Why Ms. Fluke should reconsider and accept Limbaugh’s apology

by Paul Goldman

While no can prove Mr. Limbaugh’s apology is sincere, he says it was. He didn’t gave it in person or over the telephone, so that is something to put into the final equation. True, he is in Florida, but he knew that when making those comments. On the other hand, giving his location, an in-person apology might not have been required although surely preferable. But it was in writing, so that’s is something too.

Yet all this misses the larger point: Ms. Fluke is a symbol of a “we” thing, she has become a celebrity not for doing anything particularly great in terms of a personal achievement, but rather due to what El Rusho said about her as a symbol of women, which led to the President’s phone call and the rest, as they say, is history.

She stood up for her beliefs and that of others: this is a good thing, and we all have to admire that and applaud it.  

But the issue isn’t her per se: again, El Rusho and others were using her to throw a bigger punch.

I have been in that position in a way on a far smaller scale although for an equally important cause at least to me.

My conclusion: You can’t take it personally because what they are saying about you is about a lot more than you, it just so happens you are the convenient target. .

So I ask: What is better for those whose struggle you are the tribune for, dismissing the apology, or accepting it?

 

My conclusion was then and is now: You have to accept it unless it is self-evidently insincere and even then, you might have to anyway because it is not about you as much as it may seem that way.

Why? I think Dr. King said it best, I can’t remember the words, but it was along the lines of Abraham Lincoln’s “With malice towards none and charity for all.”

JFK put it this way: Forgive, but never forget. His was more political though.

As I understand their position, they didn’t want to reduce themselves to the name caller’s level because if you do, you might feel good, but you cause loses  in the process.

With all due respect to Ms. Fluke, I see no downside in accepting Mr. Limbaugh apology. Perhaps she is right, it is being offered due to pressure from sponsors or fear of more leaving his radio empire.

But she can’t be sure. And even then: He still comes out the smaller person.

Bottom line: Ms. Fluke raises her stature, and that of  all women who suffer from the El Rushos of the world by something El Rusho doesn’t expect, indeed doesn’t really want, which is her being the bigger person and accepting his apology without conditions.

Frankly, I think by accepting the apology, Ms. Fluke “kills him with kindness”, and totally knocks El Rusho and his posse off their game far worse than dismissing it condescendingly.