Forbes apologizes for cataclysmic, egregious error

[Suradit69]

I hadn't realized that calling someone a poet was such an outrageous thing. Apparently it's another case of farangs losing face (or as it's often written on TV, "loosing" face).

In an article about Samantha Power, the Irish woman being appointed as US Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr Monagan made a passing reference to President Higgins.

He wrote: “The current president of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, is a poet, acknowledged homosexual, and nearly as outspoken as his predecessors.”

Mr Monagan described the error as “the worst mistake I have ever made.”

In a statement released to the Irish Independent today, a spokeswoman for the influential business magazine said: “On July 23 a contributor to Forbes.com posted an article about American UN Ambassador nominee Samantha Power that contained a serious error concerning the President of Ireland, Mr Michael D Higgins.

“Both Forbes and the author of the post David Monagan sincerely regret the error. Forbes is issuing an apology to President Higgins in a separate correspondence.

“Mr Monagan is part of Forbes.com’s contributor network and the article in question did not appear in Forbes magazine,” she added.

The article was withdrawn from the website when the error was highlighted yesterday.

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/forbes-issues-official-apology-to-president-higgins-for-homosexual-claim-29446166.html

Edited July 25, 2013 by Suradit69

[sustento]

You have to be careful with them poets you know. They're everywhere!

[Suradit69]

You have to be careful with them poets you know. They're everywhere!

Thank you. I was beginning to worry that I had been too subtle.

I've recently read some biographical things about Tab Hunter, Ramon Novarro and Sal Mineo, and the authors all referenced how bad it was back then in the "dark ages" of the early to mid 20th century when being labeled queer was so horrible and a career killer ... as if we have since entered an enlightened age. Then I watched the movies For the Bible Tells Me So and The Matthew Shepard Story and wondered how any of us survived with some sanity intact. It Gets Better I guess but in many cases "better" is strictly relative .

The same people who are apologetically falling all over themselves at the horror of accidentally calling someone homosexual on one occasional don't seem to have any comprehension of what that could mean to someone living with all that everyday of his life ... especially teenagers who haven't developed coping strategies.

And yet, some of the same people who are so overwhelmed at the mistake of calling someone gay also think being gay is a "lifestyle choice."

Because so many people must be eager to choose to be called names and to make a conscious choice to be hated.

Ah well, plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

[LeCharivari]

You have to be careful with them poets you know. They're everywhere!

Thank you. I was beginning to worry that I had been too subtle.

(edited)

You were.

Let's be honest - its a pretty major mistake to make and on a par with calling him black, Chinese, Jewish, Muslim, etc. Not necessarily "a career killer" for someone anymore, but something that a major newspaper shouldn't do "accidentally" and which shouldn't have happened. It may not be insulting, but it certainly merits an apology for sheer stupidity.

[Suradit69]

You have to be careful with them poets you know. They're everywhere!

Thank you. I was beginning to worry that I had been too subtle.

(edited)

You were.

Let's be honest - its a pretty major mistake to make and on a par with calling him black, Chinese, Jewish, Muslim, etc. Not necessarily "a career killer" for someone anymore, but something that a major newspaper shouldn't do "accidentally" and which shouldn't have happened. It may not be insulting, but it certainly merits an apology for sheer stupidity.

"You were." Well I guess that refutes another gay stereotype.

I'm sure Forbes, like any publication, occasionally makes low-keyed corrections when errors are made, but the author referred to it as "the worst mistake I ever made." I would say it is considered insulting and that Forbes reaction shows how insulting they saw it as being.

Do you really think that if someone had said the Irish President was Chinese or Black it would have been treated as anything more than a somewhat humorous editing error?

Of course the reaction is not the fault of Forbes or the person who made the mistake. The reaction is because people still consider the label something horrible and just the suggestion that it might be true could be considered a reputation breaker for many people and yet those same people don't see how difficult those labels and reputational issues are for people who are gay.

Things have changed for the better, but despite supposed acceptance of those who are gay in the US and Europe, people still react disproportionately to being labeled gay, both straights and some who are actually gay. In fact the first thing that comes to mind if someone wants to be really insulting these days is call someone a fag or one of the many other queer meaning names.

[onthemoon]

I'm not getting it. So is the old man (Pres. Higgins) gay or not? And especially: Who cares either way?

Why is it coming into this discussion whether he is Chinese or Black? Apparently he is neither. What does this have to do with it?

Is Forbes making an article out of a non-issue, or am I just not getting it.

