{"id":3369,"date":"2021-03-15T11:51:15","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T15:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/?p=3369"},"modified":"2021-03-15T13:41:42","modified_gmt":"2021-03-15T17:41:42","slug":"coffee-convo-march-19-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/coffee-convo-march-19-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee &#038; Convo: March 19, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>This week&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/programs\/coffee-convo\/\">Coffee &amp; Conversation<\/a> topic:<\/strong> The Limits of Grace in Bachelor Nation<\/p>\n<p>Join us on <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonu.zoom.us\/j\/94839921053?pwd=c3pEQytGWGhQQ214dzA2cjZBTDMxUT09\">Zoom<\/a> this Friday, March 19 at 3 PM EST as we dive into the ongoing racial reckoning of ABC&#8217;s hit television franchise <em>The Bachelor<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Rachael Kirkconnell, a frontrunner on the current season, has come under fire in recent weeks as internet sleuths uncovered her racist social media history, including photos of her from 2018 at an &#8220;Old South&#8221; antebellum-themed fraternity party, which took place on a plantation.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3374\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3374\" style=\"width: 210px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/thurman\/files\/2021\/03\/602ec83b42b84000192f443f-200x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"wp-image-3374 size-books-art\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3374\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo credit: Craig Sjodin via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The controversy gained more attention once long-time <em>Bachelor<\/em> host Chris Harrison seemed to defend Kirkconnell, asking &#8220;Is it a good look in 2018 or is it not a good look in 2021?&#8221; and calling for critics to lead with grace, understanding, and compassion. He later criticized cancel culture and the &#8220;woke police&#8221; for &#8220;tearing this girl&#8217;s life apart.&#8221; This raises many questions, like:<\/p>\n<p>What are the limits of grace, understanding, and compassion in the face of racism?<\/p>\n<p>Is there (or should there be) a statute of limitations on holding past social media behavior against people in the present? How about for actions in college? Are some more defining than others?<\/p>\n<p>Does cancel culture need to be reigned in? What fuels it, and why has it gained so much traction in recent years? Is it effective? Who&#8217;s leading the charge?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Suggested Reading and Viewing:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/live-feed\/chris-harrison-wades-into-the-bachelor-frontrunner-controversy-apologizes-over-interview\">&#8220;Chris Harrison Wades Into &#8216;The Bachelor&#8217; Frontrunner Controversy, Apologizes Over Interview&#8221;<\/a> (<em>The<\/em> <em>Hollywood Reporter<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.refinery29.com\/en-us\/2020\/08\/9949984\/racism-reality-tv-shows-cast\">&#8220;How Reality TV Can Confront Its Very Real Racism Problem&#8221;<\/a> (<em>Refinery29<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/tv\/story\/2021-03-12\/the-bachelor-abc-disney-chris-harrison-matt-james-rachael-kirkconnell-rachel-lindsay\">&#8220;Last Summer, Disney Promised Change. Then the First Black &#8216;Bachelor&#8217;s&#8217; Season Unraveled.&#8221;<\/a> (<em>LA Times<\/em>)<\/p>\n<p>VIDEO: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9hmY1gSAuRk\">&#8220;Chris Harrison &amp; Rachel Lindsay Talk Bachelor Rachael Kirkconnell&#8221;<\/a> (<em>Extra<\/em>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week&#8217;s Coffee &amp; Conversation topic: The Limits of Grace in Bachelor Nation Join us on Zoom this Friday, March 19 at 3 PM EST as we dive into the ongoing racial reckoning of ABC&#8217;s hit television franchise The Bachelor. Rachael Kirkconnell, a frontrunner on the current season, has come under fire in recent weeks [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6091,"featured_media":3374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6091"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3369"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3387,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3369\/revisions\/3387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/thurman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}