Archive • Sorry Not Sorry • Buttondown

On comms consultants, big ballz, and the right's apology game

My Amtrak back from DC on Saturday kept getting stopped: signal problems, police activity, switch issues. Every time we’d grind to a halt I’d get a text...

Why Joe Biden’s Late Apology Is Better Than Kamala Harris’ Absent One

November 30, 2024

In late October, lost now to the pre-election chaos, President Biden made a Thanksgiving-appropriate apology. Not to the Turkeys he didn’t pardon, but to the...

Atonement, Magic Words, the UN, and Riskgaming

October 13, 2024

Yesterday was Yom Kippur, the holiest day for Jews, and if this newsletter comes across as grumpy it’s because I wrote it while fasting. An odd thing about...

BTS, Ronda Rousey, and the Timing of Apologies

September 9, 2024

Hello from Canada, the land of sorry! I’m here to visit some relatives and for my family’s annual trek to the Toronto International Film Festival. I’ve seen...

CrowdStrike's $10 Empathy Failure

August 14, 2024

This one’s coming in late for a few reasons. First, I’m in Chicago right now, serving in the writers room for the Democratic National Convention and it has...

Why Boeing Being Serially Sorry Doesn't Fly

Flying is, of course, safer than driving. It’s safer than so many activities we do without thinking. “The risk is so low that being afraid to fly is a little...

The Pope's Contradictory Apology

In 1076, Germany and Italy were on the verge of civil war. A dispute between arguably the two most powerful men in the medieval world—Pope Gregory VII and...

Why Did Two Grandmasters Apologize To Each Other?

One beautiful aspect of chess is that it’s a game with perfect information. Unlike in poker, or Settlers of Catan, or most popular board or card games you...

Mike Tyson, Marijuana Morsels, and Justice vs Forgiveness

Hello from Milan, where today the whole country is celebrating “Liberation Day,” the anniversary of the Italian resistance movement’s victory over the Nazis...

Did Stephen Colbert Apologize to Kate Middleton?

Most of the time, we agree on what people are trying to do when they speak. When Donald Trump or Joe Biden speaks at a rally, we know they are trying to...

Total Eclipse of the Mind

Today I'm thrilled to share an essay that has nothing to do with apologies. I wrote about chasing solar eclipses, the fallibility of memory, and the value of...

Three Comedians, Three Apologies

Recently my friend tipped me off to an IFC presentation of Sorry/Not Sorry, a new documentary about Louis C.K.'s sexual misconduct, his response, and the...