Non-apology apology

A non-apology apology is a statement in the form of an apology that does not express remorse. It is common in politics and public relations. Many states, including Massachusetts and California, have laws to prevent a plaintiff from using an apology as evidence of liability.

About Non-apology apology in brief

Summary Non-apology apologyA non-apology apology is a statement in the form of an apology that does not express remorse. It is common in politics and public relations. Many states, including Massachusetts and California, have laws to prevent a plaintiff from using an apology as evidence of liability. A famous example involved racially insensitive remarks made by golfer Fuzzy Zoeller about Tiger Woods; Zoeller’s comments and his half-hearted ifpology were news for days and resulted in his being dropped from a commercial tie-in with K-Mart. In November 2008, the Alberta legislature passed an amendment to the existing Alberta Evidence Act, R. S. A. 2000, c. A-18, geared at protecting apologizing parties from risks of legal liability and loss of insurance coverage. The expression \”mistakes were made\” is commonly used as a rhetorical device, whereby a speaker acknowledges a situation was handled poorly or inappropriately but seeks to evade any direct admission or accusation of responsibility by using the passive voice.

The New York Times has called the phrase a \”classic Washington linguistic construct\”. Political consultant William Schneider suggested this usage be referred to as the \”past exonerative\” tense, and commentator William Safire has defined the phrase as \” passive-evasive way of acknowledging error while distancing the speaker from responsibility for it\”. A commentator at NPR declared this expression to be “the king of non-APologies” While perhaps most famous in politics, the phrase has also been used in business, sports, and entertainment.