Do you say "WE" and "OUR" when describing the US governments criminal behavior?

[magentawave]

Do you use the terms "WE" and "OUR" when describing the murders a local street gang carried out - thus identifying yourself as being complicit in those murders? I doubt it, but do you still find yourself using the terms "WE" and "OUR" when describing the criminal acts (or anything else) the US government does...or any other government that you happen to live within the territorial boundaries of?

For example: The US military invades Iraq and murders 2 million people (or whatever the body count is). Do you still find yourself saying things like: "When WE invaded Iraq WE murdered 2 million innocent Iraqi's..." If you still speak using collectivist and nationalistic terms like "WE" and "OUR" when describing government crimes, then please tell me why you do that?

[Syock]

Habit plus an easy term to convey an idea.  I get tired of typing out specific countries when in reality, the country in question is often irrelevant, as they all do the same stuff. 

It is like people that say "our" football team, even though the only thing they have in common is a nearby geographical area. 

[MAM]

I try not to, and I've succeeded to a large extent.

[Disengage]

Yes, occasionally.   When I do, it's usually out of habit.    Sometimes I do it intentionally for sarcasm or to troll anarchists that I know are overly-sensitive to it.

Speaking of which... I fully understand the need to get the "state-speak" out of my head and vocabulary, HOWEVER.... when I'm having a discussion with another anarchist, it's REALLY annoying when they respond to my word choice rather than to the point I'm trying to make.     How about we discuss the point I was making about the application of the NonAggression Principle (for example) rather than my incorrect use of the word "we" in a sentence?

[RJ Miller]

No, because a gang is not a government.

Find more important things to worry about that will advance things rather that nitpick over trivial references to things.

[RJ Miller]

Just to add, I do agree that statements like, "America attacked Iraq" are misleading because they conflate individual actors with entirely intangible entities. A bunch of soldiers under a US flag went into Iraq and attacked SOME (not all) of the Iraqis.

But aside from that, I don't want to get to focused on anything that will make me sound like an ideological shut-in to normal everyday people.

[magentawave]

I agree. Gangs don't justify their actions with pretense like governments do so gangs are far more honest than governments.

I'm not "worried about" this at all dude but the only way to learn is to ask questions and I figured what better place to ask than this forum. So again, please don't take this personally because this is a question I've wanted to ask for quite a few years and your comment in the other thread only served to remind me to ask it. Thank you.

No, because a gang is not a government.

Find more important things to worry about that will advance things rather that nitpick over trivial references to things.

[Krantz]

In writing I usually put quotation marks around our - so it is exactly: "our" government. I also call politicians "master" (like slave-master or feudal landlord - I'm not sure if that's the right word in English) - it would go like: the master has forbidden smoking outdoors.

[SimonJester]

Depends on context and audience.  I frequently use phrases like "We, as a society, are collectively responsible for the actions of our government."  Or. "We, as a Nation, support too many voluntarily-non-productive individuals."

I also distinguish between "my country", "my nation", "our society", and "the (U.S.) government".

I try to be precise in my statements, but some slop and mental short-hand inevitably creeps in.