They want me to apologise. How about I give them the old, "I'm sorry if you took my statement badly, I regret it."
Subtext - you're batshit crazy to have taken it that way. Get help.
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Tomorrow will be three months since I was suspended for calling Hamas supporters Nazis. Many have told me variants on the "that will teach you; next time, you'll know when to keep your mouth shut."
I never agreed but never had a meaningful response.
Finally, I have a better reply.
I regret that I was indelicate with my word choice; as many have noted, using Nazis as your simile is almost always lazy and sloppy and shows that you are not crafting an argument; you’ve just built an emotional word bomb.
Sorry infers a moral component. So I am not sorry. (A side note: why does Grammarly want to change “sorry” to “sad”? What is with Grammarly? It is the master of bad suggestions; stick to commas and spelling, little Grammarly man. )
Sorry is often used with the word “Sorry if it offended,” as if avoiding offence should ever be the primary goal of communication. Or the patronizing, “Sorry that you had this kind of reaction,” with the inference being that you were foolish to have such a reaction. It is implicit gaslighting.
This is why truth can never become a sin simply when someone claims it leads them (not makes or forces them) to hurt feelings or when it deviates from a popular narrative with a group that has our genuine sympathies.
I’m disappointed that anyone might think the selfish goal of protecting one’s job, reputation, and relationships should be the perpetual reason for silence.
Do we as a society want everyone to ignore their conscience, to be permanently silenced and cowed because we think that speaking up might not be in our best interests? I’m not talking about commenting on someone who has just farted, or someone who you would speculate thinks much more highly of their body shape than they ought. We don’t need to always sally forth into speaking every time our conscience or internal monologue whimpers.
But sometimes, we do need to speak up. If we all are silent except when there is no statistical chance of anyone taking offence, we have surrendered our world to speech bullies.
We have kneeled before the tyrants.
I can’t say sorry for you, dear aspiring inquisitors, but I do regret that you are pushing me into a corner where I need to clarify this: I'm not sorry, but I would have phrased things differently.
But would I be silent? No.
Happily, I am still a free man. (I have no shame - tip jar. Right now, I’m making .33 a day. Canadian. Ouch.)
Please subscribe and get at least three pieces /essays per week with open comments. It’s $5 per month and less than $USD 4. I know everyone says hey, it’s just a cup of coffee (with me, not per day but just one per month), but if you’re like me, you go, “Hey, I only want so many cups of coffee!” I get it. I don’t subscribe to many here because I can’t afford it.
But I only ask that when you choose your coffee, please choose mine. Cheers.
_______________________________________________