For instance, if there were a man in a red shirt annoying me, I could say, “Hey, man in the red shirt—stop it,” or I could say, “All of you people really need to stop bugging me.”

Now, in the first case the man in the red shirt would understand that I found him personally annoying and that I expected him to change his behavior. Maybe he’d even stop being annoying. It would be a thing of beauty.

However, in the second case, the man in the red shirt may completely miss the point. And even worse, the guy in the blue shirt who was giving me a neck rub may think that I found him to be annoying. Then he would guiltily stop giving me a neck rub. Personally, I would find this to be extremely counter-productive.

I will grant that it is sometimes a little difficult to single out an individual in some forums, but then again, maybe it would be best to simply take the individual aside and mention the problem. This may also avoid a whole vicious cycle of passive-aggressiveness that may otherwise just become extremely petty.

Another time when generalities rear their ugly heads is when someone is trying to change a problem. Complaining about what people in general are doing without offering up specific cases and specific remedies to the problem really doesn’t seem to do much at all. Well, it might make some random do-gooder feel bad, and everyone else just won’t care.

I would like to clarify something—people do not necessarily want to hear your criticism, nor will they pretend to be happy once having heard it. Perhaps they believe that they don’t have any faults. Maybe they think that you are the root of the problem. On the plus side though, you’ll at least be talking. And the world will be a better place.

Okay, maybe not. But it’s nice to dream.