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Friday, October 19, 2018

Why Apologize


Why Apologize

We live in such a gotcha society.  It seems like some people have nothing better to do than parse every word spoken or written, looking to be victimized or to sniff out racism and political incorrectness.

It is pretty easy to shame someone today.  Simply go on twitter and pick out the responses that suit your agenda, then like them and or retweet them until you get the attention you desire.

Typically, when caught with a faux pas, even when it is the result of selected interpretation, the accused effusively apologizes. 

I say stop it!

If you are innocent from the intent that is heaped on you, an apology is more like an admission of guilt and it will stick with you.  I say fight back.

What is it that caught my attention on this subject?  Last week, Ron Darling was on TV as the color man for the Yankee/ Oakland wild card baseball game.  Ron Darling is an ex-pitcher for the Mets.  He was a damn good pitcher and is pretty good on TV.

During the game, Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankee pitcher who is from Japan, found himself with men on base and a 3-0 count on the batter.  Ron Darling then said, “A little chink in the armor for Tanaka here. It’s the first inning where he’s lost a little of his control.”

The comment did not stir any emotion in me.  First of all, “chink in the armor” is a common phrase.  I’ve used it, and I hear it all the time.  It did cause a stir on Twitter.  Tweeters were aghast that Darling would you’re the word “Chink” when Tanaka was pitching.

Darling apologized profusely and said he meant no disrespect to Tanaka.

“Chink” is a derogatory term to a person from China.  Tanaka is Japanese, so it seems to me the twitter storm was in itself racist, equating anyone from Asia with one country…isn’t that what gets people bent out of shape with the use of Oriental instead of Asian?

Instead of apologizing, I would have preferred Darling to address the tweeters and say,

“This accusation of racism is stupid, I used an acceptable term in a situation where it was appropriate, any interpretation of racism is on the interpreter, not on me.  END OF STORY!”

I was recently attacked on Facebook.  I said in a post about the upcoming Yankee playoff series,

“If there is a God in Heaven, I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care who wins, but I am rooting for the Yankees!”

I immediately had a comment,

“What do you mean “IF?”

I really did not think my post deserved a discussion of my belief or non-belief in the existence of God and I replied as such, perhaps stronger than needed and I told the commenter to “Lighten up.”

He chose not to lighten up and after several ridiculous back and forth comments, I learned how to block a person from any of my Facebook posts or comments.

The world is just getting crazier and crazier.

Oh, I forgot, Ron Darling’s mother is of Hawaiian/Chinese descent, I’m pretty sure he is not racist.    

16 comments:

  1. It is beyond ridiculous. I'm so tired of it all. Pretty soon we'll end up with a world of mutes because nobody wants to speak and offend someone. Hhhmmm. Now that I think about it, having some mutes in this world might not be such a bad idea. - Hope I didn't offend anyone.

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  2. Yeah. Once I made a Seinfeld reference in a blog comment. It was a post about being addicted to chocolate, and I said something about "...your dark master." Like when Kramer said he knew George's ATM password (BOSCO, hope I'm not ruining it, but if you haven't seen that episode by now, that's on YOU) had something to do with chocolate: "You always return to your dark master...the cocoa bean."

    When I read it after posting, I was worried that somebody might not have a steel trap memory for Seinfeld quotes, and might take it the wrong way. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

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    1. Your comment is both real and spectacular.

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  3. I agree. There are people who build careers out of saying offensive things and then acting surprised by the ensuing controversy. Ann Coulter is one of them. But there are also a lot of people (especially on twitter) who act like they've found the golden ticket when they suss out a way to be offended by something harmless that someone says.

    There's an old saying: "Even a dog knows the difference between being tripped over and being kicked." The difference is pretty obvious and no one benefits when we try too hard to find something to get offended by.

    Ugh.

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  4. If? Of course there's an "if". It's possible God doesn't stay in heaven, but wanders around checking things out "personally" now and again. Remember that movie with John Denver where God appeared to him several times?
    I agree with you about the "chink in the armor" too, it's a common enough saying that nobody should be getting their knickers all knotted up over.

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  5. The written word has always been a problem. It is for this reason I gave up on Twitter and Facebook.

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  6. Thank you! I'm so thankful for your blog posts. You often articulate exactly what I'm thinking, you write it down so much better than I could. Speaking of crazy here in Ohio we are voting on Issue 1. It's a bill on the ballot to add an amendment to our state constitution. I may (probably) move it it passes, and I love where I live. Now, it's not making a splash on the "big" papers, and if you search it out you will get propaganda. However, if you go to Van Wert County Ohio election board, click on view ballot you can read it for yourself or not. I will say this in my opinion It's down right crazy, but I would love to have you critique it. Oh, by the way Zuckerberg (yep, of facebook fame) and some other dingbats funded getting the bill onto the ballet. None of the money came from Ohio residents. Well, again thanks, Oh and Mimi, if this is a go, don't be surprised to see us in Idaho.

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  7. One has to be so VERY careful what one says these days..even body language and facial expressions are in question....I am heading to a cave in the hills...anyone cae to join me?

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  8. Get a life is what I say to all these grammar police. I'm sick of them too. Pound sand. Take a hike. Just leave me alone.

    Have a fabulous day and weekend, Joe. ☺

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  9. Dear Sir,

    With reference to your post above, may I be permitted to inject two points.

    Whilst I agree that certain people these days are too hasty to take offence I wish to point out that God, being English, don't you know, would prefer cricket, or soccer, rather than the Yankees or any other team. I once visited Texas and was taken to a game of baseball. Whilst somewhat entertaining; I did not understand a thing that was going on. It would have been better staying at home and watching a few episodes of Frasier Crane ... what?

    Secondly, I once took severe offence at something I had written on social media so I "un-friended" myself. I could no longer get into my account thereafter. Dashed inconvenient, I would say.

    God bless.

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  10. Some folks are just perpetually angry and are constantly seeking something new about which to be angry.
    They really piss me off and I choose to ignore them.

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  11. Perhaps he should have simply quoted the dictionary definition of that phrase and left it there. The ones who do this deserve no more answer than that.

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  12. Ah the joys of twitter and Facebook where there is free licence to attack. Won't catch me there.

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  13. Those who pounce on a phrase as offensive is the same as using a lice comb to take out the nits.

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  14. I wish it were just words. I see it everywhere. Even the young people I interact with in school are sensitive to any perceived slight. Common sense appears to be a rarity. All we can do is be our best and be an example of grace. :-)

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  15. simply , people are using social media for cheap success and this way sound so easy for them

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