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We are ALL cogs in some kind of machine or other. No matter what you want to call yourself, there is no escape.
Might as well go shopping.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=tiburoninc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lynne -dot- wright=tiburoninc -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Combs, Richard
Sent: Thursday, September 08, 2011 12:08 PM
To: mattgras -at- comcast -dot- net
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: RE: Grammar - The Gotcha Microsoft Gives
mattgras -at- comcast -dot- net wrote:
> You miss my drift.
No, I don't. I'm all too familiar with your drift; I just reject it.
> I am a person.
Is that all? And only that? You're never a writer, reader, a driver, a buyer, ... ? In your documents, when you have to refer to someone other than the reader, do you always and exclusively refer to them as "a person" with no other identifying information?
> I am not a "user," a "customer," or a "consumer."
You are when you use, buy, or consume something.
> All those terms present me in relation to products or services, and
> regard me as a cog in a corporate machine.
They present you in relation to the things you use, buy, and consume. Or are you living in an ethereal world where you don't actually interact with _things_?
They present you as an _actor_, suggesting volition and control, and thus as the _opposite_ of a cog.
> This is, I think, a major problem in our world and one of the reasons
> why profits are more highly regarded than people.
Oh, puh-leez.
Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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