextualizing the power relations their presence, time, and money. The term has since that inform the assumption of an equitable public devolved into journalistic shorthand wielded as a sphere. I then call on digital intersectionality theory to explicate the roots of Black digital discursive Corresponding author: practice. Finally, I argue that while social media call- Meredith D. Clark, University of Virginia, 115 Ruppel Drive, outs are a form of networked framing (Meraz & Wilson Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22904, USA. Papacharissi, 2013), they have been effectively and Email: [email protected] 2 Communication and the Public 00(0) tool for silencing marginalized people who have silencing. But being canceled—a designation, it adapted earlier resistance strategies for effectiveness should be noted, usually reserved for celebrities, in the digital space. , and otherwise out-of-reach figures—should “Cancel culture” is situated within the be read as a last-ditch appeal for justice. Habermasean concept of the public sphere which “Originally a practice of Black women ‘signi- assumes public discourse is the realm of the elites fyin,’ [the callout] has occasionally been mistaken (1962). Earlier examples of discursive accountabil- for Twitter’s ‘mob mentality,’ but it is qualitatively ity practices, including reading, dragging, calling different: it is often a critique of systemic inequality out, in and even canceling,1 are the creations of rather than an attack against specific, individualistic Black counterpublics that are conspicuously absent transgressions” (Brock, 2020). As venture commu- from the American public imaginary, which holds a nity management, the callout on social media plat- lofty vision of newspaper op-ed pages, shows, forms such as Twitter is a form of activism; feminized town-hall meetings, and the like as forums of debate labor in the digital economy undertaken voluntarily where a multiplicity of discursive publics are equally to protect the particularly vulnerable in online spaces empowered to engage in debate and the free expres- (Nakamura, 2015). The use of broadcast-style social sion of ideas. This simply isn’t so. media platforms, such as Twitter and YouTube,2 For instance, canceling’s analog antecedents— allow marginalized groups to engage in networked and boycotting—are also mediated pro- framing, a process by which collective experiences cesses, though limited both in scope and effectiveness of an offending party’s (or their proxy’s) unjust by factors of structural power, time, and access to behavior is discussed, morally evaluated, and pre- resources. Producers and casting directors, for exam- scribed a remedy—such as being fired or choosing ple, have the ability to categorically deny employ- to resign—through the collective reasoning of cul- ment in the entertainment industry. Admissions turally aligned online crowds (Meraz & Papacharissi, officers, regents, and donors have enjoyed similar 2013, p. 159). influence on college campuses. Even the measured It may involve reading another individual—giv- success of Civil Rights era depended on ing them a dressing down that uses colorful and global media attention to gain traction. Thus, any descriptive language and an incisive ability to articu- examination of so-called “cancel culture” must late appraisal of another’s character. Reading, which begin with an analysis of the power relations by begat calling out (which begat canceling), is an which it is defined. Only a perspective that prior- “indigenous expressive form” particular to the Other. itizes the communication histories and practices of It has been perfected by Black women like our disempowered people can adequately decipher the grandmothers, who let us know what they see, even phrase’s use as a tool to delegitimize the dissension if they don’t directly say it; minors deprived of a that echoes from society’s margins. sense of agency, who quickly learn how to detect and Canceling a person, place, or thing is socially name adults’ ulterior motives; and queer folk whose mediated phenomena with origins in queer commu- first line of defense is withering critique (Johnson, nities of color. Black Twitter—the meta-network of 2011, pp. 434, 437, and 443). While these interac- culturally connected communities on the microblog- tions usually go unnoticed, the clashes between ging site (Clark, 2015)—made the language of being strong and weak publics, particularly on Twitter, “canceled” into an meme (Shifman, 2013). expose the conceptual limits of a singular public The reference was subsequently seized upon by out- sphere for the chaotic deliberation required in the side observers, particularly journalists with an out- development of a truly liberal democracy (Fraser, sized ability to amplify the(ir own) white gaze. 1990, p. 77). Not every critique can come wrapped Politicians, pundits, celebrities, academics, and eve- up in niceties and polite speech. Nor should it. ryday people alike have narrativized being canceled Sometimes, the urgency and