the problem with going scorched earth (a rant, kinda)

i feel like this decade's internet can either be extremely harsh or all too forgiving when it comes to the response to people's harmful behavior on the internet. on one hand, some people have been held fully accountable for the harm theyve done, to the point where discussion about them cant exist without the immediate mention of the harm they did. on the other hand, some people's misdeeds are never acknowledged despite being very easy to point out. and then you have this weird middle group: where the evidence of the harm they caused is perfectly well-known, but it's barekly touched on at all because they treat certain acts as something to joke about (many content creators who are exposed as predators have their actions used as comedy). however, there is a rare third option that can occur: if they manage to brush everything under the rug, and never acknowledge the harm they did after switching platforms or making a massive rebrand in content, then they could eventually come back and garner support like nothing happened. 

there's a handful of examples of this. one of which is, of course, the infamous Meowbahh of tiktok. for those of you unaware, Meowbahh was a user that gained a lot of traction back in 2o22 due to multiple controversies involving racism, ableism, queerphobia, sharing NSFW with children, making threats of sexual assault, and more. the amount of controversy stacked against them ultimately lead them to abandon the account. however, the user made a return just two years later, after rebranding their content to be animated videos, which (due to their already high level of engagement) became instant hits, making many either forget about their controversies or disregard them entirely when informed another good example would be James Charle, who, despite having multiple controversies including predatory behavior and affiliating with an abuser, still manages to keep a massive audience by making one scripted apology video whenever his controversies are made a topic of discussion that cannot be ignored, and then going back to the regular scheduled content. 

similar to these phenomenons, theres a handful of users here (who i will not name) that are attempting to do something similar. one of them is someone who caused a bit of controversy on spacehey back last december, for having posted homophobic content, most likely as "bait." ironically but not unsurprisingly, my old account was banned for bringing attention to this, while hers was not. she posted multiple blogs containing homophobic slurs, and at the time, identified as straight. she migrated here not too long ago and reposted the same blog to this platform, but is now backtracking by saying "i can reclaim it because im bi!!" like she didnt use it whilst claiming to be straight as well. theres another user who has openly been transphobic, racist, and classist, as well as having cyberstalked people, who has made an attempt to garner a following here. considering he joined after his respective controversy, he immediately made an effort to shut up anyone who would potentially point out what he did by painting them as the problem for not being able to "set aside sensless drama" that he has not apologized for, made up for at all, or even addressed it outside of antagonizing the people who were harmed by it. the post was deleted shortly after people began pointing out what he did in the comments, but its clear that he wants to make a comeback without improving on his behavior.

pretty much, the problem with going scorched earth involving controversies is thatit's a clear sign that the person hasnt actually changed. they can play the bigger person or excuse their behavior all they want, but it doesnt actually make them better people. whenever someone tries to bury or excuse their past instead of addressing and condemning it, be suspicious. apologizing and making up for your past, and making an effort to be better in the future, is growth. making excuses, pretending it never happened, and mocking those who refuse to play in to the fantasy of it never having happened is the opposite.