It feels as if we are in a national episode of “Survivor” and Cancel Culture is the mechanism being used to vote each other off the island.
Some of us, it seems, are seeking opportunities to be outraged. Where does this come from? From a place of genuine concern and belief? From a place of rebellion? Anarchy? A desire for equality? Desperation? Hope for change? Unhappiness? Mal-content? Loss of hope? An empty heart? A full heart? A lack of personal values to stand firm on? A plethora of personal values to stand firm on?
In cancelling a person’s view, or job, or place in society do we seek to lift our own value at their expense? Or, do we seek to use them as an example to stamp out an evil in life? Are we certain we’re safe in our own stances, or will they be cancelled next–after we took part in cancelling someone else’s?
How far back in a person’s life do we go to find something we can use to oust them from their job, their team, their marriage? Is there a specific age of accountability? Is there a test we perform that we can verify contrition? Is there forgiveness available? How is it attained? Who decides this? A forum of enlightened people? An angry mob? Is it OK to simply go by the evidence in a person’s life at the present?
Before engaging in a discussion with a friend about any disagreement, I encourage all of us to first make a commitment to ourselves and to each other that the friendship will go on after the discussion. If it doesn’t go on, we’ve each lost the ability to influence each other in the direction we wanted to influence the other. And, we’ve each lost the ability to change our own minds, our own stances. We’ve lost a safe person to be with as our beliefs are challenged, vetted, and possibly moved toward greater understanding.
If the relationships are lost, if we can’t connect and we break the connections we do have, we then resort to cancel culture–the only thing left.
There is no room for Redemption in cancel culture. And Redemption Matters.
We have a task before us: Redemption.
Groups who once stood on opposite ends of spectrums and debated are now closing their debates with each other and turning inward and unleashing division within. It’s now not enough to “debate the other side” as power struggles exist from within groups to define who they are and what they will stand for. In these environments only chaos ensues. And, there are real ashes to rise from. I hope we are able to rise from them.
Redemption matters.
Can we seek to understand different perspectives? Can we at least, even if we don’t subscribe to a movement, seek to understand why the movement exists? In doing so, we may find a place for redemption in our own hearts–something that needs to be brought into the light–a new value, belief, or worldview or an old value that needs rekindling. We might find redemption in our communities. We might find redemption in our Nation.
While I’d like to make a hashtag of “redemption matters” I believe there is already one out there and I don’t know what it stands for. So, I am just going to leave it at this: Redemption is something that literally matters.