Can We Please Cancel Cancel Culture?

Over the past few years, I have noticed a trend that seems to be getting worse in recent months.

I do not have a problem with trends in general. I, too, have fallen victim to fashionable clothing trends from Instagram and brilliant food hacks from Tik Tok.

I DO have a problem, though, with trends that rob people of their ability to learn from others and to grow as human beings.

The trend I am referring to is cancel culture.

Cancel culture: "a modern form of ostracism in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles . . . online, on social media or in person."

It ranges from loud voices on Instagram demanding that those with opposing lose their social media accounts to the mainstream media completely wiping away someone's career within minutes.

Generally, people are cancelled because of opposing views on politics and topics such as sexual orientation and race.

There is virtually no place void of this terrible plague. It is affecting social media, hospitals, synagogues, churches, and (most importantly) schools.

Cancel culture and the idea of a "safe space" is the largest plague our generation is facing.

It is taking over America, and you should be afraid.

To be honest, I would be okay with cancel culture if it was consistent and effective. Unfortunately, though, it is neither.

I know cancel culture is inconsistent because it does not pass the "Jew Test".

The Jew Test is a measuring tool I created last year to see if companies' and celebrities' social justice intentions were genuine or not. If their social media accounts do not call out anti-Semitism or they do not call on their following to stand with the Jews, they do not actually care about standing with minorities.

It comes as no surprise that cancel culture does not pass the Jew Test.

This is why Dr. Suess was canceled while Hitler's manifesto, Mein Kamp, is still available for purchase through Amazon.

And I know cancel culture is ineffective because, if it truly was a constructive tool in combating evil views, why is America in the state that it is now?

In my opinion, cancel culture needs to end because it leaves no room for the three traits that separate humans from any other species: nuance, complexity and evolution.

When I demand we find an alternative to cancel culture, I am often met with pushback. People create a false dichotomy and assume that in me cancelling cancel culture, I am allowing for hatred and evil.

This kind of binary thinking is profoundly dangerous and simply wrong.

When I propose this idea, I am not saying we should allow people to spew hatred without any accountability. I am suggesting that there is a method to hold a person with opposing views as you accountable without cancelling them.

That method is exposure to other ideas and values.

And the most conducive environment for this is the classroom.

As a teacher, I can say with confidence that the place where this exposure happens the most often and organically is in the classroom.

The classroom: a room filled with students from different demographics, religious beliefs and socioeconomic backgrounds, gathered together to engage in one of the most vulnerable acts: learning.

And yet, educational faculty and administration use cancel culture unreservedly (from as early as preschool!).

This tool is especially prevalent and harmful in high schools and universities, when students are of the age where they form their own sense of identity and ideologies.

For example, A 2016 Business Insider article contained a list of speakers who were banned from giving lectures at colleges. Among the 459 (!) people listed were Ben Shapiro, George W Bush, Rudy Giuliani, and Moshe Halbertal. You can view the full list here

Our current education system has committed many offenses over the past decade, but using cancel culture as a teaching tool is perhaps the biggest crime.

I have been an educator and teacher for the last ten years. I have taught children with religious beliefs across the spectrum who come from families of all sorts of heritages. As a result, my students have diverse mindsets, different value systems and unique perspectives on current events.

My number one priority and value as a teacher has and always will be to create a space where students are exposed to these differences in the safe space that is my classroom. When students voice their perspectives and share their points of view, I pause math lessons and literature discussions to make time for the discussion to develop amongst their peers. I am there to guide the conversation, not to dominate it. My role in these moments is to teach my students to be respectful listeners and articulate speakers.

I cannot stress enough the huge responsibility that teachers and educators have of creating and guiding a space where students are exposed to views that are contrary to their own. These spaces are the birth place of respect and community, and teachers are the midwives.

It is hard to cancel a person you feel empathy for, and it is hard to feel empathy toward Twitter and Instagram bots.

In using cancel culture, we are robbing our children of the opportunity to have nuanced, meaningful conversations that simply do not exist on our iPhone screens.

There is nothing brave about using social media to cancel someone who has a different opinion than you.

It is easy, cowardly and (most importantly), often done in total anonymity.

The greatest contemporary comparison I can draw to the importance of exposure to opposing opinions is a vaccine.

When a person gets vaccinated, little pieces and proteins of that particular virus are literally injected inside of them. Because of its exposure to the virus, the body builds antibodies. In other words, your body learns to fight the virus when it is exposed to it.

We need to use the same tactics with humans when they develop opinions.

To my fellow teachers and educators: stop shutting down uncomfortable conversations that arise in your classrooms.

Create space and time in your classroom precisely for these uncomfortable conversations! Teach your students how to express opposing views in a respectful way. Show them how to articulate their own unique perspective to their peers and provide them with opportunities to do just that.

This is more important than any common core standard or math lesson. I interact with too many highly intelligent adults with absolutely zero capacity to engage with people who think differently than them.

To those who are not teachers: follow people on social media who have different political views as you. Have a cup of coffee with a friend whose views on the economy, religion and life make you feel uncomfortable and dig into that discomfort. Practice engaging in respectful dialogue with people who think differently than you.

This is bravery. This is the America we have lost.

What happens when we actively create a space in our classrooms where children feel comfortable sharing the story of who they are and where they came from is nothing short of a miracle: empathy is born.

I am confident that if we expose ourselves to diverse opinions and teach our children to do the same, our country will begin to heal.