I just saw an ex-colleague get (self) cancelled. Hardik is a designer and at 9k twitter followers could be called a twelebrity. Being his usual thought-leader self, he decided to tell the world about who the best designers out there and put out a list . Sadly, there was one fatal flaw in that list - there were no women on it. This massive transgression of humanity was spotted by another twelebrity who decided to call Hardik out on it . And then a mob awakened. People going “OMG how?”, doubling down on the calling out, offering lists of women he should add, and piling on. Seems a like whole pot of boiling hot criticism was thrown Hardiks ways . As I can infer he let out an initial sigh and acknowledged some of the criticism. I don’t know what transpired next, but we do know that Hardik ended up him deactivating his twitter account . Cancellation complete.
Unfortunately, I see blood on everyone’s hands.
Was the initial list problematic?
Yes and No. Why no? It’s just someone’s opinion. I could’ve made a list with me, myself, and my pet dog as the greatest creatures on earth and people can say fuck-all about it . My bloody opinion. Don’t like it? Make your own list.
Why yes? If you’re a woman in design and you see a list like this, you see another place where women where aren’t getting their due. 48% of people will not grok this sentiment, but 52% do (50% women and 2% men). The reaction can lie anywhere on spectrum from annoyance and anger and it’s all valid.
OK someone said something problematic. Let’s unleash the mob?
Here the answer is clearer - absolutely not. I’m sure we all do mildly cancellable stuff all the time - by accident, out of stupidity, out of bad judgement, from lack of better knowledge, out of having power and more. For most of us, these are offline things that don’t get amplified . If we’re lucky someone enlightens us, we get better and we move on. Yet here the mob was unleashed. The marginal tweeter calling someone out directly might just feel good about themselves, as if they’re Batman saving Gotham, but they’re just adding to someone’s misery and piling on to the bullying . The person you’re witch-hunting is just another person like you.
The Bible says “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you“. How do you want to be treated when you commit a faux pax? To be castigated and humiliated in the public square or privately rapped on the knuckles with guidance for better behaviour?
How to react when you’re in the eye of the mob
Standard crisis management applies here
1. Acknowledge
2. Apologise
3. Overcorrect
Hat-tip to Professor Scott Galloway for the framework
Hardik should have said
- “It’s nuts that I got so far and didn’t see my bias”
- “I’m sorry, I need to be a better role model. I will be keeping that thread up as sign of my shame and my future progress - one day I hope can look back and laugh about this”
- “No more dumb lists. Donating 2 hours/week to mentor only women” Social patterns visible here Call of the content creation sirens: Celebrities have been defined as people “famous for being famous”. Twelebrities can be defined in a similar vein . You can have modest or no achievements but earn fame and followership by (hopefully) tweeting/writing some good stuff or (unfortunately) putting out lame/vapid/controversial/follow-inducing crap . This is not an indictment of the person - it’s just behaviour the platform induces and rewards; and before you know you’re running on a treadmill. Person after person falls prey to the sirens of constant content creation in exchange increasing number of dopamine hits and ego-boosting follower counts.
Downsides of fame: I think people never realise that being a celebrity can suck hard. Movie stars and actual famous people understand this, they craft images for the public and wall off large parts of their lives . As your followership grows, the chances of you encountering naysayers, haters and trolls also go up exponentially. You can have fame/thousands of followers OR you can have people perfectly understand you/assume good intent . Not both, be aware and choose wisely.
Cancel culture as a personality: While the sunlight of social media has definitely killed some pests. It has also turned many people into trigger happy morons eager to cancel people and commit reputational violence . It’s mostly another manifestation of virtue-signalling and slacktivism - aah the joy of typing away at your keyboard in rage, putting evil to shame while never realising that you’re mostly commit violence in a different way . Oh surely the world is moved when you express horror rage while in truth taking no substantial and just entertaining yourself.