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We Are Missing the Best Part
In early June, Bravo reality star, Stassi Shoroeder was fired from her role on the series Vanderpump Rules. Known at first for her mean-girl antics, Schroeder had dramatically evolved over the eight seasons into a more compassionate human. The reason for her firing were accusations by a former castmate, none of which were denied by Schroeder. Accusations she had previously spoken about publicly and admitted her wrongdoing. You can read in detail about them here.
I don’t defend the actions of Schoeder. But by firing or “canceling” people for their imperfections, are we missing the best part? What if Bravo hadn’t fired her and instead, they used the next season to demonstrate how to effectively hold people accountable while leaving space for them to grow? Vanderpump Rules is a reality show after all, and what better way to model the realities of reconciliation, than including Schroeder in the next season. If we truly want to move toward a world with less racism, hatred, and prejudice, we have to be willing to do the work. Shaming people for their mistakes without offering any constructive path of restoration, isn’t going to change hearts.
If we want to change the world, we need to believe that it is possible for people to be better than their worst mistakes. Transformations aren’t born of shame. If we want to change hearts, we have to be willing to do the hard work, with them. Vanderpump Rules had the opportunity to do the work, to show how you change people’s hearts, and they missed it.
Cancel culture is a destructive trend. The more it continues the more we will miss the opportunities for true transformation. As a culture and as individuals, when we cancel people we are missing the best part.
Published in Culture
I went to the link and I find it hard to believe it wasn’t a Babylon Bee satire. Cancel culture will not last long now that it has become totally ridiculous and so easily mocked.
Are there a series of Vanderpump rules, and who should follow them?
Babylon Bee is becoming too real these days. I just don’t see the value in shaming/canceling people, when compared to the possibilities of teaching or modeling how to effectively deal with their mistakes with a chance of reconciliation and growth.
The left (owners of ‘Cancel Culture’) wants none of this.
There is no room for forgiveness and redemption in their worldview, because that path does not lead to power.
I agree, there is currently no room for forgiveness or redemption. We need to show another, better way.
Have you been following the events in South Africa?
Short version: Once apartheid ended they held “Truth and Reconciliation” commissions to move past their past.
In the last 5 years or so, the current majority government has repudiated the work the commissions did.
It is about power, nothing else. We have already been showing the better way and the left isn’t watching. Because it isn’t about racism at all. It is about the pursuit of power.
I think that Stassi was one of the best parts of the show and I think it’s possible that the show will be cancelled.
cancelling doesn’t do anything but silence the problem. If you really want to destroy someone—keep them around.
Pathetic, groveling apologies are counterproductive, as is demonstrated on an almost daily basis. Such apologies merely serve to reinforce the grievance narratives that animate the Left. Stassi should apologize for her cringeworthy self-abasement:
Her equally culpable pal should also apologize for this equally execrable bit of submission:
In every sense, these two made their own beds and now must endure the discomfort of lying in them. They are worthy of our pity but not our sympathy.
I am surprised “Vanderpump Rules” has any fans. I’d rather watch a test pattern.
This is a paraphrase of the superhero’s apology in Hancock. Maybe it’s better to just get it tattooed on the palm of your hand and wave as you go by.
My first thought was that no one deserves this treatment, but my second one was that there may be better examples of people whose lives have been derailed.
Once the revolution starts to eat its own (see French Revolution and The Terror), the revolution dissolves.
I’m thinking Cancel Culture might have some problem with Christianity, or at least doesn’t incorporate Christianity into their world view. A central part of Christianity is seeking and granting forgiveness.
What is a society like that doesn’t have forgiveness? For the Unforgiven, they can choose to: go away; drop out; kill themselves; double down on their ‘crimes’; or resign their soul to helplessness and indulge in evil behavior, thinking there is no hope of salvation for themselves anyway. None of these options provides any benefit for anyone outside of the Cancel Culture. Because there is obviously no balance possible, and because those who engage in it appear to do so willingly and with enjoyment, these people are acting maliciously. And because of that, Cancel Culture is evil.
There are no benefits within Cancel Culture. Outside, however, one can enjoy the schadenfreude of seeing a canceller being canceled.
My favorite story is when reporter Aaron Calvin cancelled a good Samaritan (he unearthed 7 year old tweets by a guy who’s request for beer money went viral – the Samaritan donated the excess million+ to a children’s hospital) and was cancelled himself for the exact same offense.
Here is Calvin’s self serving explanation. Good Riddance.
This is true.
Not so for the new ruling elite. See Russia since the 1930s and China since the 1960s. We would understand the existential threat better if we refused to repeal “cancel” and always said “purge.”
You’re correct, of course. The revolution dissolves, leaving a new ruling class (or dictator) in place.