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Please Don’t Cancel The Kid.
Why we are making sure people do not even become aware of their mistakes.
I just found out that a Cricketer from England, Ollie Robinson, got suspended for racist remarks. What baffled me (or actually not at this point) is that the tweet was made almost 10 years ago, when he was 18.
Let me get this straight: Racist remarks are horrible and they should have no place in society. But do you know what is also problematic? The way we are castigating and canceling people for their actions as kids, without even trying to evaluate if the person has evolved or not. And even worse, the way we are throwing the ones who have evolved into the same basket as the ones who are still willingly and knowingly making racist, prejudiced remarks.
Most often we fail to realize that we are all products of society, and the things we did as kids were mostly picked up from our surroundings without much thought or understanding of the world. Just as it is easy for a kid to get into bad habits like smoking and drugs — all because it’s normal or cool — it is easy for a kid to fall into the habit of making unfortunate remarks.
Now, when that kid grows up and becomes aware of his mistakes, feels remorse for his actions, and has evolved, do we still cancel him? No, we should rather accept the kid. Forget human beings, living beings err. But often…
