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When an apology means little

Nov 16, 2019 Editorial

There are those few who are not on Facebook or anywhere near such channels; yet they know enough to sense the reach and power, even when supposedly contained or private. It is not; and if those are on the outside of social media know this, then so, too, should those who live on it.
The UG student should have known that somehow, sometime there would be fallout and some damage. When something is posted, it is no longer private or among friends or the likeminded only. Just don’t post things that could come back to haunt, because they do.
Because there are those, who are on the hunt for such moments of weakness, malice, or what may have started out in all innocence and with some humour intended.
The problem is that the objects of what is interpreted to be derision never see innocence or humor. In the now established, and much relished, state of ultra-sensitivities and political correctness, it as a terrible lapse of judgment for anyone to think that it could be seen as otherwise, or be given the benefit of the doubt, or that harmlessness was in mind.
What may not have been intended to be hurtful finds mileage, much volume, lots of enraged company. One more time: be sensible; a lot of gullible (in love young ladies) ended up splattered all over the centerfold that is the world out there.
Apologies are good; genuine and heartfelt ones welcomed. But it is too late; just don’t go trigger the avalanche. And this goes for whoever is the source of such antics and unacceptable mistakes. Every side in the global conversation has a right to be offended by the mere appearance of such insulting behaviour, whatever it is, and regardless of the ancestry or station of the originator.
Here in overheated, storm-battered Guyana, matters of such nature furnish the fodder that feeds the racial and racist beasts lurking. In today’s world, no alleged perpetrators are spared or should be; and apologies only serve to revisit the scene of the crime. The incident lives on, takes on new dimensions and quickly descends to new depths.
Also, apologies today are now so routine, so easily tendered that they have lost meaning; even the sincere, unqualified ones; exercises in damage control they have become, and no more, but forced rearguard action.
In effect, there is the pretense at contrition over being caught and exposed; a promise to not dive into the gutter again; and then retreat to disavow both in secret. It is the ultimate in deceptions. This papers cautions: do not go anywhere near the fires that can incinerate.
So, where does this leave us? With our jokes? Our casual bigotries? Our circumstantial animosities? Our scorching hatreds? Since the times compel surrender, these animosities and scorns buildup, without any outlet for expression.
They can torment, and drive to the recklessness of lashing out, of baring inner convictions in the worst way possible. Since there is no discourse, then there are no healing developments. The sicknesses linger in simmering silence, in hurried retreat.
Rather unfortunately, many are at home with living a lie, by being active participants in what they discern as deceptive, and in some manner of assisting in the perpetuation of the falsehoods that abound.
Almost everybody engages in this universal game of avoiding speaking what they really think, of playing the fool, and making fools of others, through the artful and the innovative, with a disarming smile on lips. Let’s call a jackass a jackass and let the chips fall.
Things have gotten so terrible that a man can’t even make a joke with his friend, according to Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, who was hit with a one-game ban and a hefty 50,000 (sterling) fine for his comments about Benjamin Mendy.
It was termed “racist” by the British FA Commission, which failed to find mirth in the posted contents. There was a time when that was given a pass, as many older Guyanese know.
Bottom line is this: those who know better should do so. Those who don’t better do so quickly.

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