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TIME’s Top 10 Apologies List misses the boat
By Lauren | December 7, 2009
When the year draws to a close, TIME magazine likes to provide Top 10 lists. With Tiger Woods’ recent apology ringing across the Internet, TIME decided it was time to “examine some of the most famous mea culpas in history.” As someone with a bigger-than-usual interest in apologies, I eagerly read through the list.
What a disappointment.
TIME’s list is far from thoughtful. Of the ten apologies on the list, six (Tiger Woods, Barack Obama, Ashley Dupre, Mel Gibson, Mark Sanford, and Michael Moore) have occurred in the last ten years, and are hardly likely to have any historical significance. Four (Tiger Woods, Ashley Dupre, Mark Sanford, and Bill Clinton) involve alleged sexual misconduct by public figures — is hanky-panky really that important? And two (Socrates and Michael Moore) don’t qualify as apologies at all, because both men clearly felt no remorse for the actions underlying their “apologies.” The list completely omits business apologies (for example, the no-nonsense apology issued by Johnson & Johnson when someone tampered with its Tylenol product). Most disappointingly, TIME completely missed some of the most historically important apologies that have issued through the years, such as the apologies Congress has made to native Americans, African Americans, and Japanese-Americans who were held captive by their own government during World War II.
It’s a shame that TIME saw fit to take such a dismissive approach to public apologies. Even though they often smack of spin, apologies can also signal a fundamental shift in public values and foster genuine healing. Maybe TIME should take a second look, and apologize to its readers.
To read TIME’s Top 10 Apologies List, go to http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1913028_1913030,00.html?cnn=yes.
Topics: Apologies, Social Ethics, ethics |
December 17th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
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