When Late Night Thoughts are Bourne

WHEN LATE NIGHT THOUGHTS ARE BOURNE with Freddie Bourne

Cancel culture was supposed to be about holding people accountable

I was all for it. Call them out. Don’t allow celebrity status and power to excuse someone from being held accountable for their actions. But now, it’s all news mediums run to. And, some of it is unfounded. Or even completely false altogether.

Just a few short weeks ago, a 16-year-old contestant on a reality show was disqualified when a video - recorded by his mother four years prior - surfaced in which the then 12-year-old singer acted out a scene from a movie with racial undertones. Clearly, he was too young to even understand the implications. Fast forward to now where an actor is getting called out for having participated in a pageant founded in the 1870s that may have ties to slave owners - as if they were a part of the plan when they entered the contest in the late 1990s.

It seems like the media is trying to find any dirt on someone and give it to the public in just a couple of paragraphs, with no discussion, interviews, or elaborate proof. And it works.

Shares galore, disgraceful comments, and shaming - all from the comfort and safety of their keyboards and touchscreens. But, what is hilarious is that when more of the story comes out and we find that the “awful” and “unpleasant” things they did may not have happened at all, we don’t apologize and own up to our mistakes.

Huh. We make a scene and hold nothing back, but once we find out we wrongly assumed the facts through a simple headline and a quick read-through, we can’t simply say, “I’m sorry.” Seems we’re just as much a part of the problem. We’ve become too sensitive about things.

We are now standing up for Paris Hilton, saying how brave she is despite having made fun of her to no end in the past. We now find Eminem’s lyricism controversial despite previously showering him with praise for being edgy, which in turn made him a hip-hop icon.

Yes, the times have changed. The fact that these stories get put at the forefront as much, if not more, than real, devastating and lifethreatening happenings, shows that times have most definitely changed. But I don’t think it is for the better.

I’ll end with this takeaway: I am not advocating that folks that have been canceled for heinous acts should be given a pass. Rather, we need to choose which hill we intend to die on wisely.