“I’m a better person today than I was over a decade ago.”
That is Joy Reid, host of MSNBC’s AM Joy, apologizing for blog posts written more than a decade ago when she was working in Miami. When homophobic posts were first uncovered, Reid claimed that her blog site had been hacked. She did, however, express regret over her behavior and said, she had been “insensitive, tone-deaf and dumb."
After no proof of hacking appeared – and after images of Senator John McCain's face superimposed over the face of the Virginia Tech shooter appeared in another post – she admitted her shortcoming. “There are things I deeply regret and am embarrassed by, things I would have said differently and issues where my position has changed,” Ms. Reid said. “Today I’m sincerely apologizing again.” She also reached out to Meghan McCain, the Senator’s daughter, with whom Reid was once a colleague.
Essential to change is the admission of past mistakes. Covering those past mistakes with untruths about hacking is something that renders apologies hollow. A commentator on CNN's Reliable Sources made this point, likening Reid's excuses to what kids do when they are caught in a lie.
MSNBC has stood behind Reid. Much like Fox News has supported its pundits – Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham – who sometimes mix their facts with fiction as well as insults. That’s their schtick, and their high cable ratings are indicative of their popularity. Each pundit is playing to his or her base, which does not seem exercised when their cherished spokespeople, on either side of the political aisle, veer into fact-free opinions. Double standards rule!
Such polarity has crossed into the realm of television entertainment. Roseanne Barr lost her hit show when she indulged in race-baiting; it was not a one-time event. She has had a long history of trafficking in conspiracy theories. Samantha Bee called the president’s daughter a sexually derogative expletive. She apologized immediately. However, I believe that had Ms. Bee been Mr. Sam Bee, “he” would have been gone as quickly as Barr.
The by-product of our partisanship is tribalism. If you are in my tribe – conservative or progressive – I will support you through thick and thin. Tribalism makes it easy for us to make excuses for people we like, as long as they agree with us. Tribalism is an enemy of democracy because it allows partisans to value self-interest over the public good.
Tribalism also breeds incivility. “It can be hard to be kind, day in and day out,” writes Micki Maynard in Medium. “No matter how many little books are written about Random Acts Of Kindness, no matter how many people pay it forward, there is actually a form of kindness shaming out there.”
Maynard, a journalism professor and Forbes.com columnist, expresses an urgent plea for civility. However, when kindness is perceived as "soft," we now gravitate to opinions that favor our prejudices. Part of his human nature, but when our nature is allowed to run unfettered we risk losing what makes us uniquely human – the ability to forgive.
Joy Reid has the right to be forgiven but not excused. Same applies to Roseanne Barr and Samantha Bee. Each transgression does not deserve the “death penalty” (as Barr incurred), but each misstep must exact a measure of accountability.
Failure to hold even people accountable for their errors erodes our civility… as well as our humanity.
