Is There Room for Redemption in ‘Cancel Culture’?

Clarence Page, Tribune Content Agency on Mar 24, 2021

And McCammond, for the second time, apologized for her old, long-deleted tweets. “I should not have tweeted what I did and I have taken full responsibility for that,” she said in a statement posted on social media. “I look at my work and growth in the years since, and have redoubled my commitment to growing in the years to come as both a person and as a professional.”

My first reaction? Yes, the tweets are disgusting and unfortunate. Even if you’re a person of color, racism toward people of another race is still racism. Think twice, children, before you tweet.

My second reaction: We’re talking about the chatter of a still-developing mind. Let those who are without sin and have no regrets about anything they ever said or did — or tweeted — as a teenager cast the first stones.

Any takers?

My third reaction is a question: Is there no pathway to redemption left for those who make this sort of gaffe way back in their past, yet are not now known to be repeat offenders?

The worst thing in my view about “cancel culture,” the currently fashionable term for shaming and shunning those who say or write the wrong thing, is its zealously punitive bent. Have we no room for apology, forgiveness, due process or redemption?

And contrary to popular belief, cancellation is by no means limited to one “woke” party or political side. Still, unfortunately the left is vulnerable. I don’t buy the commonly held idea that “cancel culture” created Trump’s rise, but it certainly didn’t hurt him.

Among his unintended recruiters are those who shame too quickly those who have not kept up with the latest changes in our rapidly evolving social and political discourse. Add their numbers to the multitudes who already feel frustrated by educated “woke” elites who look down on them.

I don’t believe they are all white-power zealots who want to storm the Capitol. Most are simply people of all colors who are looking for a fair shake as they try to navigate a changing world. Rising talents like McCammond, who have experienced both sides of that conundrum, might be well-suited to help with that navigation, if they’re given a chance.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)