Trying to keep in the spirit of Halloween, as I always do around this time of the year, I wanted to share this throwback costume from last year’s Halloween 2019 because I never had the opportunity of sharing on my blog. My followers know that I dress up every year for Halloween. I’ve shared so many of my costumes; from Tyler the Champion of Courage to Tina Belcher from Bob’s Burgers. I love dressing up for the holiday sometimes with no destination in mind. But last year, I chose to be “Triggered” for my costume.
[Read Get in the Spirit of Halloween: 5 Halloween Costumes by Doc on Doc’s Castle Media]
Triggered means to be activated by an event or circumstance that is the cause of a particular action, process, or situation. It’s to have an intense emotional or physical reaction to a situation.
Gradually over time as I scroll social media, I sense some annoyance seeping from my gut whenever someone is offended by something most people would consider to be minuscule. Topics that should be intentionally subjective spark absurd debates among peers that wouldn’t usually split relationships, divide, and conquer. More recently, the lines are being blurred on what is acceptable versus what is downright offensive.
Now we’re dealing with the emergence of a mob of individuals who make up what we call Cancel Culture, “a form of public shaming that aims to hold individuals and groups accountable for their actions by calling attention to behavior that is perceived to be problematic, usually on social media.” It’s like modern-day biblical stoning, except with mean trendy hashtags on our Twitter and Facebook timelines.
There are many victims of cancel culture. Just to name a few celebrities that have fallen to under the hammer of cancel culture conviction as of lately are Tory Lanez who allegedly shot Megan Thee Stallion in foot being shunned for dropping diss on the date of Breonna Taylor’s verdict, the once lovable but now turned villain Ellen Degeneres who’s catching heat workplace toxicity on her afternoon talk show Ellen, and even 50 Cent tried to call out the public to cancel Oprah for coming after black men in #MeToo Cases. We’re trying to rid everyone in the limelight.
Some of these stars may rightfully deserve being canceled. But there are times where mob mentality gets so triggered that pop culture turns to cancel people for simply having an unpopular opinion. That can be dangerous because we become afraid to make our next moves. Just look at how comedians have to move in this climate. Comedians nervously share new content in worries of their careers ending saying or doing something labeled unacceptable. They’re comedians. They’re supposed to make fun. Entire lives change when society resorts to canceling things, ya know. But do we think we could be going a little too far to rid society of what we feel is unpopular?
[Read Why Cancel Culture is a Distraction for The New York Times.]
Cancel culture is a phenomenon at the least because it leaves me astonished at how basic someone’s stance could be, yet they can go to ridiculous lengths to make a point about it.
So…I wanted to create a visual representation of how silly cancel culture has become. It’s ridiculous to see people get upset over the most trivial concepts. I’ve seen people disown their friends over food choices. I’ve even read news stories of people going mad and killing their entire families over someone choosing to not honor their wishes to not smoke near their family.
A bit much, I’d say. But it’s quite the example of someone pushing their opinions on other people as the “is all, be all.” The sensitivity is out of control. Telling someone “no” when we don’t want to agree with someone is starting to cause everyone to be cautious about what we say or do. Why can’t we respect other people’s opinions and go on about our day?
How did I do being Triggered for Halloween? Did you get it? Leave your comments below.
