Cancel Culture’s Next Target May Be You

By Evan Nierman

The words “cancel culture” surface so often it’s easy to forget the long-term havoc this destructive phenomenon can wreak on the lives of everyday people. It’s important to pay attention because the real truth is – any of us could be next.

Take the recent case of?Nathan?Barba, a 25-year-old San Francisco resident, who was captured in the background of a viral video and publicly accused of egregious acts he did not commit and viewpoints he does not believe in. What ensued was a predictable and terrifying series of actions that followed the cancel culture playbook to a tee.

A narrated social media post, one that?Nathan?appeared in for just 20 seconds, was viewed over one million times and drew more attention as social activists, anonymous internet users, and a Hollywood celebrity distributed the video with horrifying commentary?– salacious clickbait designed to attract widespread attention. An internet mob made?Nathan?its next victim, harassing him and demanding that his employer fire him. A fake LinkedIn account impersonating?Nathan?sought to destroy his reputation. And before?Nathan?could set the record straight and tell his side of the story, internet trolls posted his personal information online (including his address and apartment number), putting his and his family’s lives at risk. Here are just a few examples:

"[Employer] you going to comment on your racist employee?Nathan?Barba?or are we just gonna take care of it ourself ??

Life in San Francisco is gonna become hell for you - watch out you piece of Sh-t

Hey whiteboy. You gon catch a fade when I see you on sight"

Nathan?and his family received threatening phone calls from the Bay Area to the Middle East. He decided to not engage with the online mob as death threats kept pouring in, but things only got worse:?Nathan?lost his job, moved to another state due to safety concerns, and spent the savings he accumulated since college to protect himself legally and otherwise.

As is typical with cancel culture, the ordeal stemmed from a minor conflict that was amplified by social media and false allegations of bigotry.?Nathan?and another individual left a restaurant on a Saturday evening in San Francisco and were waiting for an Uber on the side of the road. A motorist wanted to park where they were standing; the driver rolled down the window and initiated a verbal confrontation with?them.?The individual with Nathan rattled the window of the car as the driver egged him on, all while recording the minor altercation.

Nathan, standing at a distance behind the vehicle, thought the disagreement was about nothing more than a parking spot. But the driver clearly had an agenda. The incident occurred just seven days after the 10/7 terrorist attack in Israel. The motorist shared the 46-second video on TikTok, claiming the verbal exchange was provoked by?the two young men seeing the driver’s Palestine sweatshirt, despite?Nathan?being positioned behind the car with limited visibility. The motorist described?Nathan?as a “violent racist” even though?Nathan?had no verbal or physical interaction with the driver.

Nathan?never saw the alleged Palestine sweatshirt, and none is visible in the video.?He insists that seeing such a sweatshirt would have had no influence on his actions; if anything, it would have been a signal to leave the situation given the tense political climate. Nonetheless, accusations exploded like gasoline on fire in a world polarized by the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.

Today,?Nathan?is struggling to rebuild his personal and professional life amid the fallout from this incident. But recapturing “normal” in a world that is super-charged by internet mobs that err on the side of outrage is challenging to say the least.

Supporters of cancel culture say it is about holding others accountable, but the targets of cancel culture rarely get to defend themselves and clear their names. Instead, internet trolls serve as judge, jury, and executioner, “convicting” the aggrieved without evidence in the court of public opinion. And while these social media vultures place themselves on a moral pedestal, they, hypocritically, sink to the lowest levels, destroying lives and jeopardizing personal safety. Not only are their actions deplorable but they often violate state and federal laws prohibiting cyberstalking and doxing.

This frightening practice occurs with lightning speed with no warning and causes lasting damage that can destroy an individual’s life and livelihood. Mob justice is un-American, unforgiving, and unjust. Internet trolls simply move on to their next victim while the former deals with life-altering consequences.

Nathan?never deserved any of this. And we should all be on notice: Proceed with caution because cancel culture vultures lie in wait.

Evan?Nierman?is founder and CEO of the crisis communications firm?Red Banyan?and author of Amazon bestsellers?Crisis Averted?and?The Cancel Culture Curse: From Rage to Redemption in a World Gone Mad.