The Degradation of Reputation: Zadie Smith Satirizes Accusatory Culture
(Originally published on sommetdame.com on August 3, 2018) Will the old me ruin me? This is the question facing virtually everyone in the "cancel culture" era. 2018 will likely be remembered as the year colossally disrupted by the #MeToo Movement. Allegations of abuse have turned up in the least likely places, as the most unsuspecting figures step forward and share their traumatic stories. Careers spanning decades have been torn down in an instant with something as simple as a hashtag, the millennial expression of unity, and more than ever, solidarity. The campaign against toxic power dynamics has stretched to virtually every facet of pop culture- it even gets a shout-out on one of the biggest albums of the year, ye , as Kanye West lam ents the co-founder of Def Jam's sexual abuse allegations on "Yikes": "Russell Simmons wanna pray for me too, / I'mma pray for him cuz he got #MeToo'd". Kanye is not the only one praying for safety. Every