I hope you see that the question in the title of this post is rhetorical. If you ever happen to offend a billion people…or ONE person on accident – I have 3 simple tips for you.
1. Accept that you did indeed offend them (if you meant to offend them or not should be temporarily irrelevant).
2. Say you are sorry from the heart and don’t say something like “I’m sorry IF I offended…” but say “I’m sorry THAT I offended…”
3. Change the offensive behavior. If you don’t, #1 & #2 mean nothing.
Why am I saying this? My good friend and fellow Covenant pastor Eugene Cho made it painfully obvious today on his blog that my (internet) friends Mike Foster & Jud Wilhite, with the marketing and promotions of their Deadly Vipers concept, are being highly insensitive and very offensive to Asian people. You have to read it for yourself.
I say this @ Courageous all of the time, but I love people that tell me I have a booger hanging out of my nose. There is nothing worse than walking around and talking to folk with a floaty booger thingy hanging out of your nose and people that love you will tell you about it. Very few people will do that, but when they do it tells me a lot about their character.
Eugene did Mike & Jud a favor. Their PR campaign is basically a public booger that deserves a public response and will hopefully create some widespread sensitivity to some real cultural issues that folk are pretty much ignorant about.
Before you get defensive, read my 3 tips above. I have learned them the hard way.
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