Woke mob tries to cancel Shawn Mendes for old ‘racist’ tweets

As a huge fan myself, I was absolutely shocked when I saw Mendes forced into social media contrition on Friday night. In a lengthy public statement posted across his social media accounts, Mendes apologizing for some “racially insensitive” comments he posted on social media when he was younger, saying he “apologizes wholeheartedly” and “stands for complete inclusivity, equality, and love.”

Even this wasn’t enough for some (rather unhinged) people online. The fact that #shawnmendesisoverparty actually widely circulated on Twitter reflects just how insane outrage culture has become.

First off, unpacking some of these “racially insensitive” tweets shows this outrage for the overreaction it clearly is. In one instance, a teenaged Mendes posted this:

Now, here’s what this is supposed to mean: “(something) >>>>” is an internet meme way of saying something is awesome. Mendes was clearly just trying to, in a typically crude teenage-boy type of way, to say that he found light-skinned African American women attractive.

Clumsy? Sure. Racist? Come on.

Some of the allegedly racist posts are more serious, like an Instagram comment (long since deleted), that used the N-word. It was not used in an intentionally derogatory context, but rather as slang to refer to a friend. Obviously, regardless, it is inappropriate, but it’s a forgivable mistake made by many a teenage boy growing up in the age of rap music and racial progress. Seriously, get over it.

At some point, we as a society have to say that enough is enough, and abandon outrage culture for a culture of grace, growth, and forgiveness. Otherwise, we’ll all lose.

In a hilarious twist of fate, liberal journalists are starting to see the downside of the cancel culture they helped create. Conservative activists have dug up old inflammatory tweets from CNN journalists, the New York Times political editor, and other journalists at Trump-critical liberal outlets. The New York Times isn’t having it: In a Sunday story, they called these efforts “latest step in a long-running effort by Mr. Trump and his allies to undercut the influence of legitimate news reporting.”

Oh really? But when left-wing mobs do it, it’s just social justice in action, or something? Yeah, whatever.

Outrage mongers on all sides need to take a deep breath and calm down, or else they need to be canceled themselves.

People are imperfect, and social media documents these imperfections in a way previous generations never had to reckon with. We need a new standard, because woke purity tests that write people off for life on the basis of a few old offensive comments just aren’t reasonable or fair — as liberal journalists are now learning from their own foibles.

After all, if the mobs are targeting Shawn Mendes of all people, outrage culture has clearly gone too far.