#nytiimes

[reduxpictures]

ReduxStock: Photo by Mary Turner/Panos Pictures/Redux of UK's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in The New York Times, October 25, 2023.

[imperialgirl]

Irritating postscript.

The New York Times woman ranted back after all the crap she's been taking this week for her "Game of Thrones" review.  And she . . . didn't apologize.  And didn't act humble or really seem to think she'd done anything wrong.

Fantastic.

I want to teach Girl Child and Boy Child that it's okay to make mistakes, and that when you do that, you should acknowledge the error. This means really believing in your mind that you made the mistake, not just saying the words because you think it's what your listener wants to hear, or to make your audience not be mad at you any more.  Accept responsibility, genuinely.  Then ask to be forgiven.  

The secret is *not* to turn the glare of the spotlight back on the wronged party and make it somehow their fault for being hurt/upset/wronged in the first place.  Gently (or not-so-gently) explaining to that person why they had no right to be unhappy with you in the first place is not an apology. 

Then again, when someone is concentrating so hard on the next thing that they're going to say that they don't hear what anyone else is saying to them?  They miss things. 

They miss a lot of things . . . like the whole point of what the entire #geekgirlnation was trying to say.  The point of the #GeekGirlBookClub.  The judgment that she passed with her words, whether she did it intentionally or through neglect.

Aunt Nancy said you can't get blood from a stone, you can't fix stupid, and she'd probably say, you can't explain anything to anyone who just isn't listening.

Off to read The Hobbit.