Tag: apologies

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Reporter ‘Deeply Regrets’ Misquoting Buttigieg After Mistake Goes Viral

Mayor Pete Buttigieg on the campaign trail (via Buttigieg campaign/FB)
A reporter for the Los Angeles Times has issued an apology for misquoting Democratic presidential hopeful Mayor Pete Buttigieg in an article published on Sunday. Evan Halper seemed to have gotten a newsworthy quote from Buttigieg where the midwestern mayor appeared to blame President Barack Obama for the election of Donald Trump. At the end of Halper’s article, he quoted Buttigieg as saying, “The failures of the Obama era help explain how we got Trump.” What the openly gay mayor actually said was, “The failures of the old normal help explain how we got Trump.” Halper took to Twitter early Monday morning to apologize saying he misheard what Buttigieg as a “result of transcribing a noisy recording.”

Buttigieg was responding to being compared to former Vice President Joe Biden and billionaire Michael Bloomberg. “My message is not about going back to where we were,” said Buttigieg. “I think because I come from a part of the country where ‘normal’ has been a real problem for a very long time, and I think the failures of the old normal help explain how we got Trump period.” “So, I’m much more interested in running on building a future that is going to have a lot of differences,” he added. Apparently, the communications team for Buttigieg’s campaign records and archives his interviews. They’ve got the receipts and posted the audio recording to YouTube. Buttigieg’s statement comes at the 45-second mark:

Buttigieg accepted Halper’s ‘swift and honest’ apology via Twitter:

Apologies are nice, but in the time that the article was published and the apology was issued, the hashtag #ByePete had begun trending on Twitter. Some folks in the Twitterverse were not happy. Here’s just a sample:

Once seen as a ‘long-shot’ candidate, Buttigieg has continued to rise in the polls. And with higher polling positions, he has attracted closer scrutiny to his policies and public statements. The Real Clear Politics average of national polls currently shows Buttigieg in 4th place behind Biden and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT). RCP average of polls for first-in-the-nation Iowa, however, indicates he trails only Warren. A first or second-place finish in the Iowa caucus’ for Buttigieg would give even more credibility to his candidacy.

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Reddit: ‘High School Bullies Apologized To Me And I Told Them To F*ck Off’

(image via Depositphotos)
A thread on the AskGayBros Reddit raises some questions about being bullied in school and how to respond to an apology years later. One Reddit user posted, “My former high school bullies apologized to me for being homophobic and I told them to f*ck off. Yet for some reason my friends told me I’m being an a**hole. Why?” The post goes on to say the bullies “tormented” him through high school making his life “a living hell.” He adds that he landed in the hospital twice due to the bullies’ behavior, admitting one hospital visit was the result of a suicide attempt. When asked how the apology occurred, the poster shares that it came “out of nowhere.” According to the poster, the bullies “‘claim’ they’re no longer homophobic and they ‘claim’ to be incredibly sorry” for their behavior back in high school. The posters’ friends said they understood his anger acknowledging he didn’t “have to forgive them” but also that he didn’t “have to be an a**hole about it.” He concludes writing, “If you apologize with the expectation of forgiveness, you’re truly not sorry.” Responses on the thread were split. “You don’t have to accept their apology at all,” replied one commenter. “I do agree that grudges can hold people back. But are you thinking about this person all the time that it hinders your ability to function normally or grow? If not, then I don’t think it’s a problem.” “If you want to forgive do it for you, not because people or society made you feel bad for not giving your bullies the peace of mind they stole from you.” “You don’t owe it to anyone but yourself. If their apology made you feel better and if you would feel relieved forgiving then you do it. If you want them to f*ck off your life then you tell them, like you did.” On the other side of the equation, some folks felt the original poster’s response was over the top. “I agree with your friends,” shared one Redditor. “You do not need to forgive them, but you should’ve taken the high road in just telling them that what they did was wrong and you cannot forgive them for the pain they put you through.” “I agree with your friends,” said another. “You do not need to forgive them, but you should’ve taken the high road in just telling them that what they did was wrong and you cannot forgive them for the pain they put you through.” And this advice was offered: “You don’t want to be stuck in the past, or tormented by memories of the pain and humiliation you suffered. It is not good for you to hang onto grudges. By holding onto that pain and need for revenge, you are allowing them to continue bullying you. every time you revisit those memories, you are just injuring yourself over and over. You DO need to forgive them.” While we don’t have all the details as to the extent of the bullying the original poster experienced (at one point it’s shared that the bullying occurred 8 years ago), it does raise questions about how people move past bullying some LGBTQ people encountered in their young lives. Is it ‘holding a grudge’ to not accept an apology? One commenter pointed out that several people called the original poster out for being a “toxic person,” but said that is missing the point – that the original poster’s anger is a product of being bullied. Does hanging on to anger allow the bullying experienced years ago to continue to drag us down? Readers, what do you think? Have you ever had someone from your past who hurt you reach out years later with an apology? If so, how did you react? Let us know in the comments section. (source: Reddit)