Can apologies be made after the fact?

[Motokid]

Is it possible for a public official, speaking from a public platform, to make horrendous remarks and statements, and then apologize for them later?

clicky here

Much like an author writing a non-fiction book and selling it as the gospel truth only to admit later that parts of it a fabricated I just don't think the things this mayor said can be washed over as "oops, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it "that" way..."

Is this just a slip of the tongue, or "reverse" racism, or just plain stupidity on the part of an elected official?

 

[pontalba]

Motokid
I live in the area, and saw the Mayor's comments on the news I didn't see the news conference itself. Yes, he was inappropriate to say the least. But I think, and these are only my impressions you understand, is that he has undergone a profoundly unsettling experience. Hurricane Katrina has totally devestated the entire City of New Orleans. The pictures do not do it justice. Now I have not been back down there as I moved from N.O. 10 years ago to a rural section about 50 miles north of N.O. And count myself quite fortunate I might add. I know the pictures do not do justice because in our area about 75% of the trees were either knocked down, or broken off at the top. It changes the landscape considerably. While not comperable to the flooding situation in N.O., my point is this. The pics do not catch the devestation of the trees down, so I know the pics do not capture the horrible destruction in New Orleans. Now, what I am slowly trying to get to is the fact that the Mayor has undergone an experience comparable to say an atomic bomb going off in his city. That changes a person, and while the change is taking place, perhaps the person does not say everything in a "proper manner". Maybe he is trying to get back to his roots, I don't know, but I will not condemn him for his reactions. And no, I am not black, I am white, and still do not take offense at his remarks. Why should I?

Besides, what he says is true, New Orleans is I believe at least more than half African-American in population. And it has been my experience that the varied races get along better here than in many other cities and places. So What? New Orleans is a beautiful city with the ethnic diversity that makes it the most fascinating city in the country.

 

[muggle]

It is probably better than a Government/public official making stupid remarks and then refusing to admit his/her errors in judgment. This is close to a political topic though.

 

[Miss Shelf]

No, I don't think it's possible for a public official to make controversial remarks, then after the remarks have drawn criticism, apologize and think everything will be fine and dandy. People will remember the remarks, and the backtracking attempt, and conclude he or she isn't trustworthy, not that politicians are inherently trustworthy to begin with.

 

[Motokid]

I'm with you Miss Shelf. While I can appreciate the idea that this mayor has been under considerable stress, I don't think he should be forgiven so easily for such rediculous comments.

If Mayor Rudy Gulianni (spelling) had made mention of returning Manhatten to a vanilla section of New York City after 9/11, I think the NAACP and the Rainbow Coalition and every black politician and reverend in America would be shouting racism.

Don't we need to move away from designating color when talking about people and culture? When you specify a color, or heritage you are segregating aren't you. Why does it have to be african-american? What's so friggin wrong with simply american?

New Orleans was not great because of the color of the people, it was great because of the people that were there regardless of color wasn't it?

 

[Miss Shelf]

I wonder what the Rev. King would have thought of the mayor's remarks?

 

[pontalba]

Don't we need to move away from designating color when talking about people and culture? When you specify a color, or heritage you are segregating aren't you. Why does it have to be african-american? What's so friggin wrong with simply american?

I absolutely agree with you 1000% here, but I believe racism was brought into the mix by the news article posted. People just love to label other people and create endless divisions. My poor attempt at "P.C." I believe I said something like that when I posted:

And it has been my experience that the varied races get along better here than in many other cities and places. So What? New Orleans is a beautiful city with the ethnic diversity that makes it the most fascinating city in the country.

And btw, who are we to 'forgive' or 'not forgive'? If we all did everything right the world would not be in the condition it is in at the moment. I make no claim to even semi-perfection.

I really don't mean to be arguementive, but it upsets me when people talk about not forgiving someone for a very human error in judgement. Which is what the Mayor made. He wasn't a politician before he became Mayor, he was a successful businessman that ran to help the city recover from previous administrations.

 

[muggle]

I absolutely agree with you 1000% here, but I believe racism was brought into the mix by the news article posted. People just love to label other people and create endless divisions. My poor attempt at "P.C." I believe I said something like that when I posted:

And btw, who are we to 'forgive' or 'not forgive'? If we all did everything right the world would not be in the condition it is in at the moment. I make no claim to even semi-perfection.

I really don't mean to be arguementive, but it upsets me when people talk about not forgiving someone for a very human error in judgement. Which is what the Mayor made. He wasn't a politician before he became Mayor, he was a successful businessman that ran to help the city recover from previous administrations.

My thoughts are echoed by pontalba on this one. He made a mistake under circumstances that were very difficult and apologized. Would people rather he not apologize? GWB made a comment "Good job Brownie" and we did not see an apology from him on an obvious blunder.