weight of oppression into a moral panic akin to actual harm, adding a neo- require us to immediately cry out. logic twist on the origin of the practice by associat- The idea of “cancel culture,” as implied by the ing it with an unfounded fear of and letter, is a phenomena uniquely enabled by Clark 3 capitalism’s demands on the media production side, resistance and accountability practice among other- and on the audience side, by our connectivity to wise disempowered peoples compel us to identify social media. Social media is a space where journal- who or what defines the disputed concept of the ists—who possess the ability to amplify otherwise public sphere, who sets the rules of engagement, unremarkable conversations—have extracted and and thus what is considered “talking back” to domi- decontextualized so many rich traditions of Black nant discourses. communicative practice to meet the demand for James Davison Hunter, a sociologist and author media content that will draw readers/listeners/view- of the 1990s culture wars thesis mapped these con- ers’ attention, while failing to provide adequate cul- tours of power perfectly, declaring that “public dis- tural context to explain why these debates are and course is a discourse of elites. That is where you find should be a part of public discourse. As this conflict at its most incendiary. . . . The power of Tynes et al. (2012) explain in their advancement of culture is the power to define reality, the power to digital intersectionality theory: “Countering domi- frame the debate, and that power resides among the nant discourses on social media as conversation is elites.” Thus framing these unruly discourses as intersectional, multidimensional and less restricted. “cancel culture” has found utility among those who This enables users to effectively ‘talk back’ and wish to quash any attempts to critique their social mobilize around topics outside the view of the position. It evokes the enduring schema of an ongo- mainstream, until they go viral, at which point they ing battle between those Hunter conceived of as gain the desired attention of the [mainstream news] elites—those with advantageous positions in the media” (p. 33; emphasis and qualifiers mine). Matrix of Domination (Collins, 1990)—and every- one else. Hunter belies the shared belief among those who promote the culture wars thesis as their invest- You gon’ learn . . . but we got to ment in the limitations of the Habermasean public teach ya sphere concept, which privileges the elite class and In 2013, during Black Twitter’s summer of account- allows no room for alternative and dissenting public, ability, celebrity chef Paula Deen, Juror B37 in the nor acknowledges relations between powerful and trial of ’s killer, and white feminists disempowered groups (Fraser, 1990, p. 77). While everywhere were examples of this back talk when Fraser’s critique of “actually existing democracy” their acts of workplace bigotry, opportunism, and provides four clear objectives for critically theoriz- limited commitments to solidarity (respectively) ing the public sphere concept that the signatories of were called out via and an online . the Harper’s letter claimed to defend, too much Aside from Deen’s hostile workplace lawsuit, none attention is paid to its limitations. I prefer the expan- of these incidents would have been considered sub- siveness offered by Lorde’s theory of “useful anger” stantive enough to warrant news coverage, but as guide to reconciling the uppity, loud, slick, cut- Black Twitter’s online activity around each of them ting, and unrelenting critique levied as unruly speech triggered systems, demanding cover- (Olson, 2011): age. -driven discussion of these incidents, We are working in a context of oppression and threat, as well as cases in which ordinary people are caught the cause of which is certainly not the angers which lie on tape attempting to police and harass Black folks between us, but rather that virulent hatred leveled (#BBQBecky, #PoolPatrolPaula), push the ever- against all women, people of Color, lesbians and gay present issue of everyday racism to the top of the men, poor people against all of us who are seeking to news media’s agenda. Several of the Harper’s letter examine the particulars of our lives as we resist our signatories have been at the center of these pro- oppressions, moving toward coalition and effective cesses, where the online discourse of the undiffer- action. (Lorde, 1984) entiated masses characterizes debate about fitting punishment for people who break with evolving Social media allows hundreds of thousands—if not social norms. The rapid mobilization in digital millions—of everyday people to leverage networked 4 Communication and the Public 00(0) collectivity and a sense of immediacy to demand threat to their real and aspirational peers, elite public accountability from a range of powerful figures, figures fall victim to their own worst fears: a realiza- including individuals—such as Russell Simmons’ ill- tion that the social capital they’ve