CANCEL CULTURE VS. GHOSTING
Masoom Minawala takes on Raj Shamani
“When ghosting, we forget there’s a real person”
When ghosting someone, you deliberately avoid her or him, which is unkind. We have all been through the ‘blue tick’ syndrome when our WhatsApp messages have been read, sans response. Problem is people have confrontational issues. How do you tell someone they are not
the perfect fit for you? Most dating happens in the virtual world now. It’s difficult to judge the person on the other side of the screen on the basis of a few texts or video calls as meeting someone IRL is a different feeling. What if that person is disrespectful to the waiter? Or makes sexist remarks? You can only know this by meeting the other person, not by exchanging messages.
Ghosting can hurt the other person more than honesty could. In the virtual world, we often forget that there’s a real person with feelings behind the screen. Telling them the truth might help them see where you are coming from.
Having said that, when it comes to toxic people, it’s best to ghost.
Raj Shamani, 25, is a digital content creator, investor and entrepreneur with 1M followers.
O“Cancel culture allows no second chances”
ver the last few years, we have all experienced ‘cancel culture’ on social media platforms, especially public figures.
Social media gives an equal voice to people from all strata, communities and regions and as it’s a digital movement, it lends power to all. So everyone can voice their opinion and bring about change. Calling out negative people and public figures was not easy earlier, but is possible today and this culture helps show wrong-doings. But as much as I stand for speaking up, I also think cancel culture has become a free pass for bullying and trolling online. Cancel culture is highly unforgiving, allowing no second chances. But people should be allowed to learn from their mistakes instead of being stripped of everything they’ve spent a lifetime building. It’s just wrong to take people’s entire careers away without giving them a chance to redeem themselves.
“WE HAVE ALL BEEN THROUGH THE ‘BLUE TICK’ SYNDROME, WHEN OUR WHATSAPP MESSAGES HAVE BEEN READ, SANS RESPONSE” —RAJ SHAMANI
“CALLING OUT NEGATIVE & PUBLIC PEOPLE WAS NOT EASY EARLIER, BUT IS POSSIBLE TODAY WITH CANCEL CULTURE” —MASOOM MINAWALA MEHTA