I decided to give you all a new rationalization to ponder under your Christmas tree, so say hello to “Willie’s Equivocation,” #19D on the list. I realized that this was a sneaky rationalization—by the definition that it is lie someone tells themselves to relieve them of guilt for wrongdoing—when I heard one of Kamala Harris’s campaign consultants say that “maybe they made some mistakes” that may have cost her the election. Maybe? In the run-up to election day, I remember hearing several Democrats say that Harris had run a “perfect” campaign, which is only slightly more ridiculous than saying that “maybe” there were some serious mistakes. Ya think? Nominating Harris was a mistake.
Willie is country music icon Willie Nelson, and his most famous song, “You Were Always on My Mind” says it all. I always found the song irritating, the credo of an asshole. “I was a crummy, selfish, inattentive and self-involved lover, but I was always thinking about you while I neglected you.” Great. 19D is grouped with other sub-rationalization under #19, “Nobody’s Perfect”: 19A, “I Never Said I Was Perfect,” 19B, “It Wasn’t The Best Choice,” and 19C, “It Was a Difficult Decision.” “Maybe I Did Something Wrong” might be the worst of the batch, ducking accountability by blurring the facts with doubt. Equivocation is the use of ambiguous language to conceal or avoid the truth: using “maybe” about unethical conduct when there are “no buts about it” is both cowardly and dishonest.
Ethics Alarms 
Right now on the Rationalizations List page, you’ve got the “19D” there, but the actual description is missing.
Oh, I know. I have a couple of additions and edits needed on “The List”
Maybe Willie’s Equivocation is right- sometimes.
In my experience, many of us wander temporarily into “Willie’s Equivocation” territory in the early stages of discovering and accepting our responsibility for, or at least our contribution to, problematic situations. Even if one is attempting to be conscientiously and consistently ethical, it can sometimes be tough to immediately perceive and accept our own ethical lapses, although we strive to keep our ethics at the forefront of our thoughts and actions. Our internal “ethics audit” process should quickly snap us out of denial and out of “Willie’s Equivocation.” I’m also glad to see that I’m not the only one bothered by the inherent “jerky-ness” of “You Were Always on my Mind,” no matter who was singing the song.
I think the problem with the song is its screwed-up sense of temporal unity, an essential element of any fiction, poetry or song lyric. The lyrics are really confusing as to how long the guy has been away and what he’s been up to. It’s just sloppy writing. It sounds as if the guy has been screwing around with other women for an extended period of time but now he wants the woman to hop into the sack with him again because “she was always on his mind.” Seems lame.
From the wiki article:
“Music critic Robert Hilburn said that it was commonly thought in Nashville and Memphis that Elvis Presley’s marital troubles were the inspiration of the song, and that it was tailored to fit his musical style. Fueling this conjecture was the fact that James had already written a hit song “Suspicious Minds” for Presley. Carson responded that the song was not written for Presley but for every man. He said that it “was one long apology. It’s sort of like all guys who screw up and would love nothing better than to pick up the phone and call their wives and say, ‘Listen, honey, I could have done better, but I want you to know that you were always on my mind.'”
I have to say, the composer’s explanation just doesn’t come through in his lyrics. Verdict: it’s just sloppy writing. Too bad. By the way, I love the repeated figure where the accompaniment climbs up from the tonic to the dominant whenever “you were always on my mind” is repeated. Great emphasis through counterpoint.
And by the way, Brenda Lee was the first to record it. Would a woman singing it take the toxic masculinity out of it? And wasn’t “I’m Sorry” her defining hit?
Eureka! All the writers had to do was use the present tense! “You are always on my mind” would work, together with some other tweaks. Dopes. It’s supposed to be about a still very extant marriage.