1. Stupid, insulting, puerile slur (usually in the course of trying to impress his sophomoric friends)
2. Disavow (damage control, delete posts, even alter cached google pages to make himself look clever).
4. Because Kinsella has never shown any contrition or genuine concern for those whom he scurrilously attacks, the same generosity and forgiveness is shown to him. Shitstorm.
5. Threaten to equivocate. Equivocate, anyway by trivialization or deflection.
6. Standard apology. "I have tirelessly exposed and fought sexism, racism etc, I'm really not a sexist, and racist. I'm sorry. Especially sorry that Michael's not too happy with me right now. All I wanted to do was be cool forever and help Liberals win elections". (btw don't you love the hastily constructed scene of contrition complete with "I'm sorry" sign printed in Chinese characters?)
I wrote the following during his cock-up with Lisa MacLeod. Substitute "sexist" with "racist" and nothing has really changed:
I don't think Warren Kinsella is a sexist. He's certainly no knuckle dragging Conservative, but I also don't think he's ideologically committed to ending sexism and other injustices. This was a sexist act and all the more dangerous for its innocence and banality. Because the moment we really need to worry about is when people start turning a blind eye to this type of thing. That's my whole point. As a Liberal ideologue, his arrogant commitment to personal gain and winning, even unscrupulously, is simply deeper than any commitment to progressive politics, to the disenfranchised and marginalized, to the poor, to a more just and equitable society. I'm struck that in his apology what he seems most contrite about is not his offending Lisa Macleod and women everywhere, but that the cartoon was tactically a stupid move that backfired. It cost the Liberals points in the race for re-election and made Kinsella look bad.
p.s. wouldn't one expect that someone who tirelessly works on behalf of human rights everywhere would be more sensitive to the subtleties of racism and thereby even more culpable when found offending?
1 comment:
Liberals like their attack dogs - remember it's all about winning and all the other stuff - like principles and policy positions are expendable. Kinsella fit's the type.
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