| Author | Message | ||
     Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 8088 Registered: 05-2005 |
I hope none of our German board members, or their family or friends were caught up in what happened in Berlin. 2016 has been a truly terrible year for the world. | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 3705 Registered: 03-2005 |
I second Padraig's post. I have truly admired the conduct of the Germans over the past couple of years. I've been counting on Angela Merkel to shoulder the daunting role of political moral leader in the upcoming year, what with my countrymen having voted for the polar opposite. This attack is not only against Germany and Ms. Merkel; it is against every one of us who believes in fair and open societies and human cooperation. | ||
| fsh Member Username: Fsh Post Number: 325 Registered: 05-2005 |
'Our'German board members are not 'ours', 'yours', 'mine' or anybody elses'. They're just German board members period. I speak on my own behalf and I let other people speak for themselves. It makes communication easier and it feels less coercive than when someone else claims to be speaking for you. | ||
| Rob Brookman Member Username: Rob_b Post Number: 1812 Registered: 08-2006 |
I didn't take Padraig's well wishes as anything but inclusionary. We're a community here, and "our," to my mind, is a perfectly acceptable and non-offensive pronoun indicating a connectedness. As a writer, I'm not sure how eliminating common pronouns makes communication easier. And coercive? I'll let that lay. |