Accountability Culture! - Can culture be cancelled?

Let's talk the so called cancel culture... or as I like to call it accountability culture! That's right, just like the rest of us when we say something stupid, or behave badly, people get to hold us to account and we either fess up and apologise, or lose some friends. Just because this is now happening to people who are wealthy & well known, does not a cancel culture make. Let's face it, in the not too distant past they would have been able to have 'fixers' to hide their bad behaviour and some probably still do, 'golden age of Hollywood, I'm looking at you!' In any healthy democracy we face the consequences of our actions, this is no different. Should those consequences include bullying and harassment? NO not from any side, justice not revenge! But culture has, and always will be, more than a few people raking in the big bucks, it's all of us from a lone maker, musician etc in a one room apartment, to a giant brand or band with teams of designers or producers. No one gets to 'the top' alone, we're all part of an interconnected exchange of ideas that's been going on for centuries. If someone we used to admire behaves badly and doesn't acknowledge it, then we have the right to say 'you know what you're not my kind of thing anymore, I'm going to find someone who is!'

Left: Artist’s Sister by Louis Bernard Coclers Right: Abbey Road Studios by David Boyle, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Ever the optimist I'll hope that people may wake up to themselves and change course, but I know not everyone will and no number of people saying, ‘but I know so and so and honestly they're not too bad’ will help....Deeds not words people, or you know what, deeds AND words, they both matter!

For so long, a sense of self-preservation has meant I've inadvertently 'cancelled' myself, others’ bad and unkind behaviour has meant I retreated to a safer space while they clamber around pretending they're a stand up citizen, an innocent party. Well I've had enough of apologising for existing and making them feel uncomfortable because I remind them of the truth of themselves. So I'm un- cancelling myself and holding them accountable! Does this mean I'm going to pursue them and air all the dirty laundry, no, but rest assured I've kept the receipts, what I am going to do is live my life being me, just as I am, trying my best not to let the fear and anxiety they put there, hold me back or control me.

One phrase that I've found particularly helpful in this journey is: 'Fears are not the same as doubts'. So when I'm putting myself out there and being my glorious self and the anxiety kicks in, I remind myself that it's just because like everyone I've been through some crap and it's not some sign I can't do something, or I that should retreat and hide away again. Other people's crap is not going to let me doubt myself again!

Over the last month or so I've been really putting that to the test being a champion for Super Seconds Festival, which although exhausting at times, has been an empowering and joyful experience. Stepping into the unknown is always so much easier when you have a group of people you know will have your back and support you, but that doesn't mean there aren't still times when quite frankly you feel like you might vomit live on instagram from nerves... and no one needs to see that! Thankfully, this did not occur.

For whatever reason, and I can probably think of a few, I find it so much easier to push myself and scare the living daylights out of myself when it's to help other people, so having the responsibility of being a champion for 250 makers, alongside my other lovely champs, has been a wonderful stepping stone in my un-cancelling journey. From now on, I'm going to start freaking myself out a bit more just for myself, to be unashamedly me and show who I am to more than my loved ones...

So, in my last bit of Super Seconds promo here is an Instagram live I did last weekend showing some of the things I have on offer until midnight tonight. If they take your fancy you can visit my shop by clicking here.