Apologizing is a sign of weakness

[bluestateguy]

You do nothing to appease your enemies and you only look feeble.

Like Dick Durbin blubbering on the floor of the Senate.

[Angry Dragon]

1. I need more background for your statements

[provis99]

2. to a republican, that's true.

"I sorry if you were so lame as to be offended" is the standard republican "apology".

[OneGrassRoot]

38. So many here berate any sign of integrity as playing into right-wing hands...

(oops, didn't mean to reply to your post but to the OP...sorry) :)


To me, seeing it that way is adhering to THEIR playbook. That plays into right-wing idiocy more than apologizing or doing things right-wingers feel show weakness.

It's weakness in their eyes. Why do we care what they think? Why should we try to play by their rules?

WE NEED TO CREATE OUR OWN and make OUR RULES THE NORM.

TAKE BACK THE NARRATIVE (progressive, liberal, compassion, etc. are GOOD things) rather than react to theirs!


edit

[arbusto_baboso]

42. To an immature a-hole, that's also true.

Oh, wait, you already mentioned Republicans. Never mind.

Decent people apologize when called for, though. It is NOT a sign of weakness. It is a sign of civilization.

[KittyWampus]

Right, and typing crap on the internets like you do is tough.

[wtmusic]

3. Au contraire, it's a sign of strength

and it ain't about appeasing your enemies.

[Hannah Bell]

8. not when it's your enemies demanding the apology on behalf of "the american people".

the hypocritical phonies.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

34. And when your enemies are the biggest bigots around

I thought they weren't into being "politically correct"?

[arbusto_baboso]

43. So that's a reason to not do the right thing?

Sorry, but civilized people apologize when it's called for.

I have no problem with fighting the bastards tooth and nail, but there have to be some rules, even if THEY don't follow them. Same principle as the Geneva Accords.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

33. Sarah will be doing an end zone dance tomorrow

While still smearing Ed and MSNBC.

Nothing gained.

[Odin2005]

4. Only emotionally immature people like Republicans believe that.

[AndyTiedye]

5. It is Always the Mighty Slime Machine (MSM) that Forces the Dems to Apologize

Compared to the MSM, the Democratic party IS weak.

[Hannah Bell]

6. yes. all the recent spectacles of public apologies being demanded by various entities

on behalf of "the american people" & the penitents being paraded on tv to make their phony "apologies," and then the same creepers second-guessing the apology they demanded ('it wasn't good enough, he should have said x,yz') = horrible degradation ritual.

hypocrites on all sides.

[demmiblue]

7. Unless you are wrong... then it is a sign of strength. n/t

[seabeyond]

9. it is unfortunate people see it as a weakness. i did, too. raised that way. my 4 yr old taught me

the power in it.

pretty sad when a 4 year old kicks ass in enlightment, civility, grace than the mother and i learned my lesson well.

i have found an, i am sorry, to be very effective and right when needed. produces and accomplishes so much more than an appearance of strength of not apologizing which is merely an illusion. when the real strength is having the courage and ability to say a simple, i am sorry.

i couldnt disagree with you more.

it is that thinking that feeds the worst of who we are.

[pintobean]

10. Admitting a mistake is a sign of strength

Stubbornly sticking to stupid is a sign of arrogance and a total lack of self-confidence.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. No, it isn't. There are some circumstances where an apology

is absolutely necessary. If you offer an apology under those circumstances - a real apology, not one of those I'm-sorry-if-anyone-was-offended apologies - that's evidence of strength and decency, not weakness. A phony apology offer under duress might show weakness, but a sincere one doesn't.

[pipi_k]

12. Actually, since apologizing is so hard to do...

only the strong do it.

Sincere apologies, I mean.

And what's even better than an apology...changing the behavior that necessitated the apology in the first place.

IOW, it doesn't mean shit if someone keeps doing something shitty, apologizes for it, then goes right back to doing the shitty acts over and over again.

[Safetykitten]

13. Not to us Democrats. We LOVE doing it.

[Hannah Bell]

14. looove to grovellll before the powerful slime machineeeeee

not a sign of weakness to apologize, but a definite sign of weakness when you are the only one who ever *has* to apologize.

and when the apologies are coerced & then delivered obsequiescely.

[Zorra]

15. It can be an act of graciousness, and an act of strength as well. nt

[ZombieHorde]

16. If you get married, or are married now, make exceptions to that rule. nt

[TlalocW]

17. I'm sorry, what?

Damn.

TlalocW

[Forkboy]

18. Not if you're actually wrong.

Your position is simply too black and white, and while I understand what you're driving at, it's still wrong. If you fuck up (and as we're talking about Ed I'll state that what he said doesn't bother me much but he should have known better to use the term on the air), then you should apologize for it. It's not about the other person/group, it's about the type of person we are. If apologizing when I'm wrong makes me look weak so be it. I'm secure enough in myself to carry the burden of displeasure from such shallow people.

[backscatter712]

19. BINGO!!! All an apology does is set up a ritual humiliation.

Never apologize to the enemy!

Apologies are only appropriate to be made to friends, when real honest reconciliation is possible. Do you think reconciliation is possible with the teabaggers? I think not.

