> The “I believe Republicans hate poor people.” is an example I took directly from the article and was not me stating my own opinion. I didn't intend to imply

> The “I believe Republicans hate poor people.” is an example I took directly from the article and was not me stating my own opinion. I didn't intend to imply otherwise. I was using "you" in the general sense. > The author seems to be indicating however that opinions should be delivered as statements I didn't read his article that way -- can you point out where you got that impression? I just went back and re-read it and I still didn't see it making that argument. I read his argument as being specific to "I feel like". For example, these lines: > I have a theory that this phrase truly took hold in the feel-good, self-esteem driven, sharing-is-caring educational environment that permeated the 90’s childhood. and > For instance, if someone does something offensive to you, tell them how you felt affected, not how wrong they were. The closest thing I can find to your reading of it is in the next paragraph, > Instead of becoming more certain about ideas or beliefs we hold, we use verbal legalese to de-escalate our statements. But I use "I think" for things I've actually thought about. If I haven't thought about something then I wouldn't bother opening my mouth (or keyboard?) about it. Maybe the author can chime in here.