An apology column is a sorry thing indeed… That being said, this is one. It is not that I need to get it off my chest, but rather out of my mind (where it has been living, nagging me for over a year). Like so many things in my life, the inspiration for this column came to me from a cartoon. In an episode of “Family Guy” I recently saw, an unrepeatable joke was made involving Elizabeth Smart, a victim of kidnapping and rape. I immediately thought “Too soon.” Not so immediately, the nagging thing in the back of my head became more persistent.
I am speaking of column I wrote following the horrible disaster that was Hurricane Katrina. The column was written the day New Orleans was devastated, but was published several days later. The column itself was a response to statements I had heard all day. These statements varied from individual to individual and amounted to a condemnation of the people of New Orleans, saying they deserved to be hit by the hurricane, because of their proximity to the Gulf and the path of hurricanes and because of their decision to live in a city below sea level. In an attempt to satirize (at the time I was reading Jonathon Swift’s A Modest Proposal, in which he satirically suggests the children in Ireland be eaten in order to solve the problem of poverty in that country) these individuals and others (such as Pat Robertson, who stated 9-11 was God’s way of punishing America for our sins), I suggested in my column the residents of New Orleans deserved the suffering caused by the hurricane because the state of Louisiana is a “Red State” and supports politicians who seek to discredit the theory of global warming.
I am not sure how many of you remember this column and how many of you were not around when it came out, but now you know about it. It was only when the actual death toll came out and the country began to realize how horrible the disaster had been, that I began to rethink my column. By then the paper had already run, and in the words of Clint McClure, “Congratulations to the Orange for actually printing that garbage.” I will probably never again quote or agree with Mr. McClure – he presides over a Facebook group called “Hey Hippies, Get F**ked!” if that tells you how close we are ideologically – so mark this day!
Moreover, no one pointed out or seemed to realize the real ridiculousness of the column – the fact that the people of New Orleans are overwhelmingly Democratic in registration and practice, and a criticism of Louisiana is not suited to them. Yes, my article was satirical. And yes, it was an attempt to foster debate. However, I feel many people, like Mr. McClure, did not see the point of it. No letters to the editor were sent to the Orange in attempt to refute my statement, nor did anyone attempt to engage me on the issue. Why? Because much like the “Family Guy” episode I mentioned above, this column came way too soon.
Enough already with the explanations, you might be saying. So here is the important part. I am sorry. I apologize to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and I apologize to anyone whose relatives were affected by the disaster and whom my words may have hurt. I apologize to the Baker Orange for downgrading the quality of its opinion section for that issue. Too little, too late, but better late than never. Many prominent figures make inflammatory remarks without regard to whom they might be hurting (Pat Roberts, Ann Coulter, Ward Churchill, etc), but I am not one of them, and I recognize that no matter where you stand on policy, it is not a person’s place to use the dead of this country to get a rise out of his readers or viewers. I am sorry it took so long to get me to this point, and I hope this column will not discourage debate on the issues – moral, economic, sociological, environmental, etc. – which Katrina helps to highlight.