It used to be more common for other cultures to demand apologies after feeling they were slighted.
This used to be more common with Chinese and Japanese people.
Now many Americans have placed a high intrinsic value on a social gesture that is often nothing but a transparent, poorly executed act of contrition. Sad!
In this case it is not even a genuine “act of contrition” because Lois Lerner and her comrades are not the ones making the settlement (and most certainly don’t actually feel any regret, except that they got caught).