The Regretful Acknowledgement: A Dignified End to a Disgraceful Story?
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The Regretful Acknowledgement : A Dignified End to a Disgraceful Story? / Villadsen, Lisa Storm.
Public Apology between Ritual and Regret: Symbolic Excuses on False Pretenses or True Reconciliation Out of Sincere Regret?. ed. / Daniël Cuypers; Daniel Janssen; Jacques Haers; Barbara Segaert. Vol. 86 Brill | Rodopi, 2013. p. 209-228 (At the Interface/Probing the Boundaries, Vol. 86).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Book chapter › Research › peer-review
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TY - CHAP
T1 - The Regretful Acknowledgement
T2 - A Dignified End to a Disgraceful Story?
AU - Villadsen, Lisa Storm
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - The ambivalence in readings of political apologies as being ‘pure’ or being ‘strategic’ calls for close rhetorical scrutiny. Yet, it is remarkable how the recent ‘rhetorical turn’ in apology studies has given sparse attention to textual analysis at the levels of the actual apology texts and the accompanying political debates.In this chapter I offer a close rhetorical reading of an open hearing in the Danish Parliament’s Commission on Social Affairs concerning the Minister of Social Affair’s refusal to apologize in response to a report documenting mistreatment of children in state-supervised orphanages. The minister uses the familiar strategy of expressing regret instead of apologizing. Expressions of regret are often seen as being more at the ‘strategic’ end of the sincerity spectrum. My analysis aims at discussing the meaningfulness of this strategy of ‘regretful acknowledgement’ and to challenge the dichotomous thinking on sincerity versus purity that runs as an undercurrent in much literature on the topic.
AB - The ambivalence in readings of political apologies as being ‘pure’ or being ‘strategic’ calls for close rhetorical scrutiny. Yet, it is remarkable how the recent ‘rhetorical turn’ in apology studies has given sparse attention to textual analysis at the levels of the actual apology texts and the accompanying political debates.In this chapter I offer a close rhetorical reading of an open hearing in the Danish Parliament’s Commission on Social Affairs concerning the Minister of Social Affair’s refusal to apologize in response to a report documenting mistreatment of children in state-supervised orphanages. The minister uses the familiar strategy of expressing regret instead of apologizing. Expressions of regret are often seen as being more at the ‘strategic’ end of the sincerity spectrum. My analysis aims at discussing the meaningfulness of this strategy of ‘regretful acknowledgement’ and to challenge the dichotomous thinking on sincerity versus purity that runs as an undercurrent in much literature on the topic.
UR - https://brill.com/display/title/27518?contents=toc-66382
U2 - 10.1163/9789401209533_012
DO - 10.1163/9789401209533_012
M3 - Book chapter
SN - 9789042036956
VL - 86
T3 - At the Interface/Probing the Boundaries
SP - 209
EP - 228
BT - Public Apology between Ritual and Regret
A2 - Cuypers, Daniël
A2 - Janssen, Daniel
A2 - Haers, Jacques
A2 - Segaert, Barbara
PB - Brill | Rodopi
ER -
ID: 45137228