We live in a society more than capable of identifying misdeeds, both minor and serious, social and criminal. Thanks in part to the long memory and long arm of the internet, nearly anything said or done in the past can be held against someone. Almost every week some person in a position of celebrity or authority apologizes for some recently-discovered misdeed, and even obscure people face serious consequences for words amplified by the internet. Words and deeds that may have once had small or local consequences now seem to follow someone forever. People have opportunities rescinded; they can lose jobs and, sometimes, friendships.
The public reaction to this new reality is schizophrenic, as can be seen in the conversations around “cancel culture.” For the most part, the distinction between “being canceled” and “facing consequences” is only a matter of perspective. Some of the same people who chanted “lock her up” at Trump rallies believe that cancel culture is out of control because Gina Carano was fired from the Mandalorian due to her political tweets or because Marjorie Taylor Green was stripped of committee assignments in Congress. On both ends of the political spectrum, second chances tend to be reserved for fellow travelers.
While we seek to publicly punish people for things deemed inappropriate, as a nation we are also imprisoning over a million people for criminal activity. In 2019, 419 of every 100,000 US residents were in state or federal prison. Despite the fact that these figures are in decline, our incarceration rate is still much higher than other developed countries. And people can linger in prison for anything from murder to struggling to make bail. Once released, those who were convicted of felonies struggle to reassimilate to society: they find it hard to get employment with a prison record, they are prohibited from voting in many states, and they are, increasingly, burdened by fees (some totally unrelated to crimes).
Our society may sometimes be divided on how to define right and wrong, but that has not dampened enthusiasm for identifying wrongdoing. There may be no consensus on the existence of original sin, but nearly everyone believes we live in a world warped by the flaws and faults of others. We all believe the other drivers on the road are the dangerous ones.
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In our society, we have a desperate need for both the recognition of wrong and the restoration of forgiveness. Our is a world with hateful middle schoolers, madmen, and murderers, all mixed in among newborns, neighbors, and next-of-kin. The longer we live the more opportunities we have for mistakes, social and criminal. As we continue to call out wrongdoing and we continue to imprison millions of Americans, we must consider how to make consequences restorative rather than simply retributive. Such changes would not just benefit our friends and family who are kicked out of carpools or incarcerated; it would improve the health of our whole society.
The Professor and the Madman: Cancel Culture, Consequences, and Restorative Justice