Cancel Culture Leaves No Room for Growth or Grace

Several weeks ago, USA Today asked me to write an opinion piece about veteran elite athletes playing in the twilight of their careers. Their angle for my story was that Lindsey Vonn, at 41 years old, was about to compete in the Olympics on an artificial knee and a torn ACL. They wanted me, someone who works with elite athletes, to opine on what would motivate athletes to risk so much to keep competing through immense pain and suffering when they are past their athletic primes. 

I wrote the article from a 10,000-foot view.  Central to my article was the thesis that many elite athletes have much of their self-identity tied to their athletic performance.  I gave several examples of athletes competing well outside of their athletic primes, guys like Philiip Rivers and Messi.  I also gave an example of someone not competing well out of his prime, Mike Tyson. 

My article was published the day before Vonn skied.  I was surprised shortly after it was published that Vonn Tweeted at me.  She insisted that I was wrong, and that she was indeed in her prime.  While it was obvious that my intention was not to infer that her prime as a human being was over, rather that at 41 years of age with a fake knee and torn ACL, she was definitely not in her athletic prime..   Shortly thereafter, her fans started sending me hateful and harassing messages and emails.  In addition, Nancy Armour, a sportswriter for USA Today, wrote a slanderous hit piece on me.  I am not sure what her motivation was, but her personal attack piece on me was picked up by virtually every news platform on the internet.  In an instant, her emotional diatribe maligning me was spreading false information about me everywhere.  The animus towards me was even spouted by Terminator himself, as Arnold Schwarzenegger referred to me as a “loser.”  (I still laugh at this.)

We live in a day and age where people don’t read much anymore.  It is estimated that forty percent of Americans will not read one single book this year.  I would bet everything I own that 99 percent of the people who flamed me on the internet did not read my article.  Sadly, in our modern society, nuance is a thing of the past.  Not many people take time to reflect, contemplate, or consider others’ opinions.  Most are more about getting a hot take (a quick opinion with no basis to substantiate it).  It’s not enough to simply disagree with someone on a topic, but our accelerated culture implores us to try to ruin a person if we don’t agree with them. 

I survived this ordeal, and I am doing well.  However, the next time I disagree with someone, I am going to practice what I preach.  I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt or at least disagree with them without trying to ruin them.  We should always allow room for growth and grace in our disagreements. 

Greg Graber, the author of "Slow Your Roll — Mindfulness for Fast Times," is a mental performance coach for elite athletes. More information about him is on his website: www.greggraber.com.