When Diane Abbott apologised for “any offence caused” over her racist comments, it was not a real apology - which is worse than none at all.
Last month, Left Foot Forward criticised Nazi-theme party attender/organiser Tory MP Aiden Burley for his non-apology over the issue.
Alex Hern wrote:
The MP has apologised – twice – albeit choosing his words carefully.
His first apology came in the original article:
“There was clearly inappropriate behaviour by some of the other guests and I deeply regret that this happened.
“I am extremely sorry for any offence that will undoubtedly have been caused.”
He made a similar statement on Twitter the day after. It may simply be that he doesn’t know that “I’m sorry” and “I’m sorry other people were bad and that you were offended” are different, but as apologies go, it leaves much to be desired.
Well, Diane Abbott has pulled a similar trick with her non-apology, following her twitter comments last night that ‘White people love playing divide & rule’
She said:
“I understand people have interpreted my comments as making generalisations about white people.
“I do not believe in doing that. I apologise for any offence caused.”
Something is either OK or is wrong. If it is OK, there’s no need for an apology but if it’s wrong, one is needed.
What Diane Abbott said was wrong and she needs to apologise for it – not any effect it had. Politicans need to learn that a weasel-worded apology is worse than none at all.
See also:
• Nazi Party Tory is sorry you were offended – Alex Hern, December 12th 2011
• Action must be taken whenever racism rears its ugly head – including in sport – Sabby Dhalu, December 13th 2011
• Too many on the Left are continuing to promote Islamic extremists – George Readings, November 12th 2011
• Four old acquaintances that Livingstone should forget – Daniel Elton, May 3rd 2011
• The dehumanising rhetoric undermining the student movement – David Barclay, April 17th 2011
46 Responses to ““Sorry if you were offended” does not cut it, Diane”
Guy Halsall
I guess my view comes mid-way between those of the commenters below. I think Abbott’s was a foolish and prejudiced comment (the comment, n.b., not the person), and for that a genuine apology is necessary. But it was not racist, as I argue at some length here:
http://600transformer.blogspot.com/2012/01/diane-abbott-idiot-maybe-but-not-racist.html
Anonymous
If you know that what she said does not apply to you, why are you offended? A better phrase would have been ‘ruling elite’ to avoid any misinterpretation, deliberate or otherwise, but it was clear who she was talking about in the tweet. I know that and if you don’t then wise up. If you do.. grow up.
Anonymous
psst… she wasn’t talking about you. Context, context, context. Off you pop.
Natalie Dzerins
Like Kerrirenee would let that get in the way of pretending to be oppressed by one person.
Kerrirenee
Ohhh I see! Racism in “context” i.e shoehorning any sort of reference to events that occurred between 1500 – 1800 and ignoring thousands of years of global history and current events makes it perfectly acceptable, even if you are spouting your inaccurate bile in present tense!
So when she says ‘lets not play their game’ she’s obviously referring to a ‘game’ that ended over 200 years ago right? Do you think they got the message? Will this change history?
It probably will change the future though, in the form of a huge loss of votes for herself and the labour party. The truth of the matter is, whether you agree with it or not, it HAS offended a lot of people and was a completely stupid thing for an MP to say.