Mea Culpa

"I’m sorry if my remarks offended anyone, that was not my intention.” How many times have we heard that in recent days? The bigger question is, when you hear that, do you buy it?

Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, just elected in Mississippi, took a lot of heat for saying that if a political supporter invited her to a public hanging, she would be in the front row. It was intended as a compliment or a thank-you for that individual, but as has been pointed out, public hanging has a special meaning in her state, because of the lynching of black people following Reconstruction after the Civil War, So, was she ignorant or was she dog-whistling? A joke? Racial overtones aside, it seemed to me like an odd and unpleasant thing to say. But it didn’t bother most of the voters in Mississippi, it appears. And she did apologize.

That said, it’s truly fascinating to hear or read some of the stuff that comes out of people’s mouths or what they write. They can apologize for offense, but the question remains, what were they thinking? Public radio host Harry Shearer  has a segment on his show called Apologies of the Week, devoted to outrageous comments for which the speakers or authors have apologized. There was one example of a Thanksgiving print ad for a Colorado pizza parlor in which a Pilgrim says to a Native American, “Sorry about all the smallpox, how about a slice of pepperoni?” The parlor owner apologized, saying he was trying to be “edgy,” and offered to pull the publication.

Look, we all have said offensive things occasionally and have had to apologize. We were drunk, angry, or perhaps something just seemed funny at the time, and we misread the audience. I bet most of us have had racist, sexual, or just plain outrageous thoughts, but most of the time, they don’t make it to our mouths or our keyboards. We can apologize for what got through the gate, but that’s just the first step. Our concern must be the pain we have caused, not the damage we have done to our nice-guy or gal image of ourselves, and if necessary, we have to follow it up with appropriate action to demonstrate our concern.

I disagree a little with Jesus here. We don’t have to feel bad about every sinful thought that occurs to us. But we should when they turn in to actual sins against others in the form of words or deeds. When it comes to speech, we may be legally free to say or write whatever comes in to our heads, but as I always say, we are never free from the consequences of that speech, and we would do well to consider them carefully before opening our traps, especially in this world of PC. Sometimes, it’s actually refreshing when people keep their authenticity to themselves.