What started off as a righteous backlash is devolving into something dangerous
A man got pulled over by a cop while driving. The following conversation ensued:
“Hello sir, I stopped you because you were over speeding”
“Sorry about that, I did not realize I was going fast.”
“You were going extremely fast. “
“But how fast was I going?”
“I don’t know, but it looked really fast. In fact, now come to think of it, I might classify it was reckless driving.”
“Huh?”
“You are going to jail young man.”
“Don’t you have a machine which reads of my speed?”
“I did not carry the machine with me today. But I am fairly sure you were going dangerously fast.”
“So, I am going to jail because you perceive I rode recklessly fast, even though you have no definite proof. And I don’t get to share my side of the story”
“Yes.”
The above conversation summarizes what I think is wrong with today’s cancel culture and hypersensitive and swift “social justice” society. Decades ago, many people were ignorant and rigid minded on topics of race, gender, and sexuality. Slowly, open mindedness and acceptance grew as an awareness set in. The liberal movement became stronger. People became more conscious about racial bias. LGBTQ community got a voice. Sexual assault victims courageously came out in the open to spark a MeToo movement. All this was fueled by social media which played a powerful role. People like Harvey Weinstein, Epstein and others with proven horrid crimes were punished, and rightfully so. Things got better until they did not.
All these different movements started out of necessity. They bought a sense of awareness on topics of race, gender, sexuality, sexual abuse. The general message was, enough is enough, any sort of injustice can no longer be ignored. But the last few years things have taken a turn — for the worst. The awareness has grown to hypersensitive and ultimately delusional levels today. If you say something that is perceived to be against a specific group of people, then you are a hater. If you have even a small difference of opinion, while respectful of that group, you are a hater. It is simple to become a homophobe, transphobe, antifeminist, fat shamer, misogynist etc. The list is endless. People enjoy throwing these labels at you. Of course, when Heidi Klum hit the buzzer on a fat dancer on America’s got talent, she did it because she a slim supermodel thought the dancer being fat had no reason of being on the dance floor. Of course, she was fat shaming. How ridiculous! If we are to go this route, then no judge can ever press the buzzer on a fat dancer and every fat dancer is entitled to go to the next round and similarly is every black dancer or very gay dancer. You see what this leads to. There needs to be a sense of rationale in these things. A lack of rationale is what lead to divisions in the society in the first place. But you do not fix these divisions by creating more, which ironically is what this will lead to. Here are some helpful ideas:
1. Let us not be so swift to punish. When you commit a crime there is a system in place that gives the accused an opportunity to present his side of the story. If all justice were swift, then anyone at the scene of a murder is a murderer. We know for a fact this is not true. Maybe that person found the body. Who knows? But in today’s culture one tweet, one video, one message can be enough even if quite often it is inconclusive, and it is not obvious where the person’s proclivities lie. Context and intent are important too. Sometimes a full video will represent a quite different picture as compared to a short clip.
2. Things are not black and white. Difference of opinions are not sins. Just because someone says something which does not resonate with what you believe does not make them a hater. JK Rowling is getting a lot of flak and considered by many to be a transphobe. After reading her blog post, I felt she has her own opinions about this complex topic, and she explains clearly what it is that she feels and why. Give her some credit. Whether or not you agree with her opinions, it is fair to say that she is not a hater. It is like my way or the highway attitude. You either adhere to whatever is said by a marginalized group or you are a hater. There is no middle ground. There is no room for discussion. Does this sort of thinking sound familiar?
3. We must let go of the great fallacy which is the assumption that anyone who is rich, famous, of a certain social standing or of a certain race has done bad things.
4. Not all punishments can be equal. Punishments need to be handed in proportion to a crime. It is ridiculous how many people are losing their jobs for saying something that is arguably racist. Of course, there are people who through their words, messages and videos have made it abundantly clear are hateful and these people deserve punishment much worse than losing their jobs. But there are also many in the grey area where it is not clear what or how bad their positions are. These people deserve at least a chance of explanation. But it seems that corporations are feeling the pressure to sack any people perceived as being haters, otherwise face the risk of themselves being labelled haters and quickly cancelled by potential customers. You also must ask, does the person deserve to lose their job over this? How about a warning? How about perhaps suspension for a few days? Pay cuts? Better yet, how about some counselling to these people. Understand what is the root problem? How about giving them a chance for improvement?
5. Words have power, even on social media. Labels can cause great trauma to a person if they are untrue. Do not be quick to throw labels on people and call them haters until you are a hundred percent sure and there is proof of the same. Perception of hate is not enough.
Remember why all these movements began, to make society a better place. The idea of being liberal is being open, accepting to change and that of kindness. We have gone off course. We need to start becoming more sensible and less sensitive.
