The other day, a friend of mine forwarded a viral video of a teenager who was canceled. I remember thinking, is this still a thing?
Cancel culture initially began as a noble action- accountability. However, this has snowballed into reckless behavior. We cancel anyone and anything. Everyone is fair game for cancellation. It has become a form of targeting shaming and bullying. You can be in today, and tomorrow morning, you are out — no second chances.
So back to this teenager. Underneath his video on social media, people shamed his parents, shamed him some more, and started declaring how he has failed in life. IMAGINE THAT. You are being put to the stand by Social Media. The jury is the strange usernames like “laughingdog100,” predicting how your life is now meaningless for that one video. You will never amount to anything because of a video, one video. All of a sudden, you are banished to the Social Media abyss with the power of cancel culture.
It is so sad that GRACE doesn’t exist anymore. Second chances? PLEASE…what is that anyway? You need to be perfect every day. Look your best. Do your best. DO NOT DARE SLIP UP! These societal standards are the same ones that are creating a breeding ground for a lot of the issues we see today.
I am so glad social media was not around during my time. I would have been canceled even before I began anything! That being said, I am now thinking of my children’s generation. They will be exposed to a very different world! One thing I thank God for is the fact that one thing that hasn’t changed over the years is his word and his promises. The best thing I can do is always look back to the word, raise my kiddos to know the word and trust God.