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Agree, and it's worth it to point out this lazy and insidious usage of "we". Here's Christopher Hitchens on this habit, in the first paragraphs of an early ess
by mturmon 4y ago
Agree, and it's worth it to point out this lazy and insidious usage of "we".
Here's Christopher Hitchens on this habit, in the first paragraphs of an early essay called "The `We' Fallacy":
> Lionel Trilling once wrote a short essay on the problem of ‘we’. Apparently, whenever he said of a novel or other work under review that it engaged ‘our’ sympathy, or that ‘we’ felt repelled by the author’s assumptions, he would receive letters of complaint. Who was this ‘we’, the letterwriters demanded to know, and what allowed Trilling to speak for ‘us’ in this way? The literary critic’s experience may not seem immediately relevant to contemporary politics.
> But as one surveys the dismal field of political commentary, it is hard not to conclude that half the cretinism of the mainstream media is attributable to the ‘we’ fallacy. This is especially true in any discussion of imperialism. There is talk of ‘our’ interests, ‘our’ credibility, and ‘our’ will. [...]