Our society has developed so far, and continues to develop, in terms of calling out the traditional rhythms of discrimination (racial, sex, homophobic, etc.) and I love this, in that we are having discussions and educating each other as to how and why these forms of discrimination have come about, why they are wrong, and what we can do to change our attitudes surrounding these issues.
However, this has, in some ways, turned into a mission of discovering any such discrimination perpetrated by those in the public eye (which can be a good thing as these people are influencers and role models within society), and this mission into an unforgiving culture of not allowing people to recover from their mistakes, many of which tend to have been made when they were younger and none-the-wiser as regards the topics they were discussing. This has become known as the 'cancel culture' and has been responsible for bringing down the image of many in the public opinion (Jeffree Star, James Charles, Taylor Swift and many more). A lot of these 'cancellations' may be justified in some way where the individual has made ignorant or degrading comments referring to a particular topic or group with no sign of true change and remorse concerning their actions.
It has, however, come to a point where we are cancelling people without any true discretion as to whether they are genuinely aware of the issues with their comments or beliefs, and with no regard for their true remorse.
An example that comes to mind is the recent 'cancellation' of Maya Jama. She wrote a tweet about five or six years ago quoting a comedian who made a disgusting and disparaging comment concerning dark-skinned women. This tweet was recently dug up and Jama called out on her quoting the tweet, finding it a funny comment to share on twitter. This comment was made more divisive by the fact that Maya Jama is a light-skinned black girl, especially taking into account the continuing issues we have in the black community with colourism and darker-skinned women being treated as lesser in value than lighter-skinned women because they are closer to the well-beloved image of whiteness.
Anyway, following the well-placed, understandable anger, Jama made an apology, in which she apologised to 'all women', which, in this case where she had insulted only darker-skinned women was a misplaced apology and caused more anger, understandably.
Jama then released another apology, acknowledging her mistake in addressing all women and recognising that there was only one group of women that were targeted by the tweet.
Despite Jama's clear ignorance in making the comments she did, I took great issue with the way in which she was treated following this incident and it is representative of how unforgiving this cancel culture has become.
Firstly, this tweet was shared by Jama about 5-6 years ago, when she was 17 or 18 years of age. This is a time where many of us are developing our ideas and opinions and just coming to a place of unlearning ignorant and harmful opinions. She was young and made a huge mistake in sharing this tweet, but it was also a tweet that - at that age - seemed like it was nothing more than funny, and she probably did not realise how problematic and harmful this comment was.
Next, we are so quick to lift people up in esteem publicly, but also very quick to bring them down. This is worrying, as it leaves ample room for disappointment when, inevitably, people do fail. We should never place so much pressure on people to be perfect because we are all, at the end of the day, human and we all have made - and will make - mistakes and say stupid and ignorant things at different stages of life. I believe that we should judge someone's character based on how they react to constructive criticism and correction rather than based on the mistake itself.
Lastly, as problematic as Maya Jama's tweet was, I find the response to her final apology even more so. People still tried to find fault even where she rectified her apology and corrected herself based on the further criticism she faced. The way we react when a person does wrong within the public eye these days is for us to treat that person like they cannot change and we continue to define the person by their mistake long after it has occurred. This absolute lack of mercy is saddening and it does not reflect against us very well. It is so easy to continue to criticise someone from behind a screen and when we're not in the spotlight ourselves, but we could never take this criticism and hatred ourselves. Were a lot of these critics to be put in the same position - whilst they may be happy to be corrected - they would crumble under the lack of forgiveness and the judgment of their whole character being made on the basis of one mistake they have made rather than the plenty of good they have done. This is a natural expectation I assume we all have.
Again, the cancel culture can be a good way of calling people out where they have made ignorant comments or taken wrongful actions against others, but I believe that a huge part of the responsibility we have as a society in calling these people out should be to acknowledge the imperfect nature of humans and extend some mercy, giving people a second chance, even where you feel that they don't deserve it.
We're only human after all.
However, this has, in some ways, turned into a mission of discovering any such discrimination perpetrated by those in the public eye (which can be a good thing as these people are influencers and role models within society), and this mission into an unforgiving culture of not allowing people to recover from their mistakes, many of which tend to have been made when they were younger and none-the-wiser as regards the topics they were discussing. This has become known as the 'cancel culture' and has been responsible for bringing down the image of many in the public opinion (Jeffree Star, James Charles, Taylor Swift and many more). A lot of these 'cancellations' may be justified in some way where the individual has made ignorant or degrading comments referring to a particular topic or group with no sign of true change and remorse concerning their actions.
It has, however, come to a point where we are cancelling people without any true discretion as to whether they are genuinely aware of the issues with their comments or beliefs, and with no regard for their true remorse.
An example that comes to mind is the recent 'cancellation' of Maya Jama. She wrote a tweet about five or six years ago quoting a comedian who made a disgusting and disparaging comment concerning dark-skinned women. This tweet was recently dug up and Jama called out on her quoting the tweet, finding it a funny comment to share on twitter. This comment was made more divisive by the fact that Maya Jama is a light-skinned black girl, especially taking into account the continuing issues we have in the black community with colourism and darker-skinned women being treated as lesser in value than lighter-skinned women because they are closer to the well-beloved image of whiteness.
Anyway, following the well-placed, understandable anger, Jama made an apology, in which she apologised to 'all women', which, in this case where she had insulted only darker-skinned women was a misplaced apology and caused more anger, understandably.
Jama then released another apology, acknowledging her mistake in addressing all women and recognising that there was only one group of women that were targeted by the tweet.
Despite Jama's clear ignorance in making the comments she did, I took great issue with the way in which she was treated following this incident and it is representative of how unforgiving this cancel culture has become.
Firstly, this tweet was shared by Jama about 5-6 years ago, when she was 17 or 18 years of age. This is a time where many of us are developing our ideas and opinions and just coming to a place of unlearning ignorant and harmful opinions. She was young and made a huge mistake in sharing this tweet, but it was also a tweet that - at that age - seemed like it was nothing more than funny, and she probably did not realise how problematic and harmful this comment was.
Next, we are so quick to lift people up in esteem publicly, but also very quick to bring them down. This is worrying, as it leaves ample room for disappointment when, inevitably, people do fail. We should never place so much pressure on people to be perfect because we are all, at the end of the day, human and we all have made - and will make - mistakes and say stupid and ignorant things at different stages of life. I believe that we should judge someone's character based on how they react to constructive criticism and correction rather than based on the mistake itself.
Lastly, as problematic as Maya Jama's tweet was, I find the response to her final apology even more so. People still tried to find fault even where she rectified her apology and corrected herself based on the further criticism she faced. The way we react when a person does wrong within the public eye these days is for us to treat that person like they cannot change and we continue to define the person by their mistake long after it has occurred. This absolute lack of mercy is saddening and it does not reflect against us very well. It is so easy to continue to criticise someone from behind a screen and when we're not in the spotlight ourselves, but we could never take this criticism and hatred ourselves. Were a lot of these critics to be put in the same position - whilst they may be happy to be corrected - they would crumble under the lack of forgiveness and the judgment of their whole character being made on the basis of one mistake they have made rather than the plenty of good they have done. This is a natural expectation I assume we all have.
Again, the cancel culture can be a good way of calling people out where they have made ignorant comments or taken wrongful actions against others, but I believe that a huge part of the responsibility we have as a society in calling these people out should be to acknowledge the imperfect nature of humans and extend some mercy, giving people a second chance, even where you feel that they don't deserve it.
We're only human after all.
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