It has been a long time since the days where an individual could make an off-colour joke and could just get away with a few chuckles and groans. These days, even a joke made in bad taste over a decade prior can have your whole career destroyed overnight, all in the name of “social justice”, the proponents of which, the so-called “Social Justice Warrior”, or SJW, flooding all forms of social media, neutering media content as they go. I don’t mean to say that certain topics are meant to be downplayed; such pedophilia, racial violence, and other innumerable contemporary issues. What I do mean to say is that the SJW in which I am referring to, cannot distinguish the difference between what is meant to be entertainment of some form, and the diminishing of important world issues. I would argue that using these topics in media is important for bringing them to light, even if at the cost of a few chuckles. Unfortunately, this is not the viewpoint of those whose intent is to cancel anything that is disapproved of, regardless of time.
Now, you may be cancelled for doing something in your youth that only now is considered completely off limits. You are not given any leeway when it comes to self-improvement and maturity. You are seen, tried, and judged solely on those actions which are grounds for dismissal, and you are meant to beg for forgiveness, knowing full well that being forgiven does not guarantee you will be free from social crucifixion. You will be executed on the basis of one sentence in a story, while the whole story itself fleshes out a completely different narrative. You will be cancelled for a clip when the movie itself agrees with the viewpoint of those who carry the torches to your doorstep. We are given the choice of risking ruin, or taking as few chances as possible, leaving our portfolio a pile of safe content, beige and uninteresting, with no life left in it.
How is it then, that you expect to be entertained when your expectations are so high? Where no mistake is overlooked? Where everything lives or dies on the smallest of errors, even if unintended? Ask yourself if your history is free from mistakes. If yes, then congratulations, you are lucky, and a goddamn liar. If no, ask if you should lose your job over something that happened so long ago, that you don’t endorse, and wouldn’t repeat. Give people the space to be human, to make mistakes. Do you not do that for yourself? If you don’t, perhaps that’s where you should focus your attention, and not at the twitter feeds and memes that cause you such inconsolable anger.