>

Even at a societal level, people have reason not to trust you depending on what you've done.
I dont think its new honestly. 
Sure its counter productive i'm with you. >

There will always be those who can forgive and those who cannot. It is a saying that people remember your one fault but do not remember uncountable good deeds you have done in the past. Everyone is each to their own where one can believe in redemption while other can judge someone for the wrongdoing forever. >

Do they call me bob the bridge builder? No, but just that one sheep 🐑. >


So what happens when we remove any and all mechanisms for redemption? The Vikings had you pay money if you killed someone. The Catholic Church tells you to pray a bunch of Hail Marys. Jail is used to make people "pay their debt to society".

The problem with your examples is that they are not examples of redemption but rather absolution. If you kill someone, sure, you can do your time and no longer be punished by the law, but what have you really done to redeem yourself? Can you redeem yourself after such a crime?

We even complain when fictional characters like Kratos are given a redemption arc "they do not deserve".

Define "we," because God of War is a popular franchise that many consider worthy of award, particularly because of the redemption arc told through Kratos's story. Kratos is not absolved of his sins, but he has worked to grow past them and not repeat them. Now, if you want to argue if his redemption is deserved, I think it's less about not believing in redemption and more about how much did he really do that was not in his own interests. Yes, he changed, but has he really done much to make up for his past acts? I think that's the argument being made. >

People who act like Kratos was an iredeemably evil monster in the original games are deliberately ignoring a massive amount of context from those very same games, which served to humanize Kratos and make his actions, if not justifiable, at least very understandable (something Mimir and >!Freya!< both admit once they learn about it).
Nobody can deny the Ghost of Sparta was a monster, but the Kratos of 2018 and Ragnarok is very much not the bloody Ghost of Sparta. He's a man trying to live up to the very words he says to his own son - "Don't be sorry. Be better." >

American purity culture is one of the worst things to happen in modern fandom. Interestingly, it has roots in radical feminism. >

American social purity is an entirely religious concept that is 100% incompatible with even the loosest definition of feminism. No genuine feminist would ever engage in the openly misogynistic bullshit purity culture levels at women who don't live up to its own fucked-up standards. >

American Protestant Puritanism helped give birth to all modern progressive movements including feminism.
And I don't just mean that in a vague sense. Progressive morality literally grew directly from radical sects of Protestantism. >

I'm skeptical that we're any less likely to accept people today than we were in the past. After all, people used to be killed for relatively minor crimes in the past. >

It's that the world has gotten a lot smaller.  In previous centuries, you might relocate, take a new name, and start over.  Harder to do that now. >

Why do you think you have a right to someone's good graces? If you're driving drunk, crash into me and I end up a paraplegic why should I forgive you? Why should I let you into my good graces? >

There's a big difference between the victim(s) forgiving you, and society recognizing that you have made efforts to be better.