Do people deserve second chances?

Calling people out for their wrong doings has always been apparent throughout history. But just in recent years with the rise of the internet and social media, it’s become more aggressive and widespread. “Cancel culture” is the name and it’s more popular among young people than ever. The social phenomenon is the act of someone being rejected or ostracized from a social circle. One could be “cancelled” through social media or real-life.

Cancel culture isn’t necessarily good or bad in my opinion. I believe that that is determined on how the situation is dealt with and if the person on the receiving end has learned their lesson or not.

A quote from “Tales From the Teenage Cancel Culture” by Sanam Yar and Engel Bromwich for the New York Times says “We’re a team, so we can’t have tension exist there” is a good way of describing what cancel culture could be. Let me explain, people use cancel culture as an excuse to get mad and ruin people’s lives. The quote is referencing a situation where there was a conflict during a group activity, the girls who confronted the boy who said a racial slur chose not to make the problem even worse. Even without arguing the boy stopped saying the word which proves they got their point across. Obviously, I’m not saying that racial slurs shouldn’t be called out when used is justifiable, but they did a good job teaching him a lesson.

But things aren’t always rainbows and butterflies for the person on the other end of cancel culture. In another article written by the New York Times, there is a girl named Mimi Groves who had her whole future planned out. She was a varsity cheerleader who earned a scholarship for the Tennessee University in Knoxville. But shortly after a video surfaced of her 4 years earlier saying a racial slur, those plans quickly became nothing but a dream. “And because the internet never forgets, the clip will always be available to watch.” Said Jimmy Galligan, who was the one who leaked the 3 second clip. I find it interesting that Mr. Galligan decided to hold onto the video for 4 years and post it once Ms. Groves was accepted to her dream university. She seemed genuinely sorry and she laterstated that she didn’t know the severity of the word and wasn’t as educated back then. I think what Mr. Galligan did was too harsh and unnecessary. He could have confronted her one on one and told her what she did instead of ruining her future.

Like I said previously, people use cancel culture as an excuse or “shield” to ruin someone’s life. It can also be used to straight up bullying someone and make them look bad. One who says something racist or inappropriate and hasn’t learned their lesson should face big consequences but if someone realizes that they made a mistake I think they should be forgiven.