The Hindu Business Line : A very sorry state of affairs

After bringing down the reputation of age-old institutions, those responsible are not apologetic, but only grinning before the cameras, apparently not feeling any remorse.

GEORGE Bush is on a roll after the inaugural ball. If one thought he should spare a minute to say sorry for spending so much or apologise for an unnecessary war, the prez is in no mood for it. Quite consistent, that would be, with what he did about six months ago, acknowledging on Arab TV mistakes but stopping short of an apology for the prison abuse and deaths in Iraq. Nor are we going to hear anything from Condoleezza Rice that she is sorry to have mislead us about the `weapons of mass destruction' or WMD bogey.

www.sorryeverybody.com that talks of a book titled Sorry Everybody. It is billed as "an apology to the world for the re-election of George W. Bush," hitting the stores "in time for the inauguration" and featuring images that reflect "the apologetic and frustrated feelings of many Americans after the election."

Closer home, has anybody from the scientific world or bureaucracy said "Oops!" for failing to alert the coasts about the natural disaster that killed thousands? Even as the Election Commission is baring its fangs, saying things such as, "Our patience should not be tested by repeated violations," Lalu is not going to say sorry. Similarly, some brothers in Mumbai are talking only through the TV, making everybody feel sorry that the two who lack the courage to even talk face-to-face imagine themselves facing the challenges of running a mega company.

After bringing down the reputation of age-old institutions, those responsible are not apologetic, but only grinning before the cameras, apparently not feeling any remorse. There used to be a season when saying sorry was fashionable.

For instance, in 1998, when there was mileage to be gained in terms of votes, Sonia kicked off her party's campaign in Chandigarh by tendering what the media called `a veiled apology' for Operation Bluestar: "Jo kuchh June 6 ko hua, uska mujhe dukh hua."

At www.upenn.edu you can find a chronological list of political apologies, beginning from 1077 when "the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV apologised to Pope Gregory VII for church-state conflicts by standing barefoot in the snow for three days," to December 30, 2002, when "leaders of a rebel group in Ivory Coast apologised for firing on French troops near Duekoke."

There is an entry for Nehru against `August 18, 1955' when he "apologised and expressed deep regret to foreign missions and consulates in New Delhi that were attacked by Indian demonstrators and offered to pay full compensation for damage."

For `December 1, 1991,' the site reads: "President Bush refuses to apologise for the use of atomic bombs in World War II." Like senior, like junior.

Strangely, in a new book from Penguin, titled The Future of Knowledge & Culture: A Dictionary for the 21st Century, Editors Vinay Lal and Ashis Nandy open with `Apologies.' Citing Tony Blair's apology to the Irish people for the 1845-49 potato famine, the book regrets that no apology was ever tendered to the Indians by the English "for the 1943 Bengal famine, which left behind three million dead and owed everything to the callousness of the British administration." The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919, too, didn't elicit any apology from the British, say the editors.

Does apology help, I wonder. As Lal puts it, it may just be "a cheap and inexpensive way to gain the high moral ground." Too cheap, which is why, Bush is not inclined to say sorry for the use of the A-bomb on Japan, or the tearing apart of Iraq.

Perhaps, his war machine may roll on during the second term as well to cause damage that can be so substantial that a `sorry' at the end will seem to match the magnitude. For, as Ovid said, "A man is sorry to be honest for nothing."

SayCheek@TheHindu.co.in

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