S2E05: Christmas is NOT Cancelled: Moving Past Cancel Culture

Diverse Joy

This month's episode focuses on the holiday season. We share holiday-related joy! Amber discusses visiting Disneyland during the holidays and the extra magic it brings! Will's joy is his friends' annual (faux) gingerbread crafting party.

This episode's main discussion topic focuses on cancel culture and how to move past cancel culture to have productive and constructive conversations when someone makes a mistake. This leads us to touch on many timely and important topics, including how to maintain accountability without "canceling" someone, the difference between guilt and shame, how to "call people in" rather than "call them out", and how to have productive conversations about correcting language that others might use without realizing it's offensive or problematic. This brings up several widely publicized instances of public figures being criticized (in some cases, we suggest, too severely) for honest mistakes or misunderstandings, as well as some cases of public figures who doubled down on their offensive rhetoric.

For story time, Amber and Will both share stories related to difficult or productive conversations, which provides them a with a chance to discuss the negative and positive impacts those conversations can have. In response to this month's audience question, they provide additional advice on how to manage discussions about difficult or polarizing topics, and how to "respond" to criticism, rather than merely "reacting" to it.

The habit-breaking skill in this episode is to Listen With Humility. When others bring up an issue related to bias, diversity, or related topics, have enough humility to hear what they have to say, and be willing to question your own way of thinking. Growth and change require some discomfort!

And we close out with Will's joyful recommendation of the adorable, charming, cute, and quirky movie, "A Christmas Movie Christmas".