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The Meanings of Spitzer's Apology

Earlier, I had written about how Eliot Spitzer tried to justify his foolish acts.

Quoting from Carol Travis and Elliot Aronson, from their book, Mistakes were Made, just not be Me"

"When we make mistakes, we must calm the cognitive dissonance that jars our feelings of self-worth.

And so we create fictions that absolve us of responsibility, restoring our belief that we are smart, moral, and right --a belief that often keeps us on a course that is dumb, immoral, and wrong."

Recently, I ran across Nick Smith, J.D. and Ph.D., the author of "I Was Wrong: The Meanings of Apologies", at the Philosophy Talk blog, who wrote about Spizter's apology, which can be seen here.

Nick writes:

First, Spitzer's statements obviously admit very little. Rather than "coming clean" and confessing the details of his wrongdoing, he leaves us to speculate.

He could have admitted all of the relevant facts, but instead it may require years of investigations and legal proceedings to disclose the extent of his transgressions. ...

In addition to his failure to admit the morally salient facts of the scandal, it remains unclear why he believes his actions were wrong.

He says he "did not live up to what was expected" of him, but what values did he violate?

We would benefit from some precision here. Why was it wrong?

Because he disrespected his wife in so many ways?

Because he exposed his children to this ordeal?

Because he repeatedly lied?

Because he paid a financially vulnerable woman twenty-seven years younger than him to have sex with him?

Because he supported an industry that he publicly denounced?

Because his hypocrisy after claiming that he wanted "ethics and integrity to be the hallmarks" of his administration contributes to public cynicism toward government officials?

Because he weakened the Democratic Party?

Because he violated the rule of law, which is an especially grievous offense for a public official of his stature?

Or was his primary failing, in his eyes, getting caught?

His apology would have considerably more meaning if he explained what he did and made explicit why he believes it was wrong in these regards."

Not a bad cross-examination.

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Full post as published by Misleading Advertising Law on June 16, 2008 (boomark / email).