The story of Carson King’s swift rise to fame and demise shows a huge problem in American culture’s ethics. In Carson’s defense, the tweets were made while he was young, and realistically should not be used to punish. Although most of America has adopted a “once a racist, always a racist” policy, it gets worse for those in positions of power. A clear example of cancel culture’s no-tolerance policy is with the recently resigned president of Liberty University. During the start of COVID, Jerry Falwell Jr. announced he would make his students return to campus as most other campuses were sending their students home(Ambrosino, 2020). Immediately cancel culture came after him on twitter. Instantly looking for any dirt they could get on him, they began questioning his relationship with President Trump, his wife, etc. It is important to look at both Falwell Jr. and Carson King to realize that both had skeletons in their past that came to light. In the case of Falwell Jr, cancel culture did a good thing in bringing to light other negative things he had done; meanwhile, Carson King was not even giving a chance to prove he had changed.
Furthermore, King’s case showed the hypocrisy in cancel culture stemming from the person who found and published the tweets Aaron Calvin. Aaron had operated on the ethical belief that racism was fundamentally wrong and needed to be exposed, which most of America can agree to, showing unity in ethical objectivism. Although America and King always agree that racism is wrong, there is a relative disconnect in how either believes it should be addressed. Carol Hunter, the executive editor of the Des Moines Register’s believed Calvin, made the correct choice by bringing to light the old tweets; therefore, shaming Carson King in the process. In contrast, Former President Barack Obama believed that just shaming someone is easy to do and does not accomplish anything in the long run, a lesson I believe he takes from the Bible. All in all, I do not believe the old racist posts were a valid reason to “socially” end a young man’s life because people can always change.
#CommEthicsWeek2
References
Ambrosino, B. (2020, March 29). ‘He’s Going to Do Whatever He Wants’. Retrieved September 12, 2020, from https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/03/29/falwell-liberty-university-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic-152467
Beer Cans and Cancel Culture. (2019, December 04). Retrieved September 12, 2020, from https://mediaethicsinitiative.org/2019/12/04/beer-cans-and-cancel-culture/
