The Sum of our Inaction

[Raditzu]

A couple other things, then, that wouldn't hurt to point out. The first, and most obvious, is that no one reading these forums wears shoes only once. I agree that that's disgusting. The second one is more a technique thing that anything else. In your post, you start out using "we" or "you and I" but only for the first eight sentences or so, if that. From then on its nothing but "you" "you" "you". If you're trying to get people, yourself included, to accept blame, then accusing them specifically is a bad way to go about doing it. It makes readers feel attacked or as if they need to defend themselves. They then start either completely ignoring your logic, or breaking it apart with whatever passes for rationalization within their own minds. If you continue to use the "we" pronoun, you start to generate a mroe sympathetic feeling within the reader. They feel your plight and want to connect with it, instead of feeling defensive. Regardless of how good someone's logic may be, its completely moot if their reader shuts down.

Frankly, that's what I did when I read your post. I felt attacked and stopped caring. Sure, I understand the gravity of the situation and so on and so forth, but why should I care? Because you tell me to? We both know I'm too stubborn for that to work. It was very much not clear that you considered yourself part of the problem until one of the very last sentences. The rest of the time it simply gave off this "I'm above this" sort of vibe.

My two cents, take it or leave it. I hate to see good points ruined because of something as silly as a pronoun.