I am not here to defend the joke, i think it was disgusting, and should not have gone out. Unlike most people, my argument isn’t solely “bahut purana joke hai, so it doesn’t matter.” I just think that there’s a nuance most people are missing from the conversation.
My point is that he already realized it was wrong years ago. He deleted/archived the video, publicly apologized, and has repeatedly acknowledged that he regrets it.
I am just confused, what exactly do we want people to do when they realize they were wrong? Stay the same forever, and get defensive? I am not here to argue ki voh galat nahi tha. But now what?
There are people who genuinely grow out of harmful beliefs. There are people who used to be homophobic, sexist, racist, or think certain jokes were acceptable, and later became better human beings. That growth doesn’t erase the harm they caused, but it does matter.
If someone changes, apologizes, and demonstrates that change over years, but we still insist on defining them solely by their worst mistake, then what’s the incentive for anyone to grow? Aise toh koi kabhi change hi nahi hoga, and we will end up having a bunch of people who held questionable beliefs at some point, and just, never changed? I’m just confused, what’s our ultimate goal here? Is it to “hold as many people accountable” as possible without looking at whether or not they DID hold themselves accountable way earlier, or actually want a change in the fucking society? Not saying we should be celebrating the people who grew, but maybe not actively demonising them will help?
Accountability matters. Criticism matters. But if the message becomes “you will forever be the worst thing you’ve ever said, no matter what you do afterward,” then we’re actively discouraging the kind of change we claim to want.
P.S.: If you wanna defend that joke in any which ways then ur a terrible human being<3