Random musings on "The Bachelor" and "cancel culture"

 I don't watch "The Bachelor".  I never have.  Apparently, this show in its 25th season.  All of the commercials I've seen for the show feature all white contestants with its token woman of color (or man of color if it's "The Bachelorette").  I'm not interested in a show that clearly excludes people.  

But I felt compelled to weigh in on the recent scandal involving Chris Harrison, the host of the show.  The current season features Matt James, a Black man, as the Bachelor.  One of the contestants is Rachael Kirkconnell, who was found to have attended a Southern Antebellum party when she was in college.  This party was thrown by the fraternity Kappa Alpha which is known as racist due to its embrace of Confederate General Robert E. Lee as its "spiritual leader".  This Southern fraternity throws this annual bash on a plantation and decorates with Confederate flags.

Rachael has also liked racist social media posts in the past.

When the photos of Kirkconnell came to light, Rachel Lindsay, a former Bachelorette who is Black, interviewed Harrison to talk about the scandal. And while Lindsay tried to explain the offensiveness of the party that Kirkconnell attended, Harrison hemmed and hawed and tried to justify Kirkconnell's actions as that of a young girl simply attending a party, and then bringing up the "woke police".  His cluelessness about how offensive this was sparked a huge backlash, and he ultimately stepped away from his hosting duties.  Emmanuel Acho will now be hosting the final Rose Ceremony (whatever that is--again I don't watch).

Kirkconnell has also apologized for her behavior, as has Harrison.  But what is disturbing is the backlash that Lindsay has endured.  Because Lindsay spoke out, resulting in Harrison's stepping down, she has received hateful attacks on her Instagram account, forcing her to delete her account.  Many have come to her defense.  But what does that say about our society?  A woman stands up against hatred, and people are upset about it.  What does that say about those people?

(Note:  I see this happening in our community of Des Moines.  A local seafood restaurant, Wally's Chowder House, for years had ties to the Proud Boys.  The owner's son is a Proud Boy, as was another employee, and meetings were held at the restaurant.  Many of us protested this online and called for boycotting the restaurant, not only because of the ties to a hate group, but because there was evidence of the owner herself making anti-Semitic, homophobic and Islamophobic comments on Twitter.  Yet people in the community, rather than supporting the boycott, called us "haters".  We were calling out hate, and in turn, they were so upset with us, that they gaslighted us and called US "haters".  The son has since been arrested for leading the Proud Boys in the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, yet these people still defend Wally's.)

So let's talk about cancel culture.  Some, mostly on the right, are upset about so-called "cancel culture".  Frankly, I call it accountability.  I call it consequences.  Chris Harrison is a middle-aged man who is in the public eye.  He should have known better.  If he is going to go through life not educating himself about racism, and then say something stupid in front of millions of people, then he's going to have to face the consequences.  Too many people think they can just spout off their uneducated views about racism thinking that they can get away with saying anything they want.  Think about Megan Kelly when she made that comment about blackface on NBC.  That was the end of her career on NBC.  She embarrassed herself, and ended up having to not only apologize, but then be educated in front of millions on the history of blackface.  My God, was this woman that stupid to not realize how offensive blackface is?  Again, if you're not going to educate yourself on these issues, be prepared to suffer the consequences.  

(Note:  It's the same with Wally's.  Some are upset that we are asking for a boycott and that people keep bringing it up.  We feel that people coming to our community have a right to know the history of this restaurant and then make their decision as to whether they want to give their hard-earned money to a business that has had ties to terrorism.  Call it cancel culture if you want.  We call it accountability.  You support terrorism, you suffer the consequences.)

That's my two cents.