We celebrate Apologyfest

Well, la rentrée politique is upon us, and the pointless apologies, wrung out from hapless public figures by a self-indulgent and ultra-touchy public, rain like oobleck onto the thoroughfares. 

Here is the latest:

Cameron to Apologize for Saying Queen ‘Purred’

David Cameron, the British prime minister, disclosed Queen Elizabeth II’s reaction to the result of the Scotland vote.

Look -- It’s not as though he said she “meowed”.

Rx:  No world leader should ever publically say anything.   Let your thoughts be known only through spokespeople, who can always be reprimanded and sacrificed.

For abundant exemplification of this bad-faith phenomenon, from around the globe, click here:

In the forecast:  Scattered apologies, heavy at times

[Update]

Actually,  it turns out, the Cameron incident wasn’t even a public statement -- it was one of those private conversations caught on an intrusive microphone.   The diplomatic damage should thus be blamed on the TV crew, and on all the media parasites that cynically broadcast the story -- if anyone should apologize, it is they.

So, even that severe Rx does not suffice.   We revise it thus:

Rx 2.0: No world leader should ever publically say anything;  and private conversations should be in sign language, or by writing terse statements on an Etch-a-Sketch, which should promptly be shaken clean.

And the public wonders why it is so hard to get distinguished people to run for public office anymore.    Duh.

(See this week’s cover-story in the New York Times Magazine, an excerpt from a forthcoming book, concerning the media circus that helped launch the downward trend:  the sliming of a leading Presidential candidate, Senator Gary Hart.)

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