cancel culture

知らなかったのですが、最近"cancel culture"なる言葉が流行っているようです。きっかけは以下の記事でした。


Barack Obama calls out cancel culture: ‘That’s not activism, that’s not bringing about change’

Former US president Barack Obama has called out cancel culture on the Internet, saying that it is not an effective form of activism.

On Tuesday, Obama attended the third annual Obama Foundation Summit in Illinois, Chicago, an event that featured a range of high-profile speakers including former US first lady Michelle Obama, director Ava Duvernay and Pose star Billy Porter.

While in conversation with actor and activist Yara Shahidi for a segment titled: “What can I do where I am?”, Obama spoke about the detrimental impact judging people too rashly on social media can have.
(Sabrina Barr. Barack Obama calls out cancel culture: ‘That’s not activism, that’s not bringing about change.’ The Independent. October 30, 2019.)


この"cancel culture"という言葉を知らなかったものですから、想像で読み進めるのですが、インターネットやSNSに関連した話ということは上記の引用部分からも分かりますので、何となくですが意味するところが想像つきました。

以下のくだりで大体言わんとするところが分かってきます。


Obama stated that the danger of being too “judgemental” of people on social media is something he sees “particularly on college campuses”, and has been “accelerated by social media”.

（中略）

“Like if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself. ‘Cause, ‘Man, you see how woke I was? I called you out’.”
(ibid.)


物言えば、唇寒し、の世知辛い世の中です。

米国に限らず、SNSでの発信が炎上してしまい、有名人や政治家が謝罪に追い込まれるのは日本でも変わりませんが、オバマ氏はネット上で他人の発言をあげつらい、批判する風潮を憂えているようです。

ところで、"cancel culture"については、やはり最近の用語らしく、CNNの記事によれば以下のような説明がされています。



(CNN) — Name a celebrity who has ever said or done anything remotely controversial -- they've probably been canceled.

It's a growing phenomenon that's left almost no one unscathed, from comedians and actors to musicians and TV hosts.

Some people rail against this "cancel culture" while others say it's necessary. And a lot of people just have questions.

（中略）

The dictionary definition of "cancel," per Merriam Webster, is to "destroy the force, effectiveness or validity of."

When people say they're canceling a famous person, that's essentially what they're trying to do. They want to take away their power or their cultural capital. They want to diminish their significance, whether it's a personal boycott or a public shaming.
(Leah Asmelash. Why 'cancel culture' doesn't always work. CNN. September 21, 2019.)


手元の辞書で"cancel culture"は勿論掲載されていませんし、動詞の"cancel"にも人を非難するといったような意味はありませんが、"cancel"の意味合いとして、有効性や実効性を削ぐという、意味合いがあることから、特に有名人や政治家に対して"cancel"するというのは、そのような立場の人の重要性（つまり地位）を無きものにするということであると解釈できます。

動詞の"cancel"に新しい意味合いが加わる日も近いかもしれません。