Skip the apologies, please

So, I'm doing my normal run-through of today's news. I see an article about James Watson, the scientist who, a few days ago, said that Africans were less intelligent than [us]:
Sunday Times Magazine of London quoted Watson as saying that he's "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours — whereas all the testing says not really."

I do wonder who "ours" stands for. Is it Europeans? The British? Americans? People who descended from apes? I'm not sure.

I chose not to read the whole article yesterday when I saw it because I figured there was no reason to needlessly get pissed off about something.

Today, though, I ran into an article about him being suspended from his work. But the thing that made me laugh was his "apology":
"I am mortified about what has happened," Watson said. "More importantly, I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said."

Ok, let me break this down into two parts. I'm going to start with the most amusing:

1. He's mortified. He can't understand how he could have said what he was quoted as saying? So is he saying he never said that? That he was misquoted? That he's senile?

If you pay attention to what he said, you'll notice he clearly didn't apologize, nor did he recant what he said. He didn't say he was sorry (he said he was mortified). Didn't say that what he said was wrong (instead, he couldn't understand how he could have said so-and-so). Oh, he's a smart one, all right. His statement, the words he chose, were clearly intentional, and quite clever.

Nonetheless, it was an attempt to fake an apology. Which leads me to the second point:

2. Just skip the apology. It blows my mind how frequently this happens. Someone makes a statement, someone else gets pissed, then the first person apologizes. The first person isn't sorry. He (for the sake of this post, the person will be a male) might be sorry that it created such a fuss. He might be sorry that he got in trouble. But he's not sorry for saying or doing what he said/did. The first thing he said was how he really felt. The apology was to placate people.

It reminds me of being younger: girls, as you might know, can be quite passive aggressive (but to get into that is a completely different post). Nonetheless, I'd see girls make a comment, such as, "You're ugly - just kidding." The just kidding might be accompanied with a sweet smile, a slight tap on the arm, a joking eye roll. But usually the person wasn't "just kidding". The girl just wanted to tell the other person what she thought, but follow the accepted social unspoken social rules.

Similar to when someone makes apologies such as these. I'm tired of apologies. Feel the way you feel. Think the way you think. Believe what you believe. Say what you say. But skip the bullshit apologies afterward. It doesn't make it better. It just makes the person look ridiculous.

Watson, believe what you believe. You have every right to (it's a bunch of bullshit, but you still have that right). But save the apology for something that you really feel sorry about.

Had Watson, when questioned about the quote, flipped off the journalist and said, "Fuck 'em," I would've respected him more. At least he said what he felt. But the half-ass apology just... it's pansy-ish.

I think if people stopped saying what they believed and then apologized for it, maybe we'd be able to have better dialogue. Granted, if people were coming from places of hate, it wouldn't lead to better communication. But when people can be honest in love - or at least, in respect - doesn't it make it better. If I could sit down and talk to someone who I felt racism toward, or someone who felt racism toward me talked to me, and we weren't talking to put the other person down but instead to have a true, open conversation about our beliefs, can't that spawn something beautiful?

How can we solve anything if we pretend it's not there? How can we work on something when we pretend we didn't mean what we first said?

Idealistic? Or could it have some truth in it?

What's the Appropriate Torture?

So I go onto Fox News' web site yesterday and see the feature that every news site has - O.J. Simpson. By chance, I also see another article:

U.S. Prosecutor Accused of Seeking Sex With Girl, 5.

As we all know, these stories stay up for about a week, so I'll post it below:

DETROIT —

A U.S. prosecutor was arrested in an Internet sting operation after flying from Florida to Michigan allegedly to have sex with a 5-year-old girl, officials said.

John David Roy Atchison, 53, appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Detroit on a charge of interstate travel to have sex with a minor. He is an assistant U.S. attorney in northern Florida.

The arrest followed several weeks of Internet conversations between the prosecutor and a detective posing as the mother of a 5-year-old girl, authorities say.

The prosecutor is charged with using interstate communication to entice a minor to have sexual contact and with traveling across state lines with the intent of engaging in illicit sexual contact. The charges carry a possible sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

Atchison, of Gulf Breeze, Fla., was arrested Sunday at Detroit Metropolitan Airport as part of an undercover sting operation by the Macomb Area Computer Enforcement Team.

"There wasn't much reaction from him at all," said Macomb County Sheriff Mark Hackel, whose department runs the team. He said Atchison was cooperative with authorities.

Atchison brought a Dora the Explorer doll, hoop earrings and petroleum jelly with him from Florida, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Click here to read the Detroit Free Press report.

According to court records, Atchison initiated an online chat Aug. 29 with an undercover officer posing as a mother interested in letting men have sex with her daughter.

In several conversations, he said he wanted to have oral, vaginal and anal sex with the woman's fictitious daughter, Hackel said.

"I'm always gentle and loving; not to worry; no damage ever; no rough stuff ever ever," Atchison said at one point, according to an affidavit filed in court.

"I've done it plenty," he said.

Hackel said his department brought in federal authorities after it became clear that the case involved an out-of-state suspect.

The arrest has come as a shock in Florida, where Atchison is president of a community sports organization, the Gulf Breeze Sports Association, where girls as young as 4 can participate in the soccer program.

Teresa Hawthorne, the organization's youth sports coordinator, told FOXNews.com no one from the association would comment on the case.

Atchison was a soccer and baseball coach, Lt. Rick Hawthorne of the Gulf Breeze police told the Detroit News.

Click here to read the Detroit News report.

"I'm shocked," Edwin "Buz" Eddy, the city manager of Gulf Breeze told the Pensacola News Journal. "That's about all I can say. I hope this is something that can be cleared up by some explanation. What that might be, I don't know."

Eddy told the paper that he had known Atchison for more than a decade and considered him a "pillar of the community."

Click here to read the Pensacola News Journal report.

Atchison's wife is a science teacher at Gulf Breeze High School.

The couple have three children high school age or older, according to the Detroit News.

The fact that an Internet child sex suspect is a law enforcement official shouldn't be unexpected, Hackel said.

"The people who are doing it come from all walks of life," the sheriff said. "It doesn't surprise us anymore."

Atchison asked for a court-appointed lawyer. A detention hearing was scheduled for Tuesday.

I didn't know what to do. The part that sickened me was when it mentioned that he brought her a doll, some earrings and petroleum jelly! And then the bastard says, "No damage ever." Are you shitting me? There is permanent damage with anyone who was touched by this fucknut. And the parents who would put their children out to this?

People are talking about O.J. and his robbery issue. What about this?

I don't consider myself a big fan of capital punishment, and only believe the people who get it should get it for horrible crimes. In those cases, I don't believe people should use lethal injection and other things like that - whatever the crimes are, the punishment needs to somewhat suit it. This person deserves serious punishment.

Okay, next post has to be positive - I need to change this energy.