You know, I get that except - it seems so childish. I remember hating apologising when I was a kid, and admitting that I was wrong. But so many of the people that I see online are adults who should know better, who should at least have the basics of knowing that we don't always get why someone's hurt, but that's not important, the fact that they are hurt is what's important. The fact that they're still stuck on whining that someone dared find their words offensive in the first place is a bit unbelievable, sometimes.
But if she DOESN'T think she did anything wrong - and I'm not sure she did, IF her friend wasn't offended in any way - then why SHOULD she give a proper apology? To me, her "I'm sorry you were upset by it" sounds exactly what an adult would say under similar circumstances. Frankly, what would have more impact would be if we heard from the Asian guy in the photo. What did he think about the incident? If it genuinely didn't bother him, why should it bother anyone else
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Well, if she was a normal kid, then yeah, her friend would be the only person who mattered. But she's a celebrity, and part of being a celebrity is suddenly worrying about what everyone else watching is thinking and feeling. It's great that MiniPlu isn't bothered by what the little boy is doing - but if she was, wouldn't you want him to apologise? With Miley, the fact is, celebrities have to be aware of what the public is thinking and feeling as well.
Whether or not they should is another matter, but right now in general they do. There are people - as evidenced by ONTD - who are upset by this, and that's why I think that Miley should apologise properly. And I have to say that I think - if it was me - if I found out that something I had done was being percieved as racist, I'd be scrambling all over myself to apologise even if I didn't mean it that way.
Well, sure - and I said that, that if MiniPlu gets bothered, we'll deal with that then.
The thing is, even when celebrities say, "I'm really sorry - it was not my intention to upset anyone" it really means exactly the same as "I'm sorry you got upset". And I don't really see why people will feel any different about it even if she said it "properly".
I think the reason why people care about how the apology is worded is the the perception that one shows more caring than the other. It sounds different when someone means an apology than when they don't. Of course it may be that celebrities rarely actually mean it when they make apologies - but people always respect them more when they at least attempt to sound sincere.
And I think that celebrities do really need to treat the public as though they are a 'en masse' friend - so if a group is speaking up and saying that they're offended, a celebrity needs to apologise to them as though they are actually a personal friend. Not precisely fair, but it's part and parcel of being famous.
Miley is very young, certainly, but she's old enough to realise she messed up when it was pointed out to her. Like you said, her 'apology' is anything but, and there's just no excuse for her behaviour after that point.
Worse than the behaviour of one spoiled and clueless celebrity are all the people crying 'overreaction' and 'PC gone mad'. Not that I expect a high level of discourse in OND.
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Because to give a sincere apology, you actually have to be sorry, and actually being sorry generally requires self-examination which *is* hard.
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Whether or not they should is another matter, but right now in general they do. There are people - as evidenced by ONTD - who are upset by this, and that's why I think that Miley should apologise properly. And I have to say that I think - if it was me - if I found out that something I had done was being percieved as racist, I'd be scrambling all over myself to apologise even if I didn't mean it that way.
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The thing is, even when celebrities say, "I'm really sorry - it was not my intention to upset anyone" it really means exactly the same as "I'm sorry you got upset". And I don't really see why people will feel any different about it even if she said it "properly".
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And I think that celebrities do really need to treat the public as though they are a 'en masse' friend - so if a group is speaking up and saying that they're offended, a celebrity needs to apologise to them as though they are actually a personal friend. Not precisely fair, but it's part and parcel of being famous.
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Worse than the behaviour of one spoiled and clueless celebrity are all the people crying 'overreaction' and 'PC gone mad'. Not that I expect a high level of discourse in OND.
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