Quick to apologize

For the racists, that is.

We’ve already covered how many journalists determined that the Spanish men’s basketball team didn’t have any intention to offend. This conclusion was apparently reached even before any of the members of the team were interviewed.

But the media is also eager to portray the offenders as “apologizing.” From the Globe and Mail:

Yesterday, Toronto Raptors guard Jose Calderon, a member of the Spanish side, apologized for the photo after his team’s 72-59 victory over Germany. Previously, Calderon and the Spanish team said the international media covering the Games were blowing the picture out of proportion.

“We didn’t mean to hurt anyone,” he said. “We apologize to Asian people if they were offended. Spain is one of the most multicultural countries in the world. Maybe some people in Spain come through like that, but in England or the U.S. they have the same problem. We don’t feel we did something bad. It’s wrong to interpret it as racist.”

The women’s tennis team, which also posed in this manner, is given a similar apology pass:

Olympic tennis silver-medallist Anabel Medina Garrigues has apologised after a new photo emerged of Spanish athletes holding the corners of their eyes in an unflattering imitation of Chinese … Asked if she wanted to apologise, Medina said: “Yes, sure. We never wanted to do anything bad.”

First tactic: Denying the intention of racism and ignoring the effect. This is despite the fact that intention has never even been explored. Undoubtedly, John Edwards had no intention to cheat on his wife. Hey, no harm, no foul!

Second tactic: The non-apology apology. IF you were offended, THEN we apologize. But we’ll never admit it was wrong to do. Hey Elizabeth! If you were hurt by this, John apologizes. But it wasn’t a bad thing to do, and it’s wrong to interpret as immoral. And lying about it wasn’t wrong.

Hey, if you repeat something over and over, maybe it will become somebody else’s recollection of the event.