Our job is to mitigate and reduce the bad and amplify the good.” Speaking to MSNBC’s Meet the Press, Clegg stated: “With a third of the world’s population on our platforms, of course you’re going to see the good, the bad and the ugly of human nature. Clegg served five years as the UK’s deputy prime minister where he learned how to handle media and PR issues with relative ease, but without the public faces of Zuckerberg and Sandberg, few appear to be comforted by Clegg’s comments. Instead, Facebook VP of Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg has been publishing blog posts and making statements to the media in an attempt to provide reassurance about the companies standing. Zuckerberg has published a single Facebook post in which he stated that the idea “that we prioritize profit over safety and well-being” is “just not true,” but aside from this has been relatively silent. Most would think that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg would be quick to reach out to the media in an attempt to project strength and unity as the company comes under fire - yet that has not been the case. It requires only sincerity and three words: ‘I’m really sorry.Nick Clegg (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images) If I were a political consultant and had to offer a candidate advice, I would say: “From my experience as a Rabbi, I know a technique that demonstrates ego strength, draws other people closer, shows your deep sensitivity and costs you nothing. The effect was electric: His sincerity and the power of the gesture captured worldwide attention. In 1970, German Chancellor Willy Brandt kneeled in front of the monument for the Warsaw ghetto uprising and atoned for something that his nation, not he, had done. Moments of genuine apology are blessed moments.Įven when the apology can do no real good, the gesture can be genuinely healing. What can one say when anger is met with,”You are right, and I’m truly, deeply sorry?” It’s a gesture of self-humbling, a willingness to be less powerful and give the other space for grievance. But most of the time it disarms, rather than encourages, one’s critics. To admit fault seems to many an invitation to be attacked. Wounding another without apology is redoubling the offense, adding the sin of callousness to that of cruelty. The rule of Yom Kippur in the Jewish tradition is that the offender must offer sincere forgiveness three times as part of the obligation to seek forgiveness. Contrition is seen as the mark of a strong character, not a weak one. In religious life, apology is encouraged, essential, and even praised. So you get politicians who blame “ a poor choice of words” or say they “regret that my words were misinterpreted.” In such cases, “I’m very sorry” is the right choice, but it’s blocked by ego. When apologies are offered in public life, they tend to be the sort that subtly shifts the blame: “I apologize if anyone was offended.” This is, of course, another way of saying, “I’m sorry you are so sensitive.” No one was ever mollified by such an apology, but somehow it remains in use. It’s characteristic of people to have trouble saying “I’m sorry,” but it seems there is an epidemic of unapologetics in the world of politics.
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