Megyn Kelly. Sudden Death

"Wow."

         Megyn Kelly, on learning of the decision to fire her.

An instant apology was not good enough.

Click: "I was wrong and I am sorry"

NBC fired her. She showed racial insensitivity. She said on camera that in her childhood at Halloween a white child could darken his or her skin to dress up as a black character and it wasn't thought racist. That blew up on her.

Some things simply cannot be discussed. Not to understand this shows a fatal breach of acceptable thought. Of course, obviously, a white child darkening his or her skin is wrong. Period. 

Megyn Kelly immediately apologized.

She said she was sorry. Her apology had the elements of a good apology.  

Apology expert Edward Battistella, author of "Sorry About That" (Click: Amazon) says a meaningful apology can resolve an injury and restore the apologist's social position. 

A good apology:

   ***States the Offense. The apologist describes the error.

   ***States the Apology. The apologist says they are sorry.

Battestella on Apologies. 60 secs.

   ***States Future Behavior. The apologist says what has been learned along with a commitment to be better.

There is a fourth step, which did not happen--apology accepted.

Instead, they cancelled her show.

There may well have been other issues. Her ratings were disappointing. (My wife did not like her. She switched from watching the Today show when she came on.)

The public sees two big, frightening lessons

Lesson One. Watch out. One mistake, one off-the-cuff experimental thought can be fatal. You might think it is a joke. You might be mis-heard or mis-understood. If people take offense, you can be summarily fired. 

Your career can end in a moment. If it happened to Megyn Kelly it can happen to you.

Lesson Two. If you don't have a "tribe," you are unprotected. Megyn Kelly had been a Fox host and she still had Fox scent on her. She was now at the NBC Today show, but was proud of being "not a PC kind of person."

Being independent is dangerous. 

People took offense. She needed public allies. Had she been thoroughly in the liberal tribe then she might have counted on a chorus of black news people or public intellectuals to come to her defense. 

They didn't. Nor did her old allies at Fox. Indeed, Fox is delighted. They use her as an example of PC excess, fired for daring to exercise free speech.  

Be careful. Walk on eggshells.

Short term "win." for the left.  In the short run the Moral Left won another battle. They got to make their point that white people blackening their skin is not just wrong per se, but wrong to discuss. They got to demonstrate their power.

Long term loss. It sends a message of eggshell civic discussion. Don't offend. Self monitor. Don't be careless and don't be misunderstood. 

There is a school of thought that white people should feel uncomfortable and frightened. It is wrong to offend. Males and whites have been careless for centuries and it is high time they learn to be better. There need to be some prominent examples of people who were taught a lesson.

Maybe so. But people do not like walking on eggshells.

Black men understand the risks of sudden death when encountering police. They can be shot dead, based on the police officer's own subjective opinion of danger. "Hands up, don't shoot," may not be good enough. You might get shot anyway. Walk on eggshells.

White people are getting a lesson of their own version of this. Megyn Kelly did the apology equivalent of immediate raising of her hands. "I was wrong, I am sorry, I learned. Don't shoot." Eggshells.

She got shot anyway.

I worry Trump will make hay out of this.