Tik tok is arguably one of the most used social media apps in today’s society as there are millions of users throughout the world. Lately, I’ve been on the side of tiktok where I get nothing but crime case videos and cancel culture. When it comes to crimes on tiktok, there are so many so-called “influencers” who make it their content to discuss crimes and to educate their followers on old serial killers or to warn them to be on the lookout if they reside in a specific area and something is currently happening there. Sometimes, the community of tiktok can help find new clues and actually contribute to an investigation. They provide so many hard facts, pieces of information, and evidence that law enforcement didn’t catch. It’s honestly crazy how fast the tik tok community can get answers or find and gather information.
In a way, the tiktok community helps protect so many individuals because I’ve seen many videos where girls record themselves talking about an encounter they just had with a man or a woman about sex trafficking. They say where this took place in hopes to warn other women or individuals to be safe and always be aware of your surroundings.
In regards to cancel culture, there’s this viral video going around right now where one girl was taking pictures at an Astros game and 2 girls in the background were “being bullies.” The girls in the back flipped off the girl behind the camera, making faces, side-eyeing, and saying “LAMEEE” while recording the girl taking pictures. This behavior was very unnecessary and could’ve been avoided. Cardi B even got involved and basically stood up to the mean girls and this whole scene caused the hashtag #cancelmeangirls. Once again, the tiktok community does not tolerate mean girls so what did people do? They found out one of the mean girls names, saw where she worked, and on the reviews of the Real Estate Agency, left a bunch of negative comments about this one girl in aims to get her fired and some may say, ruin her career. I do think they took this part too far but it amazes me how a whole social media community came together so quickly and brought this girl down for being a bully. These girls got canceled so extremely fast it’s crazy.
I honestly feel like the community supporting and standing up for the victims of bullying and cruel behavior is an art form. Everyone on their own decided to take it upon themselves to find the bullies, bash their name, and ruin their lives. As dramatic as that sounds, I know that was the main goal for hundreds of people. They got so creative in the comments of the Real Estate Agency one of the bullies worked for and said things like “she ran over my dog,” “she’s a mean girl,” “You shouldn’t tolerate bullies.” It was their form of expression and resulted in the mean girls getting caught.
Cancel culture is an extremely critical segment of my life growing up. Though it was helpful and good in the fact that it brought social justice against those who deserved it, it also instilled a toxic fear that made anyone and everyone fear social media. People started digging up random conversation centuries ago and brought it to light in attempts to cancel anyone and everyone, making unnecessary hatred and violence against random people. Deleting context, screenshotting specific parts of an overall sentence or paragraph, and blowing conversations out of proportion has made many people suffer from an upscale invasion of inboxes and cruel comments. The cancel culture that was meant to shed light against bullying, violence, and crimes ended up causing bullying, violence, and crimes to those undeserving of it. In a way, it is no different from cruel and unusual punishment.
I think that social media platforms can do both good and harm. People tend to take things too far when it comes to cancel culture and thoughtlessly ruin some people’s lives for being a “bully”. Doxxing, posting people’s addresses, and posting harmful content that is life-ruining is a crime and these people are claiming to be ‘standing up’ for the girl. People need to be educated about social media and need to realize that there online actions have real-life consequences
I think that this really shows the power of social media and how easy it can be to find someone’s personal information. I definitely think that there is a line between teaching someone a lesson in not being a bully/being kind and unnecessary harassment. With this situation I think that it was great that they were called out, and hopefully learned something by having the internet try to cancel them, but going to the lengths of finding out where they work was definitely over the line. It proves how dangerous the internet can be because of how easily people can find out information. It’s actually kind of scary how much people can find and the power that strangers on the internet have on a person’s life.
I do think social media is both a blessing and a curse. Places like tiktok are allowing those that are bullied to expose bullies in a way that is actually detrimental to the bully. However, it is true some people take it too far. The bully sometimes receives death threats or finds themselves harassed and followed by people canceling them. So, while it does serve karma to mean people, it can also be taken too far.
As one of the millions of people who saw that TikTok go viral, I think it’s both scary but deserving in some cases. I do think cancel culture takes it a bit too far sometimes, like causing people to receive death threats and such. However, with that TikTok of the girl bullying another girl, it’s one of those cases where it’s deserving. People should treat others how they want to be treated, and karma is real. Getting canceled was one of the consequences of her actions, but hopefully she learned to not do it again. I think the same can be said about the Selena and Hailey situation, where a mean girl ended up getting canceled for openly bullying a beloved celebrity on her very much public platform. Did she expect nobody to respond to her insensitivity?
I think something interesting is that Tik Tok nowadays is promoting such a negative view of social media. Like, when Vine was on, nothing like this would’ve happened and nothing got to this point to have it become a “cancel culture”, etc. But, furthermore, I think that the “For You” feed, even though it promotes this negative culture, it also provides us access to see the “dark side” of people within the U.S. and the world. We would have never been this closely-knit within Vine because we never would have been able to access content like this, etc.
