Summary/ Response

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Is It Ever Too Late For an Apology? “But I Didn’t Do It” by Stanley Fish is an essay about how Georgia lawmakers try and resist apology. This is a claim of fact essay and is about the controversy on whether or not it is reasonable to apologize about something that happened long ago, and whether or not the Georgia lawmaker’s reasons for resisting are substantial. Georgia’s legislature is in the process of passing an apology movement for a wrong that was formerly done about slavery. According to Fish, reasons for resisting the apology movement are very plain. Fish states “after so many years, an apology would be merely ceremonial and nothing more than a ‘feel good’ gesture” (469). Fish does not agree with the idea that just because no one is alive today that made the decision about slavery, that there should be no apology. Members of the Supreme Court are responsible for their predecessors’ actions as they carry on their work. According to Fish, it is the Supreme Court’s job to correct any wrong that was done in the past. Mistakes that are just now recognized can sometimes be fixed by changing the law. Fish says that it is not his place to answer the question of whether or not an apology should be given; he is simply stating that their reasons for resisting are not reasonable. If apology continues to be a reparation to fix all of the mistakes that the courts have made, it will be “nothing more than a ‘feel good’ gesture” (469). Apology will eventually lose its sincerity and be almost ceremonial like. If some sort of wrong is done, it should be fixed at that time, not 50 years later. Fish states “the objection most often voiced is that the wrong people would be apologizing to the wrong people” (469). I agree with this statement because the people of whom made that decision and the ones the decisions were put upon are no longer here. I do not see the
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