What part of their comment assumes that everyone else is from their country? I only see them referring to themselves and their own country.
If I said “we need public transit as a city” am I assuming that everyone lives in my city or am I simply talking about my own city? I don’t see why this is any different and it seems very nitpicky.
I still don’t see how saying that you want x or y in your country is equivalent to talking like your community is the default.
I would totally agree if the statement was “we need x in my country and you all should vote for it” because that would be assuming everyone reading is able to participate and therefore lives there. But that’s far from what the statement was, which made no assumptions and didn’t even mention a country. All they said was that they want something in their country.
talking like your city is the default and everyone knows which one you’re talking about.
Does this mean that everyone must always specify the geographic area they are from when they talk about it lest they risk being accused of assuming everyone knows? I often say that “we need public transit in my city” and it never once crossed my mind that other people would know or assume what city I’m referring to.
While you’re right. It would be better to say something like “I need it for my country” or “US needs it”. Since English doesn’t distinguish between inclusive and exclusive “we”, it can lead to the conclusion that the commenter supposes people reading their comment are from US as well.
I agree it could be more clear, but I don’t think it’s fair to jump down their throat when they didn’t even mention the US. It just strikes me as an uncharitable interpretation.
(Protip: It’s because we know they’ve assumed the US as the default country, since that’s a really common phenomenon)
I think that would be a valid complaint if they had actually lumped everyone in this thread into their statement by assuming that everyone here lives in the US by default, but I sincerely think that any charitable interpretation of their comment reads as “we” simply meaning “the people of my country”.
What part of their comment assumes that everyone else is from their country? I only see them referring to themselves and their own country.
If I said “we need public transit as a city” am I assuming that everyone lives in my city or am I simply talking about my own city? I don’t see why this is any different and it seems very nitpicky.
That’s exactly what I would assume, because you’re talking like your city is the default and everyone knows which one you’re talking about.
I still don’t see how saying that you want x or y in your country is equivalent to talking like your community is the default.
I would totally agree if the statement was “we need x in my country and you all should vote for it” because that would be assuming everyone reading is able to participate and therefore lives there. But that’s far from what the statement was, which made no assumptions and didn’t even mention a country. All they said was that they want something in their country.
Does this mean that everyone must always specify the geographic area they are from when they talk about it lest they risk being accused of assuming everyone knows? I often say that “we need public transit in my city” and it never once crossed my mind that other people would know or assume what city I’m referring to.
While you’re right. It would be better to say something like “I need it for my country” or “US needs it”. Since English doesn’t distinguish between inclusive and exclusive “we”, it can lead to the conclusion that the commenter supposes people reading their comment are from US as well.
I agree it could be more clear, but I don’t think it’s fair to jump down their throat when they didn’t even mention the US. It just strikes me as an uncharitable interpretation.
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I think that would be a valid complaint if they had actually lumped everyone in this thread into their statement by assuming that everyone here lives in the US by default, but I sincerely think that any charitable interpretation of their comment reads as “we” simply meaning “the people of my country”.
Yeah I realized my reply was a bit silly so I retracted it, I’m guessing I was a bit late and you’d already replied.
It’s all good! For some reason your comment still shows up in my inbox in Sync so I didn’t realize