[LeCharivari]

I'm not getting it. So is the old man (Pres. Higgins) gay or not? And especially: Who cares either way?

Why is it coming into this discussion whether he is Chinese or Black? Apparently he is neither. What does this have to do with it?

Is Forbes making an article out of a non-issue, or am I just not getting it.

You're just not getting it.

He's not gay. He never has been gay. Nobody has ever thought he was gay, although he is co-incidentally unusually pro-gay for the leader of a Catholic country.

Forbes made a mistake - the author of the article apparently confused the President of Ireland with another openly gay man who ran for the presidency but lost.

My point was that anyone making such a mistake about someone in such a public position (particularly when the author lives in Ireland) should make a public apology for their error - not because it was a deliberate insult but because it was a stupid mistake that should never have been made, on a par with calling him Chinese, Black, Jewish, Muslim, etc, when he is not.

[manarak]

Definition of Cataclysm:

: a momentous and violent event marked by overwhelming upheaval and demolition; broadly : an event that brings great changes

clearly the thread title is in the realm of exageration.

[LeCharivari]

You have to be careful with them poets you know. They're everywhere!

Thank you. I was beginning to worry that I had been too subtle.

(edited)

You were.

Let's be honest - its a pretty major mistake to make and on a par with calling him black, Chinese, Jewish, Muslim, etc. Not necessarily "a career killer" for someone anymore, but something that a major newspaper shouldn't do "accidentally" and which shouldn't have happened. It may not be insulting, but it certainly merits an apology for sheer stupidity.

"You were." Well I guess that refutes another gay stereotype.

I'm sure Forbes, like any publication, occasionally makes low-keyed corrections when errors are made, but the author referred to it as "the worst mistake I ever made." I would say it is considered insulting and that Forbes reaction shows how insulting they saw it as being.

Do you really think that if someone had said the Irish President was Chinese or Black it would have been treated as anything more than a somewhat humorous editing error?

Of course the reaction is not the fault of Forbes or the person who made the mistake. The reaction is because people still consider the label something horrible and just the suggestion that it might be true could be considered a reputation breaker for many people and yet those same people don't see how difficult those labels and reputational issues are for people who are gay.

Things have changed for the better, but despite supposed acceptance of those who are gay in the US and Europe, people still react disproportionately to being labeled gay, both straights and some who are actually gay. In fact the first thing that comes to mind if someone wants to be really insulting these days is call someone a fag or one of the many other queer meaning names.

If you think its insulting that's your choice - the President didn't, and if you read most of the reports of the mistake there's no such implication and the only "reaction" suggesting that is limited to some of the gay press.

I chose to compare it to "black, Chinese, Jewish, Muslim,etc" in terms of seriousness and stupidity because I couldn't (and can't) think of anything that is remotely similar to being gay in terms of identity. You're born black, Chinese, etc, just as you're born gay but you can see if someone's black or Chinese (which would have been immediately obvious in the case of the President) but you can't see if they're gay; similarly you can't always see if someone is Jewish or Muslim, but they're generally a "lifestyle choice" while being gay isn't.

"In fact the first thing that comes to mind if someone wants to be really insulting these days is call someone a fag or one of the many other queer meaning names." Really? President Obama has been called lots of things both during the elections and since, including gay, but the only jibe I recall him reacting to was that he was a Muslim and had been schooled in a madrasa when in Indonesia.

Do you really think that if someone in as prominent position as Forbes had said the Irish President was a closet Muslim it would have been treated as "humorous" ?

[LeCharivari]

I'm not getting it. So is the old man (Pres. Higgins) gay or not? And especially: Who cares either way?

Why is it coming into this discussion whether he is Chinese or Black? Apparently he is neither. What does this have to do with it?

Is Forbes making an article out of a non-issue, or am I just not getting it.

You're just not getting it.

He's not gay. He never has been gay. Nobody has ever thought he was gay, although he is co-incidentally unusually pro-gay for the leader of a Catholic country.

Forbes made a mistake - the author of the article apparently confused the President of Ireland with another openly gay man who ran for the presidency but lost.

My point was that anyone making such a mistake about someone in such a public position (particularly when the author lives in Ireland) should make a public apology for their error - not because it was a deliberate insult but because it was a stupid mistake that should never have been made, on a par with calling him Chinese, Black, Jewish, Muslim, etc, when he is not.

Sorry, I didn't answer "Who cares either way?"

Probably all those who elected him (plus his family), not necessarily because of the claim he was gay (although some would in a Catholic country) but because it would make him out to be something other than what he purported to be - not ideal for an elected President.