Kevin DeYoung makes some great points in Ruthlessness Accompanied by Unctuous Moralizing.  When people “confess” sins that they didn’t commit they are actually making themselves look pious when they aren’t.

It’s always right to confess sin, right?

When God pricks our consciences and brings us to the point where we can see our sin, hate our sin, confess our sin, and turn from our sin and turn to Christ, it is one of the surest signs of the work of the Holy Spirit.

But not all confession is created equal. Confessing faults we don’t really see, just to get people off our backs, is duplicitous. Confessing sins that aren’t really sins is the sign of a conscience gone awry. And confessing the mistakes and moral blindness of others usually amounts to tendentious manipulation. It may be from the best of intentions (or it may not), but it is a dangerous thing to loudly confess a host of sins we have not committed and for which we are not individually, or even corporately, responsible.

Read his entire post.  It is quite good.  Leftists are great at doing what he describes.

On the flip side, sometimes people offer forgiveness when they don’t have standing.  If someone didn’t sin against you, there isn’t anything to forgive.