Monday, September 18, 2006

i'm sorry you feel that way--or how i know the pope's not married

I love how everybody reports the pope's "apology" and subsequent reaction with a straight face. As anybody who's ever been married knows, it doesn't count if you're sorry that your spouse got angry, it only counts if you're sorry for what you did. When the pope apologized for "the reaction" to his words rather than saying, "I'm sorry that I unknowingly chose a passage that would offend people so deeply," he was essentially saying "it's too bad you guys are a bunch of irrational fanatics like that ancient scholar said because otherwise you wouldn't have gotten so mad." Some apology.

I'm sorry for a lot of things like that. I'm sorry my boss gets pissed off when I come to work hung over. I'm sorry my wife doesn't like it when I look up after ten minutes of "conversation" and say, "Sorry?" But right now, most of all, I'm sorry that the pope is starting to show the diplomatic skills of one George W.

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