Cancel Culture. It's had its day. It's lived strong and well, made some good ripples. Now I'd love to help escort it out of society and into the history books. Who's in?
In today's world, one wrong move can be catastrophic. The past decade's prevalence of social media and IT advancements have taught us that someone is always watching. An offensive post, unkind comment, uninformed response or outburst is immediately damnable. You could lose a job, credibility, or something worse. There's ample room for error and cyberspace is not very forgiving.
Can you imagine a world where we didn't have to worry about being cancelled or shamed so quickly when we made a mistake? Where we got a chance to tell our side of the story? I sure hope so.
If someone says something offensive or fundamentally disagreeable, we don't have to quickly jump on the hate train. There are better options: We can separate the message from the messenger. We can also give it time. Time, as I've mentioned, is a great mitigator.
But may I offer another option, a more productive response? How about a third option to flight or fight? What if the next time we were offended, we leaned in first?

What if instead of canceling, we pulled up a chair?
In college, I spent significant time studying Deaf Education. That brief experience in deaf culture has affected me long term.
Generally speaking, people in deaf culture aren't easily offended. You could affront someone about their weight gain and they'd show you their new favorite muffin then alert you you're balding. With no hard feelings!
That either sounds refreshing to you, or it makes you a little uncomfortable. Maybe both. If you're tough enough, stay with me.
Is your culture is too thin-skinned? No, we shouldn't be going around telling people they've had too many muffins. First, they already know, and second, it's not our place. Be kind.
But when someone says something we're uncomfortable with...
what if...
we found out..
why?
I had a conversation with someone not long ago about abortion that was eye-opening. We stand on two different sides of the aisle, but hearing her insight about the issue was enlightening. And she heard me out as well. No one defected to the other side, but we were both uplifted. We bridged a gap.
Here's the trick. Act, don't react. Be in control. Because I led with curiosity more than scrutiny, she met me without ulterior motives. We made a positive connection and both learned something.
It's harder to take offense when we diffuse our defense.
Maybe if we pull up more chairs, our skin will start to thicken and we'll be able to speak our feelings without too much anxiety. Maybe others around us will too. Maybe we can all eat muffins at the same table while balding, and not be too worried about it.
Yep, people should be careful what they say and do. They, and we, could also be more careful how we respond.
Cancel the cancel. It's time.
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