Should you say sorry for something you didn't do?

[Abira]

I was thinking the other day about Tony Blair expressing regret for Britain’s role in the slave trade hundreds of years ago… and some are calling for an apology…

Can you, and should you, apologise for something you’re not directly responsible for?

we could extend this to maybe the church apologising for past events, or a family apologising for the actions of their ancestors, or apologising for the Holocause etc…

My personal feeling is that we cannot say sorry because they are not our actions to repet over and the apology is just an empty act rather than a sincere repetence…

but i’m undecided.

 

[BLB_Oregon]

Well, Tony Blair is the official representative of the Crown and the British government, which are still in full operation and even capable of concrete gestures of retribution towards the heirs, so he could make a organizational apology, yes. Likewise, a current patriarch or matriarch of a family might issue an apology for the family’s past misdeeds, particularly if the family’s current wealth or position was gained or maintained in part by those past wrongs. In the case you cite, Britain as a country became wealthy on the slave trade, not just the individuals who personally gained from it. In some way, present-day Britons still realize the gains from that blood money. While it may be impossible to make restitution, admitting the shames of your country’s past, shames that contributed to the still-remembered glories, is not out of place.

A personal apology, OTOH, would be kind of silly, yes.

Take the instance of the Pope expressing regret for past wrongs against the Jews. That isn’t restitution, but it says clearly “ENOUGH!”, lest someone take institutional silence for institutional approval. If the Pope hopes to preach against anti-Semitism or the British government hopes to work against present-day slavery, admission of their institutional past is necessary, to avoid hypocrisy.

I do not see the difference between an institutional apology and an institutional expression of regret, though. That just shows that I’m no diplomat! What, is an apology “We’re sorry, we were at fault”, while regret is more like “Ooops!”?!?

 

[wcknight]

Anyone who has been married knows the feeling of having to say they are sorry for something that they never did … especially the guys, otherwise they would be divorced by now.