As someone who has seen a friend be sought after through cancel culture, it terrifies me how a group of people come together to further bring down one person. They want to prevent them from having a future by hurting their career and doing “righteous” acts such as negatively commenting about them or finding out where they work. Sure, the person who was in the wrong is in the wrong for what they did but you shouldn’t have to “cancel” them. It is nice to have someone by your side as a support but they shouldn’t be acting out for you. I would also like to add that users hiding behind a screen have a lack of control over themselves because they can try to remain anonymous, further inspiring the “cancel culture.” Overall, “cancel culture” terrifies me and I would not want to be a victim of it, ever.
There are people who say the mean girls are promoting hate through their actions and so the general TikTok community responds with more hate, justified in the fact that the mean girls deserve it. It’s an interesting back and forth. I wonder different ways to handle situations like this, especially in our globalized communities.
I remember when I first saw the initial post in TikTok. I cannot say that it was shocking how a video became viral in no time. I do believe that social media platforms have their pros and cons, as anything in life. I believe that the actions taken by the followers and other who decide to stand up, were the correct ones to some extent. I agree that exposing the bullies is a mature way of making the world better especially via social media. The power that social media has in today’s society is quite impressing.
I remember when I first saw the initial post in TikTok. I cannot say that it was shocking how a video became viral in no time. I do believe that social media platforms have their pros and cons, as anything in life. I believe that the actions taken by the followers and other who decide to stand up, were the correct ones to some extent. I agree that exposing the bullies is a mature way of making the world better especially via social media. The power that social media has in today’s society is quite impressing.
Cancel culture today is incredibly toxic. Given the context, those girls in the video were doing something that is incredibly disrespectful and rude to do to another person, especially when they are just trying to have a good time and live their life. However, once the story came out, for people to get these individuals fired, to create threats of violence among them, or to even create more false accusations of these individuals, based on this one instance is completely uncalled for and unnecessary. In order to be a bigger person in society it is important to call out people on things that may have hurt others, but it is never okay to try and dismantle their lives and put them in direct danger, over something as simple as a tiktok video.
Social media platforms such as Tiktok are like a double-edged sword. They can be a source of exposing the wrongdoings in society, but can also be used to instill harm in others such as with cyberbullying. The negative consequences of social media may lead to mental health issues such as depression resulting from comparing oneself to people’s seemingly perfect lives online. There has to be a more effective way to unite people than to fight violence- whether verbal or physical- with violence. Social media platforms have also become a platform for people to express themselves in a way to gain attention. Some people may result in engaging in dangerous or even criminal acts in exchange for more followers or likes.
Social Media, especially Tik Tok now, is a huge platform because so many people use it as a form of entertainment, news, etc. Tik Toks spread so quickly from one platform to another. Like this video in particular it actually appeared on my Instagram. People do a great job of spreading videos like these around to get ‘justice’. I do know that people on Tik Tok found the girl’s pages and gave them hate for acting like so in this video that they came out with their own apology video on Tik Tok explaining their side of the story. But would it be a crime to stalk and be hypocritical and bully the girls in the video? Social media has great power over everyone who owns it, it’s really scary how fast people can be found or how fast a scenario like so can be brought to light.
I find this tiktok as an example of cancel culture and cancel culture in general kind of confusing. Everyone standing up for everyone against people who are “bullies,” is good by standing up for each other but at the same time by calling their workplace and being determined to take down this person can be a little excessive. It gets confusing by where do we draw the line as being supportive when it comes to cancel culture and when it’s “crossing a line”.
Hi Areli!
I’ve always seen Social Media platforms as one community. It is like a challenge if someone wants to post something up there. You either get recognized and applauded, or get blackmailed like these mean girls in the video. The internet is a place where people share and acknowledge contents publicly. It is no shock to see how one thing can quickly become viral and turn into a serious situation. Now TikTok, on the other hand, introduced our eyes to a completely new world. It can be as quick as within a couple of minutes, and thousands and millions of people (for influencers) will know exactly your personal businesses. Another recent example that I witnessed was the case of one of China’s pandas. This panda resides in Memphis Zoo. One day an ordinary person filmed a video about the living/health situation of the panda and it went crazily viral and out of control just within a couple hours. Since then, the Chinese population continuously put pressure on the government and even posted awareness videos on Times Square Billboards to get their concerns heard. And finally, about a week or two ago, the panda was brought back to China. Overall, sometimes it takes as little as one person to get something diminished. You also mentioned that you think the issue was taken a little far, but then again, situations like these are unbearable in people’s eyes. People believe it’s their responsibility to take actions against unacceptable behaviors.
As someone who has never had TikTok, I can understand the rise of cancer culture occurring online. I have always been the one to cringe when seeing people “dance” on TikTok for a living, such as Addison Rae, however, would never be the one to judge like those girls did in the video provided above. Everyone should be able to work and live comfortably, whether people have opinions or not. Something that does amaze me, is how fast the community on TikTok are able to locate the mean girl’s information and jobs. While I do think ruining of their careers is a bit harsh, I do think some people think they can bully others without any type of harm to themselves and deserve a type of consequence.
