Everyone’s doing it. Lance Armstrong told Oprah he was sorry for doping during all of his seven Tour de France victories. Failed New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner apologized for letting a lot of people down when he let his pants down. Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution scandal but wants you to trust him again so he ran for city comptroller. Philadelphia Eagles receiver Riley Cooper apologized for screaming a racial slur that was caught on video and went viral. And let’s not forget former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford who said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when he was actually with a lover in another country. Oops.
There are real apologies and self-serving apologies. And in today’s spin-cycle of trying to right wrongs, it’s increasingly difficult to tell the difference. Take Armstrong for example. He looked serious as he confessed to wanting to control everything and admitted he could not have won without the drugs. But then he said he didn’t feel bad about cheating. If so, then why did he go to so much trouble to conceal it? [Read more…] about The modern art of apologizing
