Saturday, June 25, 2005

I fucked up and I apologize.

On tasteless line crossing.

I posted a shot at Jonah Goldberg that, on reflection, was tasteless and cheap and crossed the line.

I thought salting it with reference to prostitution as his chosen profession ("now we're just negotiating the price") would take the bile out of it, but it didn't, and I felt queasy about it the minute I finished.

That quease was my bullshit detector calling me on my own attempt to mask bad, mean writing with cleverness.

A reader called me on it and he or she was absolutely right to do so, so I took it down: not out of censorship, but because in exchange for getting to post damned near whatever I want here, I owe it to my own ideas of ethical behavior to back down when it turns out I'm wrong, and frankly I'd have no business calling anyone else out on their shit if I didn't take my medicine when I deserved it.

You all are very generous with your kind words and email, and I appreciate them greatly. In exchange I really do try to be as honest as possible, and as clear as possible when I think someone has crossed the line.

This time it was me.

And I apologize.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, hell, Drift, as Aunt Polly said to Tom Sawyer, after she swatted him for something that he didn't do:

"I reckon it wasn't a lick amiss..." :-)

Anonymous said...

Your right. But I enjoyed the article anyway.

Watch 'n Wait said...

You're a good guy, Charlie Brown. Am proud of you for ownin' up to having done a deed you didn't think you should have. Now if BushCo would only even make the attempt to live up to your ethics and character, we'd be a whole lot happier world.

Anonymous said...

Damn, I missed the whole thing. Apparently checking every two hours isn't enough...ok, back to every five minutes for me!

Oh, on the other hand, that saggy balls picture of Hussein is just creepin' me out. Jeeeeez, its just gross.

Anonymous said...

File this under "things you'll never see in the New York Times."

drumwolf said...

Which cheap shot was this? I must have missed it. Personally, I'm not sure you can go too low when taking shots at someone like Goldberg, so I'll have to see it.

Then again, only you can decide whether or not you crossed the line.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for showing the neocons how adults behave. Humans can only get better as a thinking, moral species by recognizing when we've messed up and making the necessary corrections. Those who believe they are already perfect can make no contribution to the enterprise.

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