Clearly lots of folks are still using this outdated language!
The actor thought calling gay men “f*ggots” was fine until his daughter very recently told him it wasn’t. Here are some things about homophobia he clearly does not understand.
www.thedailybeast.com
Man, that article frustrates me. Going off on a tangent, so:
1. Someone used a word, not realizing it was a slur
2. They were called out on it, the situation was explained to them, and they subsequently
changed their behavior
3. That website
roasted him anyway
This is my problem with modern media (both news & social)...people do dumb stuff & refuse to change & get attacked for it, then other people do dumb stuff (including being late to the game about things) &
realize they need to change & still get attacked for it. Lots of people have LOTS of wrong & bad ideas about stuff, but it seems pretty stupid to vilify people for changing. People aren't perfect & don't have a full set of knowledge or even a full stack of emotional maturity. Lots of people do lots of dumb stuff all the time, but articles like this create a no-win situation where people are
always in the wrong no matter what their response is to course-correction, are required to be perfect, and are not allowed to change with new information presented to them without raking them over the coals. Daryl Davis is a
much better example of how to create change using, well, friendship:
One by one, Daryl Davis has befriended KKK members over the past 30 years. The more they got to know the African-American musician, the more they realized the Klan was not for them.
www.npr.org
There's never any justification for bad behavior, but there are
explanations, and as Davis demonstrates, people can catch more flies with honey than with creating a catch-22 where they can never be happy with anyone's personal progress. I've come to realize that withholding forgiveness is basically cancer for the soul (assuming people follow through & actually do what they say). I have a few friends who have gone through "militant" phases (vegan, crossfit, feminist, etc.) & were just angry at everyone all the time without realizing all they're doing is pushing people away with their anger & lack of forgiveness. It's a horribly unhappy world they create for themselves to live in, constantly being offended & being angry & holding grudges & never allowing people to get educated or to grow up, or even to just accept the fact that they simply
can't always change other people & can choose to move on with their lives (fortunately most of my friends outgrew their "hardcore" anger phases lol). We can see this anger-driven, no-forgiveness attitude in P&N here on ATOT, on various subreddits, Facebook groups, etc. all the time, and even in the news media. I'd hate to be a celebrity & have everything scrutinized, analyzed, and critiqued on a regular basis...like, I try to be a pretty good person, but I
absolutely stick my foot in my mouth on pretty much a daily basis lol. Remember the Dixie Chicks, the original cancel culture event?
In 2003, Natalie Maines criticized President George W. Bush to a London crowd. The Dixie Chicks paid for it for nearly two decades.
www.refinery29.com
Sometimes cancel culture is justified, sometimes not. There's been an
amazing amount of CEO's who have killed their careers & even their companies based on what they said, and sometimes it's justified, and sometimes not. This article is a pretty interesting read on how online mobs have affected people's personal lives:
In this politically divided and social-media-driven age, "cancel culture" has touched nearly every part of American public life.
www.cbsnews.com
Also, this TED Talk by Monica Lewinsky is pretty eye-opening. She was the original global Internet cancel-culture victim back in the day:
"Public shaming as a blood sport has to stop," says Monica Lewinsky. In 1998, she says, “I was Patient Zero of losing a personal reputation on a global scale almost instantaneously.” Today, the kind of online public shaming she went through has become constant -- and can turn deadly. In a brave...
www.ted.com
Anyway, I just find it frustrating that someone was exposed to new information, decided to change, and was still vilified for it. This is one of those things about the Internet in particular that drive me a little mad, especially when it's completely unjustified, like this dude getting death threats over his truck:
Mark Oberholtzer sues a Ford dealership for $1 million-plus in damages after his old pickup ended up with Islamic militants in Syria.
www.cnn.com
bestlifeonline.com
