Wilson did not mince words:

"Why would this dowdy Middle American entity waddle into Midtown in its big old shorts and flip-flops without even bothering to update its ancient Helvetica light logo, which for anyone who grew up with the company is encrusted with decades of boring, even traumatically parental, associations?"

No need to uncork this witch's brew of wicked adjectives, vicious verbs and insulting anthropomorphism since Clark Hoyt, the New York Times public editor, already took Wilson to task. Suffice to say, style writers for the New York Times will never again make fun of polyester, plus-size shoppers and J.C. Penney's.

But Hoyt didn't mention the religion and ethics angle that makes this story all the more fascinating. Wilson herself raises the "R" angle in this apology: "Because of my personal beliefs as a Buddhist, I very much regret that my J.C. Penney article in the Times caused any wounded feelings whatsoever particularly to people who already feel they take more than their share of abuse from our very shallow and ridiculous society. I was not sensitive to this, and the extent to which my article exacerbated these feelings is a real failure on my end for which I sincerely apologize."

Where to begin? Could religion become the next journalistic defense. Imagine Rush Limbaugh: "Because I am a Christian, I regret that I accused  President Obama of wanting to kill old people on my radio program. I am sorry to have caused pain to someone (even someone who's a Democrat and wasn't even born here)." Or maybe Wilson can launch a new, Buddhist-based "Compassionate Shopper" column. Instead of writing for "1,300 women in Connecticut and urban gay guys in Manhattan," she could pitch stories for the millions who need a good place to buy a meditation mat or a mandala.

At the very least, Wilson could raise awareness of a new type of Buddhism: one that embraces attachment to the material world and ennobles suffering when a retail environment sucks. I can already see a lot of stories waiting to be written. Now can anyone just shout, "om"?

Diane Winston