The GOP just wants Ed to do the perp walk so they can piss all over him on FOX News. Fuck that shit.

[Viking 1]

20. Who is apologizing to whom???

:shrug:

[TorchTheWitch]

21. The apology is for all the women he degenerated by using a gender biased slur

Why is this so fucking hard to figure out??? There's no question people would get it if he had used a racist slur or a sexual orientation slur or ageist slur, etc. Just why is it that even DEMS still can't understand that gender biased slurs particularly those against women are no more appropriate or acceptable than any other broadbrush group slur???

[emilyg]

25. Thank you.

[madamesilverspurs]

22. That's a swaggering johnwayneism.

It's worthy of W and his minions. It's not worthy of anyone who claims to have even a modicum of character.


-

[Occulus]

23. And then there's the guy that Cheney shot in the face.

That was an opportunity to unseat a sitting Vice President- one of the most unpopular ever, and instead.... the guy he shot apologized to him, and the incident was forgotten.

You want John Wayne? I just gave it to you. Don't let that happen again. This is your first and last warning. Next time, I'll be a lot less polite about it.

I have a lot of experience with bullies. I 'took the high road', never fought back, and tried to 'ignore it and it'll go away', in the words of my parents. I only got more bullied, more harassed, and more picked on. Had I taken one single, well-timed swing to the jaw, it would have stopped- probably all of it.

Republicans are, at the bottom, a pack of bullies. We should not be working with them, we should not be reaching across the aisle, we should not ever be apologizing to them; we should be trying just as hard as they are to destroy them completely. I guarantee you, apology to them or no, they will continue exactly as they have.

Yet here we are, arguing about whether we should apologize to them when one of us says something mean. What we should have done is engaged in some constructive framing- is she a slut, really? I don't think so, but you can't ever really be sure, can you? I bet the history file from her browser at home has some interesting things in it. But she is a corporate whore, a Wall Street whore, a Bitch for Business. And we should have hammered that home, over and over again until she appeared on camera, tearfully sobbing that we've ruined her career and she just can't appear any more because "we're so mean".

We could have 'claimed the scalp'. Instead we handed one of our own over on a silver tray, along with an engraved invitation to just fuck us all the harder.

I give up. All y'all can go straight to hell in a gilded carriage with purple cushions, trailing clouds of glory and sacred smoke for all of me. The number of people willing to throw this guy to the wolves on this board is just astonishing. With friends like these, we deserve to lose.

[emilyg]

24. You are so wrong. It's a sign of strength and

maturity.

[Common Sense Party]

26. Sweep. The. Leg.

No mercy.

Let's go medieval on their asses.

We should be calling MORE of them sluts, whores, racist douchebags, etc.

THAT'S how you win hearts, minds, and elections.

[Occulus]

27. Or we could just respond to the bullies the way they should be responded to

and taking the high road just doesn't work when bullies are involved.

But then, you knew that. I see the game you're playing, I'm copying this response, and every time you post that little pap smear of a comment, I'll be there to paste in this one.

You're going over the top and you know it. I'm shutting you down.

STOP. NOW.

[Common Sense Party]

32. You're shutting me down? Oooo, how manly. How authoritative.

Color me impressed.

You don't get to tell me what to stop, nor when.

[Prometheus Bound]

28. Depends how it's done, I guess.

[Swede]

29. It takes a big man to admit he's wrong.

You can do it.

[nolabear]

30. No, bootlicking is a sign of weakness. A sincere apology is a sign of strength.

Never apologize if you don't think you're wrong. If you do, then own it, ask forgiveness and don't do it again. It does everyone good.

[LoZoccolo]

31. Did Bush's refusal to admit mistakes help or hurt his credibility with you? n/t

[DirkGently]

35. Apologizing is what adults do when they're wrong. Rightwingers confuse it with weakness.

[Aerows]

36. I'm familiar with doing it when I'm wrong

And it's never out of fashion to acknowledge that you aren't the center of the Universe, and the sole judge of "right" and "wrong".

I'm scared of people that can't apologize.

[bemildred]

37. Apologizing is a sign of strength, belligerence is a sign of weakness. nt

[LanternWaste]

39. Well it's only obvious we predicate our actions and ethical behavioral on what the GOP does...

Well it's only obvious we predicate our actions and ethical behavioral on what the GOP does...

Saying otherwise would simply imply that other options exist, regardless of whether we know them or use them, and we certainly couldn't allow that.

[tkmorris]

40. I really hope you don't teach your children that philosophy

[TheKentuckian]

41. Correction. Apologizing to TeaPubliKlans is seen by the TeaPubliKlans as a sign of weakness.

That is indisputable.

Further, TeaPubliKlans see all apologies as a sign of weakness. Yup, even the ones they require to Rush but since he is viewed by the Dark Agers as Alpha being weak before him is ok.

In general terms you are way off base but when dealing with these villains it should be abundantly clear that it is counter-productive and plausibly dangerous to cede even a millimeter, ever on any damn thing under the sun.

[cali]

44. No, it's not. Apologizing when you have nothing to apologize for may be a weakness

but when you have wronged someone, an apology is a strength not a weakness.