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Original poster

Ollie Robinson cancel culture what do you believe?

208 replies

NEVERQUIT3331 · 08/06/2021 16:32

The latest news is about Ollie Robinson about a cricket player who when he was 18 years old was found tweeting sexist and racist things.

England dropped him and made him apologise. And there is no idea if he will ever return.

We can all agree that people need to be hold accountable for their actions. Some people definitely should be cancelled e.g. Katie Hopkins, Anjem Chowdhury as they will never change (or they aren't willing to.)

But if someone did something say 5 years ago or more and they do not hold these views anymore surely they deserve some sort of chance?

Definitely education is needed which can stop people having ignorant people (not everyone though but many people)

Plus with cancel culture there is a double standard if you say we should cancel then a lot of people should be cancelled e.g. Chris Brown, Camila Cabello (racist messages in the past etc..)

OP posts:
iminthegarden · 08/06/2021 18:04

@thecatfromjapan cricket is a very accessible sport. It's not popular among certain communities, it's not racially exclusive.

Sometimesfraught82 · 08/06/2021 18:06

@thecatfromjapan

I mean, I genuinely believe in the ideas that
  • you can educate people about anti-racism and that will change people.
  • that people, when they realise what racism is and how devastating its effects are, will become anti-racist.
  • that politics is about changing people's beliefs, and that politics as such ceases to exist if you don't believe you can change people's minds.

I find this movement to fixity - a kind of belief in irredeemable sin - in modern politics incalculably harmful for politics itself.

Goodness Like reading a year 9 essay from a mediocre yet sweet student
SionnachRua · 08/06/2021 18:13

Isn't he suspended pending an investigation? Seems entirely appropriate to me. Even back then he knew well those tweets weren't acceptable, he even hashtagged one as #racism. Of course he should at least be suspended rather than waltz on into the next competitions.

SionnachRua · 08/06/2021 18:13

And Chris Brown is a deplorable human being.

thecatfromjapan · 08/06/2021 18:18

Nutrafin thanks for being so clear.

You're quite right.

HugeAckmansWife · 08/06/2021 18:20

I teach 6th formers. Individually the vast majority are lovely and absolutely would know not to say offensive things. But as we all see on here, keyboard warrior and mob mentality can encourage comments that you'd never say in real life. 18 might be legally an adult but in many ways, most 18 year olds are still living at home and not really any different than 16 year olds in terms of their social skills. I think 'cancel culture' is a very weird, entirely based on Twitter phenomenon and does not represnt people's views or feelings in RL

MrsTulipTattsyrup · 08/06/2021 18:35

Firstly: Ollie Robinson hasn’t been ‘cancelled’. He’s been suspended while the ECB investigates whether he did any of these things while part of the England set-up. This would happen to any of us in the same situation in our workplaces. He’s hardly a household name being made an example of - if it wasn’t for this story hardly any of you would have heard of him, playing in his first Test match as he was.

Secondly: he was 18 and 19 when the posts were made. An actual adult, as most of you are quick to point out when working teens don’t contribute to the family finances, or take responsibility for children they have fathered.

Old enough to be at university with people from all backgrounds. Old enough to be training to be a teacher. Old enough to be a Scout or Guide leader. Old enough to be in the armed forces. Old enough to be coaching younger children in cricket. Do you feel that it would be appropriate for someone in any of those positions to be sexist and racist in a public forum? I would be appalled if by 11 children didn’t understand basic decency and were expressing openly sexist or racist ideas. By 18 they are certainly aware of how wrong this is, and old enough to face the consequences.

I am a huge fan of cricket and this is hugely damaging to the sport I love. I’m sure the ECB will decide whether he should be punished. But if you’ve seen Michael Holding and Ebony Rainford-Brent’s moving piece on racism in cricket, you’ll know why this is such an important issue to address.

GreenBlood · 08/06/2021 18:35

Even on this thread people are paying more attention to his racism than his misogyny....misogyny just gets dismissed all the time, or not seen as bad as other types of discrimination. It is. It is every bit as bad. It kills. Every few minutes.

Ireallydontknowimtired · 08/06/2021 18:36

Ah, I forgot how an 18 year old white adult becomes a child and a teen when he does something wrong to others. Otherwise, he's adult enough to be chucked out to fend for himself.

