In the era of people's old tweets and statements ending with them not being able to host the Oscars and others with them being labeled as racist or homophobic, I wonder how we examine the past. Whenever I have taken a history class in high school or in college, the teacher was always adamant about examining historical events in the context of the time period. Throughout time morals, values and just general code of conduct have changed greatly, therefore according to my teachers, historical events should be taken with a grain of salt. But can we say the same for old tweets? Can we say the same for old stand up skits or old talk show interviews?
In the past 15 years, there has been a new rise of the movement of political correctness, causing old "jokes" and statements to move from acceptable to taboo. Things that used to be considered funny are now seen as things that are only said by people who are homophobic, or sexist, or racist. As a society, the majority of us have drawn a line in the sand as to what can be joked about and what can't. For many, the logic is that with so much that there is to joke about, why would people choose to joke about such sensitive things.
Now if we looked at tweets from 10 years ago in the same lens that my history professors recommended us to do, we would say that although nowadays we don't accept that way of acting, at the time it wasn't unusual. Now there are two reactions to this kind of thought, some people agree and say that we should chalk up the transgressions to a time period issue, while others say that is isn't forgivable because there are plenty of people at the time period who didn't make comments like that. At this moment in time, I understand and can see both opinions.
In the time of social media and everything being saved in the cloud forever, the idea of "think before you speak" is more important than it ever was. What you post today could be used against you 10 years from now when you decide to apply for a job or get thrown into the limelight. We are no longer in a time when old issues and transgressions are forgotten, everything can be brought up again. So next time you post, ask yourself if it is worth it.
