Expressed remorse shifts blame onto underlings and costs leaders nothing

Evidence

However, the scenario frames the issue as a lapse in oversight of wrongdoers rather than the culpability of those in charge. This sleight of hand quickly shifts responsibility to rogue underlings who are charged with violating the organization’s policies and values. Expressing hurt feelings over a wrongdoer’s betrayal can arouse empathy in others for the officials’ plight. If skillfully orchestrated, apologetic admission of ultimate responsibility can bring forgiveness and even sympathy for officials portrayed as victims of subordinate wrongdoers. The public apology typically closes with a forward-looking statement aimed at curbing further probing. It is time to put the problem behind us, the officials announce, and quickly move on to right the wrongs and restore public trust. Admissions of ultimate responsibility are usually devoid of consequences. The officials are not chastised, demoted, dismissed, docked pay, or penalized in other ways. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 439

Categorization

• XREF: Directly corroborates existing vault claims about how elites (Cooper’s social-conservatism argument, authoritarianism literature) rationalize harmful policy with unaccountable apologies.
• APHORISMS: A public apology admitting ultimate responsibility can be a shield, not a concession, when it produces no actual consequence.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 439