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(691 words; posted Friday, Aug. 30; to be composted Friday, Sept. 13)
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Sorry, sorry, sorry
Our newly instituted corrections policy (see last week's "Readme") was instituted in just the nick of time. We suddenly have several mistakes to apologize for.
Two weeks ago in "The Gist" ("The Biggest Tax Increase"), we erroneously paraphrased Susan Molinari's Republican Convention keynote address as saying that 40 percent of GDP goes to the government. The correct figure is 32.4 percent in 1995 (down from 34 percent in 1991). What Molinari said was, "Bill Clinton passed the largest tax increase in history and now Americans pay almost 40 cents of every dollar they earn in taxes--the most ever." A median-income two-earner family paid 38.2 percent of its income in taxes in 1995, so Molinari's 40 percent figure is roughly accurate. But her history is wrong: The figure has been stable for 20 years (38.1 percent in 1985; 37.3 percent in 1975). The federal/state split also has remained roughly stable (26.6 percent federal/11.6 percent state and local in 1995; 27 percent/11.1 percent in 1985). So Molinari was inaccurate in suggesting that Clinton has increased the average family's tax burden, measured as cents per dollar of income.
In last week's "The Week/The Spin," we originally gave the impression that the Disney Co. is planning a movie about King David. In fact, it's a stage musical. (Following our policy in such matters, the erroneous passage was removed shortly after the error was discovered, but we nevertheless take this opportunity for self-abasement.)
Finally, a real whopper. In the premier issue of SLATE ON PAPER, our monthly print compilation of articles from SLATE, a sidebar by our "Earthling" columnist, Robert Wright, bore the headline, "Why Genes Are Racist." As is evident from the piece itself, that headline should have been--yes, sigh--"Why Genes Aren't Racist." Our apologies to Bob Wright and to genes everywhere. (If, despite this embarrassment, you still wish to obtain SLATE ON PAPER, you can subscribe at 800-555-4995. Single copies should also be available very soon at many Starbucks coffee outlets.)
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Not sorry
We don't mind apologizing for our mistakes, but we don't like apologizing when we haven't made a mistake. Apparently NBC doesn't feel that way. A recent New York Times headline--"NBC Apologizes to Chinese"--made us steel ourselves for some vulgar or racist ethnic slur. What NBC was apologizing for, though, was this remark by Bob Costas during the Olympics: "Every economic power, including the United States, wants to tap into that huge potential market, but of course there are problems with human rights, property rights disputes, the threat posed to Taiwan." Exactly what is wrong with that remark? It is perfectly accurate, and about as mild a critique of China as can be imagined. Three forces, we suppose, combined to produce NBC's absurd apology. One is the traditional toleration by American companies of human-rights abuses in any country where they wish to do business. (NBC is a division of General Electric.) Another is the amazing free pass China, in particular, has gotten since Nixon and Kissinger first visited in 1972--even, or rather especially, from Republicans and conservatives who are usually rather hard on Communist regimes. Third, of course, is the "spirit of the Olympics." For two magnificent weeks every four years, the nations of the world put aside their petty differences about matters like political prisoners and forced abortions to join together and celebrate the really important triumphs of humanity like beach volleyball.
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Semi-SLATE
Continuing in the tradition of our print counterparts, which take several weeks off during the summer, SLATE will not post its normal rich bounty of articles during Labor Day week. We will, however, post a new "Horse Race" on Tuesday, Sept. 3, and a new "The Week/The Spin" on Friday Sept. 6, and we will update the "In Other Magazines" column throughout the week. "The Fray" will be active (4,400 registered members at last count), and the complete contents of SLATE so far will, of course, be available for catch-up reading in "The Compost." The editors will spend the week boning up for their HTML Proficiency Exam. We return to our regular schedule Monday, Sept. 9. Happy Labor Day.
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