Here they are, four folks who did something a long time ago and which is the odd one out and why? Your delightful quartet in this cancel culture era are: East London pin-up now resident in Syria Shamima Begum, LA Resident Harry Windsor, now ex England cricketer Ollie Robinson, and Kamau Bobb of Google. The common thread is teenage regret.
As a teenager, Shamima thought it was a good idea to join ISIS, tip up her UK passport and head off to Syria to watch folks being decapitated but has since repented. As a teenager, Prince Harry thought it was a good idea to dress up as a Nazi but has repented. As a teenager, Ollie sent some racist tweets but has repented. As a teenager, Mr Bobb wrote that “The Jews have an insatiable appetite for war” and a few other clearly anti-semitic comments. He too has, only after being found out, admitted the error of his ways.
The odd one out is of course Ollie. He has now been suspended from international cricket pending an enquiry into what he tweeted eight years ago as a teenager. Prince Harry carried on being a Royal and now lectures us all on how everyone in Britain is a racist except – one assumes – folks who used to dress up as a Nazi. Shamima wants to come back to Britain and almost all of those calling for the head of Ollie reckon she has a right to forget her bad teenage calls and view her as a martyr. As for Kamau, he is no longer head of diversity at Google but he appears to have another job at the same pay grade with the same company.
So it is Ollie who is the odd one out. All made bad teenage calls but Shamima is still a martyr to the Guardian-reading classes, Harry is still the Prince of woke, Kamau is still earning a fortune at google but Ollie will be watching the next test match on the telly, unable to continue as an international cricketer although he seems quite good at it.
While not putting the case for any of these folks or setting out a hierarchy of teenage sin, it does seem as if some folks suffer a bit more than most and for reasons which seem to defy all sense of equity.