TikTok has become a platform for discussing crime cases and calling out negative behavior such as bullying. It’s interesting to see how quickly the community can come together to provide information and bring attention to these issues, but it’s important to consider the potential consequences of cancel culture and the impact it can have on individuals’ lives.
Hi Areli!
The situation on TikTok in which the girls were caught making fun of and bullying the creator taking photos at the Astro’s game is a perfect example of cancel culture gone too far. Do I condone the actions of the “#meangirls”…no. But what differentiates calling someone names and bullying them at a baseball game from the cancel-culture-warriors who then attempts to get the mean girls fired? Isn’t that bullying too? In my opinion, trying to get someone fired, their career ruined, and “bash their names” is almost worse than making faces and calling names.
Furthermore, the original creator and victim of bullying even made an update video on TikTok in which she thanks people for the support, but tells her listeners that she does not condone the actions of the cancel-culture-warriors and the treatment of the two mean girls. She elaborates to say that she did receive an apology from both of the girls face-to-face and that’s all she wanted.
Social media has done amazing things, but it has also taken humanity down a path that I think we shouldn’t continue to go down. Cancel culture is sometimes referred to as “consequences,” but I think people have lost the meaning of what “consequence” really means. Consequence, as defined by Merriam-Webster is “something produced by a cause.” Cancel culture isn’t something produced by the event itself; it results from people taking it upon themselves to punish people in whatever way they see fit. Cancel culture allows the masses to be judge, jury, and executioner in any social case.
Before condoning the actions of individuals on TikTok for cancelling the girls and calling it an art form, maybe try to give yourself some perspective. If the mean girl was your daughter or your sister, would you still want their careers ruined? Would you still say it’s an appropriate “consequence?” Or do you only condone cancel culture when it’s a stranger from the internet that you can pretend doesn’t have a family or a life?
I think the embarrassment from the video being posted online was enough of a consequence. Does anyone really deserve threats of violence from celebrities, death threats, or doxing (their private information like their address and phone numbers made public)?
Cancel culture and social media is a slippery slope. I believe that in certain circumstances it can be a useful tool to hold people accountable and to help people learn from their mistakes. In other circumstances, it can lead to extremes and be dangerous. I saw this situation unfold on the internet and while I do not agree with the girl’s actions, I do not believe the following consequences fit their crime. The fact that thousands of strangers had the ability to get them fired, doxxed, and their companies shut down is dangerous and extreme. Cancel culture has no set rules and every situation seems to be different.
Hi Emma,
I completely agree that under certain circumstances it is ideal to hold people accountable because their actions have been extremely aggravating to an individual or a community. However, I am curious to know what you would consider instances or actions that are worthy of intervention from the public? Furthermore, acknowledging the power that we hold with social media platforms, how can we ensure the correct people are holding others accountable? Do you think we should have a set of rules or guidelines when cancelling someone, so that it is more uniform and fair?
I personally think Cancel Culture has gotten out of hand, I think crimes should be treated as such, and anything other than that we should leave room for learning, growth, and improvement for those who need it.
I find it amusing what social media is capable of doing, particularly TikTok. I remember when I first came across the viral TikTok and within less than a day people had already found the background girls’ accounts and names. I believe in certain situations the lengths that people take to achieve some form of justice can be extreme but in others, it can be helpful (ie. finding a long-lost relative). One thing I learned throughout the years is that just the way in which social media can support and build your platform, it can also destroy your lives to a certain extent.
I think the issue of addressing bullying/calling people out on TikTok is a really complicated one. On one hand, I think that people who are acting in such ways towards people completely minding their own business should be called out and discouraged from doing so in the future, but I think by doxxing this girl and trying to sabotage her job with false allegations also counts as bullying. I think those who are defending the original girl being bullied went about it the wrong way. If they wanted to ruin her career (and I definitely think she deserves consequences), they should have sent her employers the video proof of her bullying instead of making false random statements.
Hi Areli!
I saw this whole issue as it happened and very quickly spread on both TikTok and Twitter. What I did not know however was that the supposed mean girls were being looked for in order to be, what we now know as, cancelled. Although I do think it is good that people are being held accountable for their actions, I also think it should be more of a warning and that they should have the opportunity to learn what they did was wrong. On the other hand, they are old enough to know it is not okay to make fun of others and should have stayed quiet. This is especially true when we know how easily people are being cancelled and sometimes for the smallest reason. Apart from this, it also seems be hypocritical and makes no sense to me why you would bully two girls for being bullies. There has to be a way for people to understand what they did was wrong and have consequences, but also not be extremely shamed for it.
I have had the same thoughts about this same situation as I saw it unfold on my TikTok feed. I think it is great that these girls are getting the karma that they definitely deserve for doing those unnecessary comments and gestures. This situation did bring up the question of cybersecurity and the lengths people are going to get justice. While these girls do deserve some repercussion, where will this type of stalking (finding these girls work) end? And more importantly, how can we avoid this into turning into something more intimate and dangerous (like finding their address)?