When Joaquin Phoenix won best actor at the Oscars on Sunday night, he delivered an outlandish, if not unpredictable, speech. But after ranting against the consumption of cow milk, Phoenix actually made a good point about cancel culture.
“I’ve been a scoundrel in my life,” he said. “I’ve been selfish. I’ve been cruel at times, hard to work with, and ungrateful, but so many of you in this room have given me a second chance. And I think that’s when we’re at our best — when we support each other. Not when we cancel each other out for past mistakes but when we help each other to grow, when we educate each other, when we guide each other toward redemption: That is the best of humanity.”
As much as some celebrities try to pretend that cancel culture doesn’t exist (or worse, actively participate in it), Phoenix admits that there’s a tendency in our society to rake people over the coals for their mistakes without offering them a chance to redeem themselves.
This year’s Oscars ceremony had no host, a tradition that began last year after the academy disinvited Kevin Hart because of old tweets in which the comedian had joked offensively about gay people. Hart, saying that he had already apologized for the jokes, refused to apologize again. The Oscars let him go essentially because he hadn’t bowed quite low enough.
In the outrage cycle, you can generate virtue-signaling points through condemnation, but there isn’t as much woke capital in being forgiving. But without opportunities for redemption, we wouldn’t have any society left. Despite his ramblings, Phoenix made an important point that all of Hollywood needed to hear: When we refuse to “cancel” each other for mistakes and offer forgiveness instead, “that is the best of humanity.”
It’s also the only way to keep our society from falling apart. If people get fired from their jobs or lose other opportunities after failing ideological purity tests, pretty soon, there will be no one left to cancel.
