--- Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> wrote: "is it a particular fad in the radical circles to
address interlocutors by third person instead of the customary second person (i.e."he" instead of "you")"
Actually, in a group forum, using the third person is politer than the second. It makes the subject of the remarks seem a little more general than personal. Granted, a viscious attack can be launched in either person, but that wasn't the case here.
BobW
> Russell:
>
> Woj's scathing rejoinder sounds like the umpteenth
> rehash of critiques of
> so-called totalitarianism equating left and right
> wing 'extremes', which I
> think date back to some time in the early '30s and
> were then embellished by
> people like Karl Popper (The Open Society and Its
> Enemies, 1945) and Hannah
> Arendt (The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1957).
>
> [WS:] You are right. To me, totalitarianism is
> totalitarianism, and
> extremist idiocy is extremist idiocy - no matter in
> what ideological
> packaging it is coming. I am not particularly
> affected by the opinions of
> academic celebrities on that subject either.
>
> As to the situation in Darfur that you are referring
> to - I have no opinion
> on it because I feel that I do not know enough facts
> to have one. Having
> said that, however, I generally tend to trust
> international organizations,
> especially the UN, more than I trust national
> governments, and decidedly
> more than any self-styled radical groups (the latter
> have practically zero
> credibility in my book.)
>
> One more thing - is it a particular fad in the
> radical circles to address
> interlocutors by third person instead of the
> customary second person (i.e.
> "he" instead of "you"), or you just think that
> directly talking to people
> like me is beneath your dignity?
>
> Wojtek
>
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