That's just it, the appology comes from a place where you acknowledge their right to their views. Afterall, I only have my own subjective pov on the world to go on and who says it's better than theirs? They're entitled to theirs and if i can see where they come from, even if I don't agree with it, I will apologize for my behavior. I won't retract my words, but I will restore the social bond going: listen, I handled that wrongly, I can see that now. I still disagree with you and how you hanlded things, but I understand you did what you believed to be right. If it was specifically something that had to do with me (breach of trust or somehow affecting e personally), I'd tell them how I felt about it, calmly and negotiate a new 'social contract' that would accomodate both our povs as much as possible, so that we both stand to gain from it without having to give up our personal space. If not possible, I'll ask them to not repeat the behavior around me for the benefit of our relationship.