It's Time to Open the Gates and Say Goodbye to the Keepers

It's time to open the gates and forget the idea that 'gatekeeping' as we know it today. Although art is subjective, it is there for all to interpret. How one perceives and consumes art is all based on interpretation. I like things others don't, and vice versa, but I will not tell that person they are wrong in doing so, or that they didn't understand it right because we have different perspectives; different interpretations. This is why we relate to different characters, and see ourselves in others, while others we do not. Art is there for a reaction, a reply, an effect. It is for conversations, some controversial, are taboo and perhaps necessary, while others are plain, simple and maybe a little bit dull. Art may carry meaning, but sometimes it may not. It is all dependent on you, the receiver.

Why Cancel Culture Needs to Stay in 2022 illustrates the three main considerations when consuming art no matter the form. Context, Purpose, Receiver (CPR). The receiver in this instance is either gatekeeping or gated.

To begin let's start with a simple definition of art of gatekeeping:

"The activity of controlling, and usually limiting, general access to something."

And by doing so you spoil others' experience in consuming the art, in addition to not allowing said art to be consumed by all; loved by some and hated by others. Art is freedom, it is limitless and immortal. So it's time to open the gates and say goodbye to the keepers.

Gatekeeping (in a contemporary lens) has evolved into another form of toxicity that exists within the digital realm, and sadly (I feel) co-exists with cancel culture. They encourage each other and compliment each other in the worse way possible.

Take this comment posted on Quora, for instance, that is discussing gatekeepers and BTS stans (please don't come for me):

So where did it all begin? Well, the term 'gatekeeping', (or Gatekeeping Theory) was first coined by German psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890 - 1947) who argued that:

"Gatekeepers operate in a complex field, in which the gatekeeper and its environment “have to be considered as one constellation of interdependent factors”

"Gatekeeping theory is the nexus between two inarguable facts: events occur everywhere all of the time and the news media cannot cover all of them."

Who is the gatekeeper? What is the role of the gatekeeper? Who has such authority to decide 'what information should move to [a] group or individual and what information should not?'

"When an event occurs, someone has to decide whether and how to pass the information to another person, such as a friend, an official, or even a journalist."

Compared to Lewin's time we must acknowledge that the gatekeeper can be anyone from someone on TikTok, or a news editor, and consider that the gatekeeper despite educational background (if any) will gatekeep according to their own beliefs and opinions and as such:

"The gatekeeper is having its own influence like social, cultural, ethical and political. Based on personal or social influences they let the information to the group. Through this process the unwanted, sensible and controversial information’s are removed by the gate keeper which helps to control the society or a group and letting them in a right path."

I think we should refer to the 'right path' fairly loosely here, because I don't think someone can truly be certain that they are on the 'right path' in their gatekeeping. You cannot please everyone, and not everyone will have had the same experiences, and will have faced different obstacles. Something that may seem irrelevant or unimportant to one person might actually be relevant and essential to another. Again, this is why representation in the media is super significant and a must.

Although on the one hand, gatekeeping can be a positive thing. It can actually stop the spread of misinformation. I mean it does make sense that you cannot cover every single thing in the news. Did you know it would take 222 years to meet every single person on the planet? And therefore, it is physically impossible to meet everyone in the world? Crazy stuff.

And yet, we have the internet, we have social media, and everyone (in essence) is their own journalist. We are all gatekeepers. We only show people what we want them to see. Don't forget that.

On the other hand, it implores the idea of censorship, which goes against our very freedom and democracy. Democratic freedoms are already under great threat and the battle between freedom and censorship will exist so long as the Tolerance Paradox does ( another topic I will save for another article). Following on from this, it also allows so hate speech to gain a platform and thus a following, because said gatekeeper has choosen what they perceive to be the 'right path' which can lead to terrible consequences. Do need reminding of the events that played out on 6th Janurary 2021?

Now considering all of the above, including CPR, we have to remember that gatekeeping as a theory will always exist within the discipline of sociology. However, as individuals just enjoying music or a tv show, or even hairstyles, we shouldn't gatekeep or gate people because we have different experiences with art; different experiences in life. We must remind ourselves that people reach different milestones at different points and a song from forty years ago may seem relevant to an individual who was born less than twenty years ago. Art is timeless and forever, no matter what banishment it may receive. Its supposed to transcend the generations and continue to inspire, could you imagine how boring life would be without the canon? (F*ck).

Artists are the gatekeepers of truth, and as I already said, we show people what we want them to see. Artists create what they wish to and the truth is based on the argument of the individual human experience. As such, truth (to an extent) does not exist, and is merely an illusion based on perception; what is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly. There's more on this in my The Illusion of Truth article.

Enjoy life as it is intended, not controlled, manipulated and gated. I do not want to live in a world like this, I want a free world, where it doesn't matter what you think or feel, just that you are respectful, and always your true authentic self. How did the internet become this? I wish I could go back to 2002.

References:

https://www.sketchbubble.com/en/presentation-gate-keeping-theory.html

https://www.elle.com/beauty/a37198823/curl-gatekeeping-tiktokers-youtubers/

https://www.ntdaily.com/break-down-walls-of-music-gatekeeping/

https://blog.planoly.com/gatekeeping-censorship-social-media

https://www.quora.com/Are-you-for-gatekeeping-K-pop-or-are-you-against-it-Why-or-why-not

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199756841/obo-9780199756841-0011.xml

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1461444818784302

https://www.communicationtheory.org/gatekeeping-theory/

https://medium.com/@_hehir_/the-paradox-of-the-paradox-of-tolerance-7dac98f58620