Lately on social media, there’s a new thing going on around and that is “Cancel Culture”. I have been thinking about it for a couple of days now. Whenever somebody makes a mistake or says something that does not go with our standard and the next thing you know, the whole internet is blowing up with calls to "cancel" them. By this it can mean boycotting their work, blocking them from social media, or even trying to get them fired from their job. It's powerful, but does that mean we always use it judiciously?
Are we always right on this?
One day, I was browsing my social media feed, just as I do every day. And then, within a blink, there was a trend involving a famous actor. I clicked on the trend to see what these all were about. To my surprise, the actor was being cancelled for what they said literally years ago. It was a tweet from when he was so much younger, and the use of words was offensive if I think of today's standards.
As I kept going and read through the comments, there were a mix of reactions like some were angry and called for the actor to be held liable for his words ; others put up an argument that people evolve and become better and maybe the actor grew up too as a person after all these years, and it wasn't fair to be judged by past mistakes. It got me pondering what my views are on this whole cancel culture.
I remembered that one day, one of my friends from college almost got "cancelled" by our school community. She just made one careless comment, which hurt someone's feelings. Right afterward, there were posts popping up everywhere on social media calling her out and demanding an apology. She was really devastated. She never meant to hurt anyone and even apologized quickly and explained herself. Still, the damage was done already. She felt isolated and unwelcome everywhere after that.
Watching my friend go through this really made me wonder if this cancel culture was really all that fair. On one hand, we can't allow bad behavior or negative actions to pass on either, but on the other, cancel culture can be kind of ruthless and unfair sometimes as well. It leaves no space for the person to learn and grow from his or her mistake.
I couldn't stop thinking about the actor who was being cancelled. I wondered whether there wasn't a better way of dealing with such situations. What if, before immediately going ahead and cancelling someone, we took a minute and thought about the context? People are really complicated, and we all make mistakes. What matters is how we react to these mistakes and what we do to put things right.
I decided to dig a little deeper into the story of this actor. I found out that the actor had already apologised for his old tweet and had since been involved in many charitable activities over the past few years. They seemed really remorseful and had taken steps to show that they had changed. So, this made me think that maybe cancelling them was not what I should do. Maybe this man deserved a second chance.
The more I reflected upon it, the more I realized that cancel culture has lacked compassion. It's so easy to join the mob and lash out at someone and bully them online, but so hard to offer understanding and forgiveness. We all have those moments we wish weren't seen or heard, and we all mostly deserve the chance to learn and grow from them.
Next time when I met my friend, I shared with her my take on cancel culture. She agreed that though it is important to address harmful behaviour, similarly, it is necessary to give people a chance to make amends. We need to balance accountability with empathy.
Cancel culture is a two-edged sword for the time being, drawing attention to relevant issues and holding people accountable for their actions. Still, it can be extremely punitive in that there is no room for growth. It just goes on and on to remind us that we need to be just, yet compassionate in our judgments.
I really feel, at the end of the day, it needs to be an attempt to make that person understand and change, not just punish. In my opinion, we should uplift and teach with social media, not tear down everyone without knowing the full story of them. Some people should be given a second chance, an opportunity to learn from their mistakes and do better in the future.
As much accountability is important, but so is compassion as well. We need to understand the background of what people have done, afford them the opportunity to make things right, and support their growth. In the process of justice, let us not neglect the strength of forgiveness and understanding.
Have a good day!!!
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