Have you ever been canceled? Well, I have!
That was my first time ever being canceled based on this “cancel culture” that goes around.
I needed to find out what cancer culture was. Allow me to give you the explanation and definition of cancel culture straight from the web.
“Cancel culture is a modern form of ostracism (big word!) in which someone is thrust out of social or professional circles, such as online, social media, and in person (in this case for me, a job at a university) the expression “cancel culture” has mostly negative connotations and is commonly used in debates on free speech and censorship”
Hmm. Well, I don't know about all that. I don't know how accurate that is. I don't know if that gives cancel culture, a proper definition of how stupid that philosophy is.
But I do want to give you the experience that I had. So those of you that know me, I've been teaching for an aviation university for over a decade. Since April of 2011.
And what I've done is established a rapport with many students and I connect with them through email, discussions, blogs and whatnot. Well, the university that I was with decided to put some high schoolers into my class, which they identified, and are to be treated like any other students (this comes up later).
That's all you need to say to me because I'm going to treat you as an adult. I know young adults go to online school as well as the brick-and-mortar schools. Regardless, there are some requirements that must happen when you enroll in an online class.
Such as the understanding of formatting on certain assignments and things are required for adhering to university and instructor policies, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I get it.
Well, one of those students threw a tantrum because I called out the fact that this person wasn't submitting assignments on time. They weren't acknowledging other people in the course; they were not responding to blog posts; they weren't doing anything within the course.
So instead of being a tattletale and going to their academic advisor, I just simply took some action by saying, “I know who the people who are guests within this course. If you don't participate, your grade will suffer so much that it will render you a failing grade. If you don't want a failing grade participate, otherwise, leave.
That was a simple instruction I gave on an announcement during the course. That got the attention of a leadership person on staff. That leadership person on staff want to do discuss a few things with me over her email.
So I obliged, I asked, “you know, what are the issues?”
As you could see in the email I wrote, I addressed some pretty good points on why I took action. I received an email that says, “remember they're minors, but treat them the same.” I treated them as young adults. I created a minimum standard of what I expected.
Expectations aren't bad when you're an instructor and you teach young minds, it's the expectation. It's like the rules; submit your assignments on time. That's an expectation that instructors, teachers, and professors have when they teach a course for young people.
Seems as if there was someone that through a little bit of a tantrum. So the leadership position person did not appreciate my email and, oh, I will quote you her email to me.
And this is the canceling. I have never seen canceling, the action of canceling before, but here it is:
"Hi, blank, blank, blank, who you are. That's me. Thank you for your response. I appreciate your effort. How Webber comma, your teaching philosophy does not align with the blankety blank department culture. That sounds like cancel culture. I have removed you from your current course. And we'll be placing another instructor in your section to complete the term.”
What-the-fuck-ever, are you kidding?
Are you seriously telling me that I've just been canceled?
What, how does that happen? You saw how long my email was.
You saw at the end where I said, humbly, I will do whatever you need me to do within this course based on what you tell me. Well, that's what she told me...
You’re CANCELLED!
And yeah, I didn't expect that perhaps I should have, so that's on me, but I will give you this:
Being canceled has brought me to a premonition or maybe just a statement of mental acuity. It goes like this, cancel culture prevents or prohibits the people going through life from experiencing the pain that is necessary to go through in life in order to grow, to be a better person.
Now I know that was wordy, but replay it over again and again, and it'll, it'll be worth it,
I baffled how this leadership position person took the side of a tantrum, young mind, not with the experience of over a decade of teaching higher level education like I had.
She wants to tell me that accountability and responsibility are not valid? Uhmmm…
Having a minimum standard is not valid? Wow! So why in the world do we have universities? I never expected to experience this.
And I should have. Because I'm white, I'm bigger than most, and I got a beard. I am the absolute worst enemy right now, but that's okay. I'm going to keep going. I made a funny little Instagram post about it that said,
“Hey, been canceled by cancel culture? Nobody fucking cares. Keep moving!”
I'm compelled to give you my experience because I like to help people. I am a teacher by nature. I'm an INTJ based on the Meyers-Briggs. I'm a Gemini based on the Zodiac shit, but I'm me and I got canceled and I'm not saying that I'm a victim, but here's what I am saying. The people doing the canceling, they're the victims. They are the victims, the victims that live in so much fear and so much cowardice.
They have to cancel others in order to be validated. Now I don't know this person that was in the leadership position. It was the first time I've ever spoken with her, but it troubled me. And here's the thing that troubled me, that accountability and responsibility didn’t matter. She didn’t want that measured.
Speaking of accountability and responsibility. Those are the only two things that create meaningful action. Stay with me. It's not hard to understand accountability within that course. We had a weeklong timeframe to do one module. We needed 9 of those modules to create a semester. If you don't do the work in week 1, you are held accountable through grading.
I expressed to them my expectations. Well, within the beginning of the entire course. We were 5 weeks in and, and I was removed after 5 weeks. That's canceled, baby, canceled!
So without the accountability and the responsibility that are inherent with taking college courses, how in the world is accountability and responsibility overlooked based on the actions of an instructor, teacher, professor, running a course without those tools?
Getting students to perform, to do a good job so we can grade and they can receive those grades, accountability, responsibility is everything. It doesn't change just because we're out of a college course, that is in life. Accountability and responsibility are the only two things that create meaningful action.
Shameful. Shameful that a person, as an interim leader, not even permanent, has the ability to remove someone they do not want to have a debatable argument with.
Why would we want NOT want accountability and responsibility within that? And why would you want to breed professors or instructors that are afraid to do anything, afraid to call people out, afraid to say, you're not doing this. You're going to get a failing grade. I'm going to put a zero in that spot and make it a placeholder, simply to motivate.
It seems to me; the leadership position person is unmotivated. It pains me physically that people are allowed to get away with canceling for no reason whatsoever. No reason, just because I don't want to.
Do you know how many people I disagree with on a daily basis? Pretty much everybody. I would be alone if I cancelled people. It's no way to live. It's a coward's way out. It's a weak person that doesn't have any regard for their own character defects or the willingness to work and improve on them.
It just goes to show that people in leadership nowadays, most of them are seriously unqualified to be in the position they hold. That's troublesome. These are the people in charge of educating your kids. How do you feel as parents knowing these people are in leadership positions for your kids’ education?
Protecting the defenseless is what they may claim. Well, if you keep protecting a defenseless human being, that human being doesn't have the motivation to learn how to defend themselves. It's called growth. It's called being better. Be a better human being. Learn how to survive, evolve, go and be better. Go do things.
We live in a culture that will cancel you at any moment. They’ll disagree with you at the drop of a hat and then ghost you and feel absolutely justified in doing so. That is no way to treat human beings. I'm here to tell you if you ever think that you're being positive and you're actively in a cancel culture mentality, you're fucked.
It's bullshit and it doesn't work. I tried and attempted to treat this individual like a human being and as the gender specific person that she was.
It seems to me that universities as a whole want sheep to teach how to be.
It’s not to teach how to be an entrepreneur! They groom workers.
They want people teaching how to think outside the box, but then handcuff the educators within that box!
It makes no sense. It's askew.
I've been canceled. Fuck You!
OC3