• apologies
• eating shit

We have all come to know the art of apologizing without really apologizing: "I'm sorry that you took my offensive comment in that way. I'm sorry that you were offended." Mel Gibson offers but one example of this.

Well, David Letterman apologized to the Palin family last night, and I think it might be an actual apology. I think he's taking flak for a "sort of" apology (shockingly, this is Michelle Malkin's take), but I actually think this is a pretty solid attempt:

Letterman took 3 full minutes of the show to carefully step through this. And while he does say that it's "perception" and not "intent" that led to the Palin family (and their supporters?) being offended, he takes full responsibility for that perception. In fact, Letterman takes responsibility for things beyond his control (for instance, he did not know that Palin's 14 year old daughter was at the game). He takes responsibility for all the various (mis)readings of his joke. Now that's an apology.

As I see it, a true apology is about eating shit. It is about apologizing for everything, even those things you couldn't control or didn't know about. It's not fair, and it's not fun. But if you don't eat shit, then it's not an apology.

• Jim Brown's blog
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