[Not really speaking about this issue, just the funny "he's mentally ill", "he's just a child", "he was having a bad day", etc excuses typically given as white boys' get-out-of-jail-free card]

Charliebradbury · 08/06/2021 18:37

Honestly he was a stupid 18 year old cocky boy and I'm sure we have all met a few of those. The tweets read like someone showing off to get attention from their mates. It was 9 years ago, he is 27 now. Can you all say that you are the same person you were a decade ago?
We have no idea about what views he was subjected to at home etc, how many teenagers parrot what their parents/peers say until they get older?
I think the ECB have to suspend him and investigate but I hope he still gets to continue. I think it says a lot about the current culture that these tweets didn't get published until he was making his international debut? Apparently it wasn't important as a county player....

drpet49 · 08/06/2021 18:41

** At 18 he's an adult. And non-racist people don't say racist stuff, so he must have at least believed it at the time. How do we know he still doesn't? He only apologised because he got found out.
If he wants to redeem himself he needs to do more than hang his head in shame as plead youthful stupidity.**

^Completely agree with this

Ireallydontknowimtired · 08/06/2021 18:43

And you wonder why a lot of them turn out to be men who think the world is their footstool and they can get away with anything.

Andante57 · 08/06/2021 18:48

Actions have consequences, and if being racist means some privileges are made unavailable

Suspira what other actions should mean privileges aremade unavailable and for how long?

Crispychillibeef · 08/06/2021 19:01

What I find amusing about all this is that society/the media is holding this nobody cricketer to a higher standard than our prime minister. He's said some incredibly racist things and hasn't been held accountable or made to apologise, let alone be 'cancelled'.

There seems to be no level playing field for cancel culture.

writingbymoonlight · 08/06/2021 19:04

It’s the hypocrisy of cancel culture that’s the issue surely - when we draw attention to the likes of Robinson and make examples of them, we imply that they are exceptional, that the rest of society is somehow better. The reality is that tens or even hundreds of thousands of young people will have made similar remarks online or to their peers in the recent past.

Such comments are not ok of course, but when we destroy the career of one young man by making him our scapegoat, we solve nothing.

Nutrafin · 08/06/2021 19:12

It’s the hypocrisy of cancel culture that’s the issue surely - when we draw attention to the likes of Robinson and make examples of them, we imply that they are exceptional, that the rest of society is somehow better. The reality is that tens or even hundreds of thousands of young people will have made similar remarks online or to their peers in the recent past.

Absolute tripe. If someone approached my employer with evidence that I had been publicly making racist and misogynistic statements, I'm quite sure there would he an investigation (and depending on the strength of the evidence, I'd probably be suspended during it too). I'm sure most organizations would respond similarly.

The only difference here is that, if someone is in the public eye, it's probably more likely that someone may expose their actions, and that the wider public will hear about it.

Flapjak · 08/06/2021 19:15

@writingbymoonlight ' totally agree with you. He hasnt said anything worse or different to probably millions of other tweets out there. Meanwhile today women recieve death and rape threats and vile abuse for stating they are an adult human female and people cant change sex' and who is being held to account for that

EloquentlyBrash · 08/06/2021 19:28

@writingbymoonlight

It’s the hypocrisy of cancel culture that’s the issue surely - when we draw attention to the likes of Robinson and make examples of them, we imply that they are exceptional, that the rest of society is somehow better. The reality is that tens or even hundreds of thousands of young people will have made similar remarks online or to their peers in the recent past.

Such comments are not ok of course, but when we destroy the career of one young man by making him our scapegoat, we solve nothing.

Agreed.
iminthegarden · 08/06/2021 19:30

What annoys me is that if he'd made the same joke about Irish republicans and bombs, no one would've batted and eyelid.

Taliskerskye · 08/06/2021 19:32

Eh? He hasn’t been cancelled. He lost his job for something he put out in the twittersphere. It would be the same if he had written a letter to the times.

many people get fired for the abusive sexist racist things they put on the Internet in their own names. Have they been cancelled ?! No just fired.

Boris wading in is a politely stance, which he has been advised on. Populist politics. Whether right or wrong always been on the side of populism at the time. Boris has that art down to a tee.

EloquentlyBrash · 08/06/2021 19:34

@iminthegarden. Saw a Tik Tok last night, footage of people with dwarfism throwing javelins, camera pans to a young man with cocktail sticks being thrown/caught in his hair. Completely acceptable Confused

Taliskerskye · 08/06/2021 19:34

*Political stance

Nutrafin · 08/06/2021 19:35

Such comments are not ok of course, but when we destroy the career of one young man by making him our scapegoat, we solve nothing
How is his career being destroyed? Unless there are more developments, I expect he'll be back to playing for England very shortly.

Nutrafin · 08/06/2021 19:37

Eh? He hasn’t been cancelled. He lost his job for something he put out in the twittersphere
No he hasn't. He's been temporarily suspended from playing for England pending an investigation.

Proudboomer · 08/06/2021 19:43

It is all double standards.
Prince Harry when he was a bit older more than once made offensive racist comments and no one is trying to cancel him. In fact the opposite with big tech and media companies shelling out millions for him.

It should not be ignored but he should be allowed to apologise, a short suspension and some diversity training would be more appropriate.