The Boomerang: Tweets and Consequences

The Boomerang is a monthly feature where two opposing views about an issue is debated by different columnists.

Everyone has done something they seriously regret, whether it would be trying to show off to friends by cussing at the teacher in the middle of class or deciding one day to become emo and act depressed. These are memories that an individual might remember, but not necessarily anyone else–and especially not strangers. However, the world of social media is changing this. Now, a comment someone made on a tweet when they were 14 years old may come back to haunt them when they apply for a job. This is almost exactly what happened to James Gunn, director of two of Marvel’s Guardian of the Galaxy movies, who was recently fired due to controversy over tweets he made in 2008. Should people, in fact, be punished for offensive posts from years ago and who they were then or should society be more forgiving and take into account the passage of time and changes in character?

Gunn Control By Tejas Raghuram

Last month, James Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after a group of political activists exposed some old tweets that he posted containing inappropriate jokes about rape and pedophilia. He was fired by Disney the day after the tweets leaked and rightly so. What Gunn did was horrible; there are no two ways about it. Pedophilia and rape are not things to be joked about, whether it be in this day and age or that of 2008 or 2009. It isn’t as if those things were commonly accepted back then, so there is no reason that they should be accepted today either.

(Daily Mail)

Gunn is just one of the many cases of people being held accountable for their past remarks. Are we as a society right in doing this? Absolutely.

When looking for reasons as to why people should be held accountable for their past tweets, one needs to look no further than our dear 45th president, Donald Trump. He has tweeted so many statements that are racist, homophobic, sexist or completely inappropriate throughout the years that it has gotten to the point where no one is surprised to hear statements like that coming from the president. In fact, some even expect him to serially offend on a daily basis.

He has also lied about not saying any of these things, calling any source of evidence that says otherwise “fake news.”  Despite all of this, he remains unchallenged by many, and this is something that has to change. If we had stricter standards about holding people accountable for the things they said, then maybe Donald Trump would not have gotten elected president.

The #MeToo movement is one of the biggest forces of change that our society has seen. People everywhere are speaking out about sexual harassment, and real change is happening. However, if people are being held accountable for things they said in the past regarding sexual harassment, then why shouldn’t they be held accountable for crude remarks regarding rape?

To be clear, the James Gunn controversy is not the same as the #MeToo movement. In fact, it is several orders of magnitude lower than that, as tweets are only statements. That doesn’t mean, though, that tweeting off-color jokes should be tolerated.

The first comparison that comes to mind is between two statements, one from Gunn and one from Trump. The first is Gunn’s tweet, “The Expendables was so manly that I f****d the sh*t out of the little p**sy boy next to me! The boys ARE back in town!” The second is Trump’s infamous “grab them by the p**sy” line from an old Access Hollywood tape. Both statements are incendiary remarks about performing a nonconsensual sexual action to an unwilling victim that was said many years ago. However, the reaction to Gunn’s and Trump’s remarks was wildly different. While Gunn initially received a ton of backlash and was fired from his Marvel job, he currently has the support of most fans of the film, who have signed many petitions asking for his reinstatement as director. Trump, on the other hand, received nothing but backlash from the “left.” Now, that is not to say that Trump should not have been held accountable.  His statement was sexist, off color, and just not appropriate. In fact, I mean the exact opposite of that. Why should Trump receive nothing but backlash and Gunn the support of the fans? It just does not make any sense.

(Daily Mail)

Gunn, Trump and all the other people who have made off color remarks in their past need to be held accountable for their statements. Some might say they have changed, and that they are completely different people now. While that might be true, action still needs to be taken. In order to eradicate racism, sexism and other outdated philosophies from our society, people need to know that these are things not to be joked about. Holding people that say inappropriate things accountable is a step towards accomplishing that goal.

  Jumping the Gunn By Lauren Chang

James Gunn’s firing appears to be based purely on a heat-of-the-moment decision by Disney. The director has a history of being a comedian, telling jokes that are inappropriate for younger audiences, and has definitely made some off-color remarks. However, what is virtually the future of his entire career should not be defined by something he tweeted as a self-proclaimed “provocateur.” As Gunn puts it himself, “I have regretted them for many years since — not just because they were stupid, not at all funny, wildly insensitive, and certainly not provocative like I had hoped, but also because they don’t reflect the person I am today or have been for some time.”

This statement holds true for most people who are judged for their tweets of the past. As time passes, people change and learn from their mistakes, and they should not be defined by who they were as a much younger and arguably more immature person. In ten years, if every employer looked at the past social media posts of a potential employee, then almost no one would get hired. Why? Because most people do not go back through thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of posts just to delete five tweets that contain the word “f*g” and another two that are joking about suicide–jokes made when they were twelve. It is even more likely that they do not remember making such posts.

The recent push to punish people for old and outdated comments comes in light of the #MeToo movement–a movement that encourages people to speak out about sexual abuse and harassment they may have experienced. As a result, more people than ever, including some prominent celebrities, are being punished for their past inappropriate behavior. Some may argue that in light of this movement, a similar action should be taken against those who say crude things. However, it is wrong to equate the #MeToo movement to the digging up of old tweets; someone inappropriately touching someone is very different from someone tweeting an off-color joke. As a result, the punishments for these two should definitely not be the same, but as of right now, they appear to be.

While people do need to be held accountable for their past actions, this statement is true on a purely case-by-case basis. Oftentimes, people grow up and understand that what they said in the past was not appropriate. Ultimately, the question is, should people be punished for making a mistake online by posting an inappropriate comment years before the consequences come? The answer is a definite no.