The news informed me that Cuomo resigned under the weight of the sexual harassment charges. It seems that sometimes a person in office will realize that the people who elected him don’t want to put up with bullcrap like that. Matt Gaetz ought to take notice and follow suit. He won’t. He is part of that new crop of people who are reminiscent of a much older crop who have decided that it is okay to talk about right and wrong and persecute the heck out of people, but when you are the one in the wrong you don’t have to worry about what you yourself did. That got me thinking about cancel culture and what problems are inherent in a culture that believes something you did in the past should not ever be forgiven–even if you are repentant over the situation. I’ve been looking into the recent Matt Damon cancel call and it reads like everything that is wrong with America. This man admitted to being an idiot who used hateful language in a private setting, got called out by family, learned from the experience and leaned into changing his behavior. He was open and honest about it. That was apparently his mistake.
I’m guessing the people who want to cancel him fast forward to the fact that he used the slur and skip the learning and change that accompanied his admission. He didn’t need to admit this. He didn’t do this in a public forum or in any space where others outside his private circle have access. No, that doesn’t make the slur right, but he chose to reveal this in a moment of reflection about change. That change is ignored. That change is often ignored by cancel culture, because the expectation is that change should’ve happened long before now. We should be beyond the point where people need to think or be told to change.
except we are not.