I’ve mentioned elsewhere that British apologies can be very routine speech acts that mean, well, nothing apologetic really. By way of contrast, we see lots of the features we’d expect of a sincere British (and American?) apology here I think – the appearance (credible or not) of sincerity, an acknowledgement of wrong doing, a promise to learn from the mistake and hence the implication that you won’t err again, an explanation of how things went wrong (well, almost).
It contrasts well with the British BP chief’s apology, and of course Mitt Romney’s stance on the recent leaked video – how to stand your ground and not make an apology.
How far we’re willing to forgive and forget is always going to be determined by our political convictions, of course, but when we want to see how people handle the delicate task of saying sorry, politicians provide some lovely examples.
Here are couple of other past posts on apologies:
Vickie:
Not to put too fine a point on it, one has to feel sorry for Nick Clegg. Ever since he let himself be co-opted by the Tories, he’s put himself in a lose-lose situation. The video is mildly amusing, but it really speaks to that larger issue, and has more than an element of cruelty in it; that. of course, is one of the underpinnings of sarcasm and parodic communication.
As to Mr. Rombot, as I said in a comment on another blog, Rombot was singing to the choir when he made his remarks in Boca. He was relaxed, because he was among friends; yes, he was looking for money, but he was telling the assembled fat cats not only what they wanted to hear, but what he himself truly believes. As a card-carrying member of the American plutocracy (autocracy), Rombot was merely stating what his cohort thinks to be the obvious truth, as revealed to the anointed.
The second video you posted also illustrates the efficacy of the phrase “weasel words,” but more importantly, he delivers it it with such sincerity, that as I mentioned above about Clegg, one almost feels sorry for him.
He comes across like the man caught in bed by his wife with another woman, who, when his wife asks, “Who is that woman?” says, “What woman?”
Ha! What woman indeed! I must say I do like living in the US in run ups to elections. There always seem to be new stories with new angles to think about, and maybe it’s because I’m more disconnected from the UK now, but I find them much more interesting than British elections. For example, I’m finding the issue of retirement homes and colleges issuing photo ID’s to nearby residents interesting. I thought the last election would be hard to beat because Sarah Palin was so entertaining, but I haven’t been disappointed so far at all.
Just noticed this article about the Nick Clegg song on the bbc website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19692730
Lest the article disappears at some future time, basically it says since Nick Clegg gave the satirical magazine ‘The Poke’ permission to release the song, it has entered the UK pop charts at position 143.
Another interesting (poorly performed) apology popped up in the news today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/24/andrew-mitchell-mel-gibson-apology-bad