Friends who are really fun to play Fantasy Football with +
Rory,
On November 3rd, 2005 the
Washington Post published an editorial penned by the former North Carolina
senator, John Edwards, titled, “I was wrong.” Getting ready for another
Presidential run, Mr. Edwards knew he would be sharply criticized for his vote
and defense regarding the war on Iraq. In efforts to temper the push back, the
former public official inked an article citing his misjudgment, lack of
experience, flimsy information from the security community, horrible executive
leadership, and poor temperament as reasons for drumming the beat towards
another ground invasion in the Middle East.
Going forward, the Senator vowed to
listen to his inner conscious, pray to God, and loop in his wife and close
advisor with every major decision he would make as President. Yet, we should
have all been wary of Senator Edward’s apology.
Mr. Edwards was known as being an
ambulance chaser during his days as a North Carolina prosecutor (John-John once
sued the company he defended 6 months prior), started attending Church once he
started running for office, and later documents proved that his marriage was
merely political. In the Ed Halperin’s book, “The Game Changer” the author
reveals the Senator’s wife, Elizabeth Edwards, actually was okay with the
return of her cancer, because in her words it, “Would give us a bump in
fundraising against that cunt, Hillary.”
All along, those who knew this
North Carolina native, knew he was a snake oil salesman and his apology was as
flimsy as Teflon. Largely ignored by the mainstream media, Mr. Edward’s old law
firm partners spoke up repeatedly about his bad behavior prior to his meteoric
rise. As a bigger red flag, not one of his old colleagues voted for him in ANY
of his elections.
Yet, it seems these days, everyone
is trying to copy the Senator’s playbook for forgiveness. Every time you turn on the TV you see a corporate
press conference, a Hispanic Trump supporter, and Justin Bieber (Yes, I’m a Belieber)
profusely apologizing. More often than not, they’re often apologizing for the
sake of apologizing.
Elton John’s 1976 tune “Sorry seems
to be the hardest word” has merit in today’s world. Regardless of race,
religion, or gender, human beings have always struggled with apologizing. Human
psychologists attribute this to the fact that we are naturally guarded and,
regardless of how humble and secure we are, most people loathe being wrong
and/or being chastised for their actions.
Efforts by human beings to
acknowledge their mistakes and turn over a new leaf are usually a good thing.
However, there are enormous negative implications to society quickly accepting
apologies from celebrities, corporations, politicians, or anyone with enormous
power. Excessive apologists make it tougher to decipher the noble public
figures who made one off mistakes from those who are natural goons.
In June 2015 when Howard Schultz,
CEO of Starbucks, put forth his “Race Together” initiative urging baristas to
discuss the issue of race and equality with their customers, his efforts were widely
met with anger and skepticism. While this initiative may have been one of the
worst corporate “socially responsible” plans ever, no one could reasonably
accuse Mr. Schultz of being tone deaf to the important equality and social
mobility issues of our time. As a Seattle native, Mr. Schultz was always an
outspoken advocate of promoting diversity in the workplace, fought shareholders
in order to provide part time worker’s access to healthcare, and recently put
forth efforts to expand higher education opportunities for his employees.
African American civil right author
Tanehasi Coates argues, in reality, it wasn’t anything Schultz did that
triggered this enormous backlash. The Atlantic Magazine writer notes, “Howard
actually had all the right ideas. African Americans have long felt highly
uncomfortable in “white” places, because they feel they can’t have the
conversations they want. Ultimately, the black population have become so skeptical
of politicians and business owners, because they’ve offered them countless
proposals of understanding their struggles, yet these proposals ended up being
corporate empty gestures.”
Hollow gestures also cripple the
progress in society in other ways. With the advent of greener and electrical
cars, we will no doubt see auto companies make countless mistakes in an earnest
effort to build a quality vehicle. Unfortunately, recent reports documenting
Volkswagen’s two decade long effort to cover up EPA violations will make
costumers sheepish of buying a new type of vehicle upon discovering even
further scandalous behavior.
But as average dudes or dudettes,
what should we do to make sure to pinpoint the actual crooks in society?
Long time consumer advocate and two
term Presidential candidate, Ralph Nader, says it’s pretty simple. Known as the man who forced automakers to
install better seatbelts after uncovering the numerous safety hazards in
American made cars Mr. Nader suggests a few things. He believes that when
public figures put out an apology, we should scrutinize past deeds, assess
their current character, and see what they do following their apology. This old-ass
hippy proclaims, “You can easily tell if someone is full of it. If they’ve always had a history of deceiving
you and were never known as a person with good character. Secondly, you want to
see if they are making consistent steps towards correcting their mistakes. If a
corporation or politician continues to act in the same manner then you know
they are still deceiving you.”
And he’s right. Long before last
month’s scandal, Volkswagon had years of dodging EPA check-ups, consistently
received poor consumer ratings, and regularly failed to adequately respond to
customer feedback. A September 2015 Bloomberg article shows Volkswagon
shareholders meetings became more secretive over time, because the usual
complaints came up and the usual bullshit answers were given.
As we
head into the thick of 2016 Presidential campaign season, it’s hard not to look
back at Mr. Edward’s fall. It’s incredibly easy to chastise the Southern
Senator, but many of us ordinary citizens are also responsible for propelling
this Juris Doctor to the national stage. I, in fact, was one of them.
Yes,
long before I was a Belieber, my 18 year young, Berkeley Birkenstock wearing,
Bob Marley poster owning self, thought John Edwards would be a solid
Commander-In-Chief. I was moved with his narrative centering on “Two Americas”
where he argued that our nation would become a society with either very rich or
very poor people (Note: this is kind of happening #justsaying #iapologizeido).
Nonetheless, it was my
responsibility to look into his past and realize he never cared nor mentioned
any anti-poverty measures before his second Presidential run. I should have
read those interviews with people who knew John where they warned us about how
heartless he was, and I also should have realized that President Barack Obama was
always the best candidate in the 2008 election.
Going
forward, I promise to engage in the mind numbing process of watching all the
Presidential debates, reading up on the candidates’ positions, analyzing their character
profiles, and always admitting when I was wrong about my top choice for
Commander in Chief.
But
folks, regardless of what I find out about my boy Bernie or dear friend
Hillary, I still won’t vote for a Republican this year. I’m sorry.