worked so hard for conceived #HarrietTubmanSexTape; and institu- is hyperinflated currency in the attention economy. tions—such as the universities called out by #ConcernedStudent1950 and #BeingBlackAtMichigan. Notes For so long, the concentric circles of the social elite in 1. These practices deserve attention in a typology all arts, media, business, and politics were insulated by their own, a responsibility that is best left to Black the norms of acceptable discourse, distanced from the scholars of our linguistic traditions. realities of Others who struggle through life without 2. I am not referring to the “drama channels” of access to the specific privileges afforded along lines of YouTube, where influencers use gossip, trash-talking race, gender, and class. As digital connectivity shrinks and backbiting to gamify the algorithm and draw those gaps, the demand for new social standards out- more users to their online presence. paces the willingness of the comfortable to consider just what their professed commitment to the promo- References tion of social equity may actually cost them. Unfortunately, the expansiveness of the internet and its Brock, A. (2020). Distributed blackness: African American outsize influence on news and entertainment media cybercultures. New York University Press. doesn’t bode well for parsing the nuance of such clam- Clark, M. D. (2015). Black twitter: Building connection through cultural conversation. In N. Rambukkana orous conversation. The noise of online , (Ed.), Hashtag publics: The power and politics doxxing, and bad-faith piling on that has evolved from of discursive networks (pp. 205–217). Peter Lang the callout, the read, and the drag drowns out Black Press. Twitter’s approach toward demanding accountability Collins, P. H. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, in digital spaces. consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. The problem with so-called “cancel culture” does Routledge. not rest with the formerly disempowered, seemingly Fraser, N. (1990). Rethinking the public sphere: A faceless public that the letter critiques, but with the contribution to the critique of actually existing signatories and their peers, “ . . . the institutional lead- democracy. Social Text, 25–26, 56–80. https://doi. ers,” who, “in a spirit of panicked damage control, are org/10.2307/466240 delivering hasty and disproportionate punishments Habermas, J. (1962). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bour- instead of considered reforms.” These self-appointed geois society. Herman Lutcherhand Verlag, Darmstad regents of open debate have failed to anticipate an age and Neuwid, Federal Republic of Germany. in which there is no longer a dominant public sphere, Johnson, E. P. (2011). Queer epistemologies: Theorizing but a fractal sequence of counterspheres and opposi- the self from a writerly place called home. tional publics. They have yet to reconcile how coali- Biography, 34(3), 429–446. https://doi.org/10.1353/ tions of the Othered are now equipped to execute a bio.2011.0040 responsive strategy for immediately identifying harms Lorde, A. (1984). Uses of anger: Women responding to and demanding consequences. The absence of delib- racism. In A. Lorde (Ed.), Sister outsider: Essays & eration in chastising bad actors, misconstrued as the speeches (pp. 124–133). Crossing. outcome of cancel culture, is a fault of the elites’ ina- Meraz, S., & Papacharissi, Z. (2013). Networked gate- bility to adequately conceive of the impact social keeping and networked framing on #Egypt. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 18(2), 138– media connectivity has for shifting the power dynam- 166. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161212474472 ics of the public sphere in the digital age. Nakamura, L. (2015). The unwanted labour of social In their attempt to separate Black discursive media: Women of color call out culture as ven- accountability praxes—calling out, reading, and ture community managerment. New Formations: A canceling—from their origins in the creative spaces Journal of Culture/Theory/Politics, 86(86), 106–112. occupied by the oppressed, and reposition them as a https://www.muse.jhe.edu/article/604492 Clark 5

Olson, L. (2011). Anger among allies: Audre Lorde’s movement. In S. U. Noble & B. Tynes (Eds.), The 1981 keynote admonishing the National Women’s intersectional internet: Race, sex, class, and culture Studies Association. Quarterly Journal of Speech, online (pp. 21–40). Peter Lang. 97(3), 283–308. Shifman, L. (2013). Memes in a digital world: Reconciling with a conceptual troublemaker. Journal of Author biography Computer-Mediated Communication, 18, 362–377. Meredith D. Clark is an assistant professor in the https://doi.org/10.1111/jcc4.12013 Department of at the University of Virginia. Tynes, B., Schuschke, J., & Noble, S. U. (2016). Digital She is the author of a forthcoming manuscript on Black intersectionality theory and the #BlackLivesMatter Twitter. She can be reached on Twitter @meredithdclark.