Yesterday, I wrote a lengthy piece about the 60’s and its relevance — and irrelevance — to today’s politics. In the course of that piece, I got a bit sloppy and rushed for time, and inadvertently insulted a large number of people — a couple of whom (robert, epador, old soldier, and especially Allen Yackey) made a point of calling attention to the remark.
The part where I was careless was the last paragraph:
Iraq is NOT Viet Nam. It’s desert, not jungle — a lot less places to hide. It’s got a lot of cities, not zillions of little hamlets. We occupy the entire country, there’s not a huge hunk of it that’s politically “safe ground.” Our troops are not disaffected, stoner draftees and psycho butchers — they’re the guys AND GALS next door, who signed up willingly and proudly. And no matter how hard you try to make it, it just won’t happen.
What I SHOULD have wrote, and INTENDED to mean, was something like this:
Iraq is NOT Viet Nam. It’s desert, not jungle — a lot less places to hide. It’s got a lot of cities, not zillions of little hamlets. We occupy the entire country, there’s not a huge hunk of it that’s politically “safe ground.” Our troops are not the disaffected, stoner draftees and psycho butchers you’ve tried so hard to remake them as — they’re the guys AND GALS next door, who signed up willingly and proudly. And no matter how hard you try to make it, it just won’t happen.
I plead carelessness, not malice. I was rushing to finish the piece and get off to the day job, and I did not give that part of the piece the respect and care it deserved. I can only hope that those who read that piece also read this one, and accept my apology.
Finally, I’m not going to go back and change that piece. Were I to do that, then I would look like I had been right all along, and my critics like fools — when it should definitely be the other way around. Also, I’m a huge believer in not “burying my mistakes” — I said it, and I’ll not try to hide it. Instead, (Yes, that is a direct reaction to Kos’ infamous “Screw Them” incident.) I’ll be adding a link to this piece.
Well done. Accepting responsibilitty, and not trying to eliminate the evidence, is so rare…
Here’s my twist:
To err is human, to ADMIT IT is divine!
I noticed when I read the piece that it might be misunderstood, but it was clear what you were trying to say. I thought it was an excellent post. I grew up in the 70s, and during high school it slowly dawned on me that the politics of the 60s left were all wrong and tinged with an insupportable arrogance. Come 1980, when I was 20, I cast my first vote for Reagan. But I still smoke weed and listen to Jimi.
I read that piece yesterday and pondered commenting on several points you made that I agree with but decided against a ‘me, too’ comment. I also pondered commenting, negatively, on the very phrasing you’re aplogising for and clarifying this morning and decided against it on the ‘if you can’t say something nice’ theory.
A civil apology deserves civil acknowledgement, so here it is. If a bit more of this sort of discourse went on then, and now, maybe we’d really get closer to solving some of our differences. Thank you for setting an good example.
Well done.
Jay Tea, accepting responsibility for the consequence of an action? What kind of unrealistic standard are you trying to set for journalism?
Wasn’t it all Bush’s fault?
Nicely done, my friend, nicely done.
God bless!
Thank you. Your apology is accepted.
Given the excellent commentary in the rest of the piece, I also owe an apology. I should have understood. I was reacting more to my own, now ancient, unpleasant experiences from the late 60’s and early 70’s than to the piece itself. I projected too much of myself into it.
I apologize.
Allan Yackey
I have to agree with everyone here: the way that you handled this is commendable.
Retread wrote:
If a bit more of this sort of discourse went on then, and now, maybe we’d really get closer to solving some of our differences. Thank you for setting an good example.
I’ll second that one.
I think this whole episode reeks of Karl Rove!!!
First, JT, “accidentally” puts some comments into his original piece to instigate controversy, and then he magnanimously offers a “retraction/correction” to be the hero.
Sounds way too similar to a recent SCOTUS nomination.
😉
Your apology, though unnecessary, is not unexpected. It is a small reminder, in the manner of both Bill Buckley and Ronald Reagan, that there is indeed a place in our public discourse for thoughtfulness and civility.
Principles DO matter. Thank you for making the point far more eloquently than could any of the rest of us.
A little blue pencil goes a long way.
Thanks.
Once was an unwashed dope smoking sex fiend, a clean-cut sober celibate ambivalent conservative curmudgeon apologizes for casting a stone.