And Another Thing…
‘Well excuuuuuse me” Steve Martin
You know, for a country that (rightly) values the freedoms we have…especially freedom of speech, we the people do an awful lot of apologising for stuff we say. And I’m not just talking about offensive speech, racial or misogynistic stuff…although I do think those apologies are dubious at best for the most part. The fact that something so abhorrent, so hateful can come out of one’s mouth means to me, it’s in the brain somewhere. I have been angry in my life…furious in fact…and have never used any epithet…other than the standard Anglo-Saxon standards we all know and love. And I know those cross all ethnic and gender lines. I’m not even talking about the olde “fire in a crowded theatre” stuff. (When I was younger, my friend and I walked into a couple of firehouses and yelled MOVIE, MOVIE…well, we thought it was funny) I mean just regular, garden variety stuff. The reason they have to apologise is beyond me. What I see happening is, we have gotten so far from a civil society that everything that is said has to pass muster with everyone. If not, the other party becomes…offended. Ordinarily, this would be something to look at. I think it’s important to at least try to keep things pleasant. But unfortunately, we have become a society where seemingly everyone is offended by seemingly everything. And in some cases, people are getting offended by stuff that has little or nothing to do with them. I guess it’s the thought that they may be offended, would the matter have had anything to do with them that is so offensive. Or perhaps they are offended by the fact that they weren’t given the chance to be offended. But whatever the reason, it has led to massive amounts of apologies being strewn about the landscape, in some cases complete with the requisite explanations/excuses for the offending actions/words. You know, it was the booze, my parents didn’t hug me enough, some of my best friends are (Insert group here…still an olde favourite), my parents hugged me too much. But the real shame here is that the people that should apologise…they are perhaps predictably and noticeably silent…sorry if that offends anyone…..
