We all adhere to that mantra already. That's why we're not being assholes to each other, we're just being assertive/straight-talking/pragmatic/realistic/tough-l

We all adhere to that mantra already. That's why we're not being assholes to each other, we're just being assertive/straight-talking/pragmatic/realistic/tough-love. And if we were being an asshole, it was unavoidable / necessary in that situation. And if it wasn't, it was just a rare slip-up on our part, we're not normally like that, everyone slips up sometimes, to err is human, and only a total asshole would call us an asshole for such an trivial and inevitable lapse in our normally-impeccable judgement.