Date of letter: 4 August 2020
Ruining a person's life for making a mistake, even if it was made years ago and the person has changed for the better, has become a trend on the Internet also known as "cancel culture".
"Cancel culture" does more harm than good. There is absolutely no justification for wrongdoing, but we need to remember that nobody is immune from making mistakes and nobody is perfect.
Instead of ruining other people's lives or causing them to lose their jobs over a mistake they made in the past, we should educate them and give them a chance to change for the better.
Some people may not have known that what they did or said was wrong, especially if the mistake was made when they were much younger.
There have been cases of people being "cancelled" over past mistakes, even if they have changed for the better, which tells me that "cancel culture" encourages a refusal to forgive and accept that people can change for the better.
We have the Yellow Ribbon movement to give former convicts a second chance and reintegrate them into society, so why can't we forgive others for less serious mistakes or offences?
Society will never progress if we don't learn to forgive, give others a second chance and accept that people can change for the better. A person's past should not matter if he has changed for the better.
We should create an environment that encourages education and forgiveness to truly progress. It's time to end "cancel culture" once and for all.
Jamie Lyn Ng Jia Le