 

[Breaca]

I watched the Mayor give his speech and wasn't quite sure what he was trying to get across. But I couldn't be offended. Was his speech inappropriate, yes but only in that it could have been 'put' a lot differently. Was it a racist statement, I think not. Not long after he gave the speech he was asked by a journalist to comment on his 'chocolate city' statement. He looked genuinely surprised or at least a little dumbfounded and in a matter of fact voice asked the journalist 'what is chocolate made of?' Cocoa, milk, etc, etc. Hinting again on his favourite theme that New Orleans was, and no doubt will be again, a rich and diverse city - full of colour, culture, good food, and all that jazz. I think it's so easy to jump to conclusions and think the worst of people in this day and age - the media playing a large part in this.

And when someone apologises why shouldn't we take that apology at face value. Why do we have to question someone's motives. It would be a very sad world in deed if we had to question everyone all the time.

 

[abecedarian]

I'd like to think a sincere apology would be enough. After all, who among us has never suffered from "hoof and mouth" disease? You know, "open mouth and insert foot?" Words are powerful, and public officials should more carefully guard theirs, but they are as human as the rest of us, and it seems to me, an apology should be accepted. Then, watch that person to see if they were sincere. If not, vote them out.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

I agree with Miss Shelf and Moto on this one - his comments were entirely inappropriate, and he can't expect that with a simple apology all insults will just go away. Just as Moto said, if someone had said something about a place becoming an all "vanilla" city, this whole thing would not have blown over with half-assed excuses and a simple apology, and that to me is what is very, very wrong with our society.

I absolutely agree with you 1000% here, but I believe racism was brought into the mix by the news article posted. People just love to label other people and create endless divisions.

No, I'm thinking that saying that N.O should become a "chocolate city" is bringing racism into the mix pretty darn quickly. His statement was entirely racist, and in this case there was no need for the press to embellish a bit. The mayor was totally out of line, and in my mind, should be feeling a far larger amount of repercussions.

And btw, who are we to 'forgive' or 'not forgive'? If we all did everything right the world would not be in the condition it is in at the moment. I make no claim to even semi-perfection.

I don't claim myself to be perfect either, but that does not mean that I cannot be insulted or shocked by what someone has said. Of course I don't do everything right, but this was a /major/ slip-up, and I think that everyone has the right to be offended by that comment, and I don't think that he should be forgiven after what little effort he has put in to reverse it. Not forgiving someone and claiming yourself to be perfect are two completely different things.

I really don't mean to be arguementive, but it upsets me when people talk about not forgiving someone for a very human error in judgement. Which is what the Mayor made. He wasn't a politician before he became Mayor, he was a successful businessman that ran to help the city recover from previous administrations.

To be honest, I think that people are completely in the right to not forgive him. The fact that he was a businessman before is irrelevant. He is the Mayor, and he is in such a position that he has to watch what he say, and he blew it (to grossly understate). I would be horrified if I had a Mayor as racist as that. The fact is that Mayors and other people in such high positons of power can't make human errors like everyone else - they are too important to be doing things like that. This Mayor stepped way over the line, and I don't think that he should be forgiven just yet.

The main problem that I have with this is the way it has blown over without a second word, and how different that would be if the tables were turned and it had been a racist comment about blacks.

 

[Jemima Aslana]

I'd like to think a sincere apology would be enough. After all, who among us has never suffered from "hoof and mouth" disease? You know, "open mouth and insert foot?" Words are powerful, and public officials should more carefully guard theirs, but they are as human as the rest of us, and it seems to me, an apology should be accepted. Then, watch that person to see if they were sincere. If not, vote them out.

I'm reminded of a time when I heard a friend tell me the whole long story about how her latest relationship went down the drain. During the telling I had been listening to all the mishaps and mistakes that happened, and when she finished off with relating her biggest mistake in the whole thing the effectively negated any hope of ever restoring communication of any sort, it burst out of me. It was an instinctive reaction for em to say: "You were bloody well an idiot to that!"

She was very hurt, of course, and I realised what I'd said and apologised profusely, because naturally she couldn't be expected to be the perfect pillar of rationale when she was in the middle of a harsh break-up. Later we laughed about it and things were alright.

So I understand Mr. Nagin's problem. While other people around America was saying how Katrina was God's punishment for the sinfulness that was Life in New Orleans, a sign for many things among them: 'that races should not be mixed as they are in N.O.' Is it so surprising that under such stress he might have lashed out with the same kind of weapon? I think not.

He's free to think what he wants. As long as he's a capable mayor, and can offer a sincere apology (though I'm not even sure I think one is needed in this case) I wouldn't give much of a damn about those things he said.