Cancel Culture & The Hero's Journey

The following is a transcript of a Podcast/Youtube episode of “WTF is on my Mind?!” that was posted on April 18th, 2023

At the prompting of my amazing audience, I’ve been thinking a lot about the dreaded topic of ‘cancel culture’ and I’d like to share a few thoughts. 

Yes - I know I’m wading into dangerous territory. And - it’s worth asking - why is it so dangerous? It shouldn’t be in a free, open-minded society.

Cancel culture is, in essence, a reaction to something that a person or people or group perceives as not only bad but perhaps catastrophic to them or society or their ideology. 

I think this is a really complex subject. Not because it can’t be understood but because of people’s extreme reactivity around this topic. 

Let’s say someone says that ONE thing that causes a virtual mob to be mobilized to destroy this ‘evil perpetrator.’ 

Here’s why it’s complex. It may have all kinds of unintended consequences. 

Let’s look at the hero’s journey that is spoken about so much amongst screenwriters and novelists and mythologists. The hero’s journey does not begin with the person being a mensch. In fact, sometimes the hero is weak or inexperienced and in the worst case - an utter prick, a complete failure, or a reprehensible human being. 

In the mythological journey, this pre-hero has some kind of collision with reality that is so astounding that they have a ‘come to Jesus’ moment. 

In the hero’s journey, there are all these fears the protagonist has to deal with - there are external forces and internal forces - which eventually they overcome and become the hero. There are low points, mistakes, failures, errors in thinking, and errors in action - these are essential parts of the hero’s journey - otherwise, we wouldn’t call it a heroes journey. 

So - if we need to destroy anything that is not perfect (in our eyes) there will be no more heroes left. If perfection is required at all times, there is no room for mistakes. No room for being human. There are deep deep profound consequences to destroying the possibility of mistakes being part of the human journey. Consequences to ourselves and the ‘sinner’. And yes I use that word on purpose.

Now, some will argue: “well me holding them accountable and canceling them is part of their hero’s journey.” 

Ok - so now you’re going to insert yourself as a GOD - into this person’s life because you think that’s your role? It’s profoundly narcissistic. Very few people of conscience would actually try to destroy someone to help make them a hero. That’s something a cult leader would say btw. The self-righteous moral warrior is trying to destroy this faulty person for psychological reasons of their own. 

There is a kind of societal ‘purity culture’ that has been present in civilization for centuries. The Middle Ages, Victorianism, The Puritans, Mao Zedong’s cultural revolution. The idea is to purify the person and the nation by eliminating all that is undesirable. It’s an ideology that runs rampant in cults of all scales. 

We, the citizens, have to try and live up to some impossible ideal by suppressing or destroying everything that does not meet the ‘holiness’ or ‘purity’ of the ideal. All those shameful things now live in our shadow. Festering, boiling, and sometimes seething with hatred. We MUST not, CAN NOT acknowledge that any of those unacceptable things live inside of us - so when we see them externally - in another person’s actions - we MUST attack. We must go after them with the same force we use to bottle up and suppress our own perceived imperfections. 

The only way to feel better is to try to destroy the unacceptable. It is a violent unconscious projection. Every person we destroy makes us feel purer and purer. (So we believe) 

Unfortunately, all those unresolved things are still in our shadow - eating away at us. We become more and more miserable - more and more hateful - but we’re doing noble work we tell ourselves.

What happens to a society like this is what happens in a cult. It becomes very apparent to the followers that there are very strict rules of conduct. Say this thing or that thing (that is not approved) and we might get destroyed. We might have to go through public humiliation (like a Chinese communist-era struggle session) or we might be shunned altogether. The cultic society begins living with a background level of fear. Normalized terror.

Everyone, unconsciously and sometimes consciously is being very careful and living a shallow, smiling, Truman Show existence. Leadership is giving lip service to compassion, love and empathy but we feel in your bones - that if we step out of line - we’re screwed! Mistakes will not be tolerated. Creativity must be muzzled. Expression, carefully monitored. The hero’s journey is outlawed. Be perfect… or else.

Now before someone prepares the stake to burn me alive for heresy… I do need to say that you want to balance these thoughts of mine with the question - is this person being targeted, causing harm to civilization? And perhaps they are - and if so they SHOULD be held accountable for that. But you don’t need a violent mob, seething with hatred and projecting their own shadow - for that. There might be other ways.

There are some canceling campaigns that are started and promoted by very powerful interests. If a major corporation and its affiliated news outlets are the ones calling for the cancellation - it’s worth taking a pause and considering that we might be being played. The mob can be easily activated. Especially a mob in denial of its own shadow… a mob using any means possible to bring about a delusional, utopian world of love and compassion. Fighting for peace or - ‘you know what’ for virginity doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t work.

Mistakes are essential in the act of living and learning. We cannot eradicate them from the human condition. Denying our shadow and having it burst out in unconscious and unhealthy ways is bad for us and potentially deadly for society. 

I think relinquishing our need for absolute purity and allowing our hero’s journey is very important. We need to let go of purity culture. It’s never worked. 

Do people doing objectively bad, criminal, and evil things need to be held accountable? ABSOLUTELY! I am so on board with that.

So where’s the dividing line in our perception from disowning our shadow and spewing our hatred on others - to - someone is doing bad shit needs to be held accountable? Is CANCEL CULTURE bad? I guess it depends on how it’s used. It can be used righteously or maliciously.

It’s worth examining our own motives as we sometimes inadvertently burn the so-called witches and warlocks of modern society. Maybe we can start by being more self-reflective. What’s living in our shadow? What are we terrified of looking at and acknowledging? 

So - Deep thoughts today… 

Well, that’s what’s been on my mind. I’d love to hear YOUR thoughts on this.

Have an amazing day and STAY CURIOUS!

Photo by Ryan Miguel Capili