Everyone is Canceled — Context Matters, and so does Compassion

Want to know a secret? I know you’ve made a mistake or done something in your past that you don’t want everyone to know about! *gasp* How do I know? Because that’s just being human. Look at me, I’ve made tons of mistakes from little ones like breaking a New Year’s Resolution mid-January to bigger ones like choosing avoidance instead of reconciliation after a fight with a family member. Maybe the internet wouldn’t freak-out over those, but what about this: I’ve made hundreds of jokes, with my friends, making fun gay people and gay culture. *gay gasp* Cue internet mob grabbing their pitch forks and igniting their torches to light my reputation on fire (especially if I was famous or in a position of power). But what the internet would not do is take the time to get to know me, to find out that I am a gay man that has a sense of humor, and so do my gay friends. Context matters. I’m not trying to tear a group that I’m a part of down, but to laugh at some of the absurdities — as I see them — of gay culture. Just as the internet mob neglects context it also abandons compassion. People change and grow. The internet never forgets, but we as kind human beings sometimes should.