The sustainability of the self in a contemporary society of optional honesty, curated identity, and cancel culture

Abstract

This article explores the sustainability of the self in a contemporary Gen. Z culture, increasingly shaped by curated identity, optional honesty, and performative morality. In the digital age, public approval is often measured in likes and outrage, and individuals are encouraged to prioritise appearance over authenticity. Drawing on the classical ideal of esse quam videri, to be rather than to seem, this study follows a philosophical and conceptual approach, rooted in critical reflection and subjective reasoning. While it does not rely on empirical data, it aims to offer a logically coherent perspective on the issue, grounded in the author’s interpretation and experience regarding the phenomenon of ethical consequences in a society where seeming has overtaken being. Focusing on the rise of cancel culture and its erosion of dialogue, the article critiques the moral simplification and narrative control that often accompany symbolic acts of erasure. Rather than defending the past uncritically, it advocates for contextualisation and interpretive engagement over historical sanitisation. Using the contested toppling of Edward Colston’s statue and the subsequent short-lived installation of Jen Reid’s sculpture as a case study, the article illustrates how moral outrage can obscure complexity, and how opportunities for plural memory are frequently lost in favour of ideological clarity. The discussion incorporates social contagion theory, the vilification of the critic, and Oscar Wilde’s anticipatory critique of performative virtue. In response to these trends, the article proposes a return to ethical sustainability through the lens of conviviality, a pluralist framework that values dialogue, ambiguity, and the coexistence of competing truths. It argues that both the self and society must resist the seduction of outrage and the tyranny of visibility to preserve the conditions for meaningful civic and moral engagement. Ultimately, this article contends that true ethical resilience lies not in curated virtue but in courageous sincerity, where art must provoke, history may discomfort, and disagreement ought to coexist with dignity. In such a climate, the importance of being earnest is no longer ironic, it is revolutionary, again.