Cancel Culture: A Vindictive Teen Destroy a Classmate

Its 5 days into the new year and we already have a nomination for an accumulative thread response of pure ignorance.

In a world of rampant intolerance where those entitled feel secure sitting on their high horse preaching how we need to 'educate' people are perfectly find denying said people from an education.

"But she should have known better". These same people struggle to understand why poor people, specifically blacks, struggle to escape poverty. Its because society says "you should have know better" and proceeds to exclude them from society.

 

This seems like a perfect summary of this.

 

Big brane time.

 

I haven't read through this whole thread but did read both the Reason article and the NYT article.

I agree with the OP that this likely was done out of spite by Galligan. That this video had been out for years and that Groves had even apologized for it earlier to bring it out now because he was upset that she had written something in support of social justice following the death of George Floyd and that he admitted he did so at at time to do the maximum damage to her reputation was spiteful. That said without the backlash especially from U TN his act would've meant little except for embarrassment. The administration of UT acted cowardly and like many institutions rather than deal with this thoughtfully just dismissed it so it was no longer their problem. I agree this was excessive and callous on the part of the university to expel a student for actions that happed well before she was a student and was already something she regretted. This wasn't the case of a fraternity having a skit in blackface or chanting "There will never be a n^&&er in this House!"

Reading both articles though I don't blame NYT much and while the article does go into length describing the racist history of the high school and neighborhood it does present Groves and her family as victims of a cultural backlash and even shows that both her and her parents understand using that term wasn't right. I don't think the NYT was out to paint Galligan as a hero but largely uses the incident to address the larger issue of how things these things can lead to bad circumstances.

Stories like these again make me glad that we didn't have cell phones or easy access to a worldwide web when I was a teenager. They also remind me the importance of forgiveness. That doesn't mean we should excuse racism or just accept racial slurs. I don't enjoy being called a "chink" or "gook" or told I should "go back to CHina" yet even as an adult that still happens to me. I understand though that people say stupid things out of ignorance and or just out of momentary emotion. For example when Yao first started playing Steve Kerr was a TNT analyst and during a game referred to Yao as a "Chinaman". Now that is a slur going back to the railroad days and I did call that out but I didn't think that Kerr should be fired and when he found out the history of the term he apologized and Yao forgave him. That is the way situations like this should be handled and it's disappointing that with too many situations it can't. In this case Galligan acted out spite while for UT it was just easier to remove the problem rather than look to understanding or forgiveness.. Rather than education or understanding this is just going to lead to more bitterness on all sides.

 

Meanwhile the corrupt individuals in our Government or billionaires who value money over people...are enjoying their spa treatment

cancel culture seems to only work against weak.

our society is clearly going in the right direction.

I am glad there was no iPhone 12 when I was young......

 

I don't think people should be punished for one off mistakes like this anyway - for the very reasons that everyone slips up and context is always key.

UT acted weakly here, punishing a girl for an out of context remark when she was 15 is ridiculous. Just because people demand blood doesn't mean you give it to them. If they are so afraid of losing donations from Alumni then they need to do a better job explaining why they can't remove a student for something they did when they were a child.

 

I'm a little late to the party here, but all I'm going to say is that it's a lot harder to defend when she drops the hard "r" at the end of the word...
I don't think she deserves to have her life ruined over it, but it's a baaaad look for her. From the Times article it seems that she--on the surface level at least--is a changed or at least more educated person now. Growing up tends to do that for people.

I'm not fond of cancel culture, of people crying over cultural appropriation over every little thing (like saying a white or black person can't wear Chinese traditional clothes, etc.) but this case is a little different. She LITERALLY dropped the hard "r"!! Of course she'd be ****ed once it came out?? Yes, it does seem like her classmate was vindictive and he also seems like a total clown but that doesn't excuse her of saying it, even if she was 15. You know what I was doing when I was 15? Not saying n***** online. Or in person. Or ever.

Her classmate is a **** and an attention w****, no question, and he definitely released the video out of spite. But again, even if she apologized and all her black friends and associates have forgiven her for the video long before it came out, I'm not surprised whatsoever that this has happened to her. It's part of the cultural climate we live in, and even teenagers need to understand the perils and permanence of social media.

 

Haven't read the whole thread, but I'll add my two cents:


The amount of a change a person goes through from 15 to 18 or 19 is quite a bit. I would hope she has grown to realize the mistake. I would hope a sincere apology would cover it.

Kids being immature, having a small understanding of the world and it's history, but also having video recorders, and a platform to share said videos is the problem here.

But so is sitting on a years old video of someone doing something stupid and waiting for a max damage period to get that person in trouble. It's just as ignorant as saying it in the first place.


In my opinion, what Tennessee should do is pilot some kind of program where kids are required to come together and address these issues. Talk about them. Learn from them. Grow together. Figure out how we're going to avoid them in the future with younger generations. Figure out how we're going to continue to give free speech value in a growing world of technology where half the people are keen on cancelling it. Not saying that everyone should be using that word, because they shouldn't. I'm saying that a word, said by a very immature kid, shouldn't ruin their entire life, potentially.

 

Ironic how colleges were the best environments to bridge that gap and try to bring people closer together. Now we're all captivated by our digital likeness.

 

I remember Obama speaking at a university regarding things like "Safe Spaces" and telling students that they shouldn't try to shut down everything that may offend them.

 

Plenty of non black kids when they are young use n***a. Not defending it but there is a lot of idealization of black culture going on and while it's pretty iffy for the most part its used as a team of endearment especially in the Asian and Hispanic groups.

Hard R though.... Uh.... And the fact that she recorded it and willingly posted it online in some fashion before is shocking. You are old enough at 15 to know how stupid that is.

But this dude also seems to be a D bag. This is something you tell her at the time that it's not okay. Not try to ruin her life 3 years later imo....

 

When the only reason that someone is getting punished is because they were a 15 year old white girl instead of a black girl, there's something wrong.

 

What's weird is everyone in the world knows that one single, seconds-long event - especially at such a young age - is not enough to define a person. Yet, even knowing this, such things are used to substantially damage or ruin people's lives.

If anyone should be shamed and shunned, it's the person who shared the video. The quote he gave about being happy that he caused change... Jesus, what a delusional dbag.

 

It's a witch hunt. She is paying for every slight that the people who are offended by this are facing. They are using her to get back despite the fact she is innocent. UT has given into a witch hunt mentality where people are throwing stones over something trivial - the people who need to be shamed are the ones throwing the stones starting with the dbag.

 

It certainly could. Once things are on the internet, they can follow you the rest of your life. If he continued to do it in that fashion, I'd certainly think he goes from being a dick to being a criminal stalker.