we can recognize when we hit someone we care about with the shotgun blast.

Such as saying "No one I know has ever been a jerkass, incompetent doctor, how dare you vent your fear and frustration on doctors"?

No, as in, "I have legitimate issues, and in going on an exaggerated rant about it, I hurt some of my friends, and I'm sorry."

an exaggerated rant

Please define when expressing a long-standing fear of doctors that cripples one's willingness to get needed treatment becomes exaggerated. A list of acceptable metaphors, adjectives, adverbs, and similes would be appreciated.

exaggerated as in: The words I typed said doctors are self-righteous etc., but I did not mean all doctors. Exactly what was argued upthread about why people shouldn't take offense.

Not to speak for KB, but there aren't any doctors actually on the board are there? I know that I will qualify my rants if I know that my rant refers directly to someone (i.e. Microsoft sucks, except for Jilli and Plei), but if I don't know that someone reading the comment is an actual UPS driver (oh, wait, we have Connie, now, right?) I wouldn't necessarily bother to qualify.

To clarify, I'm not saying that anyone who is bothered shouldn't speak up, but I thought that the tone of the comments was a little much, especially since it seemed pretty clear to me that it was hyperbole. Nothing wrong with saying "My doctor's always been great, wish you had someone like him", or "whoa, my friend's a doctor and he doesn't suck".

Look. I don't have a particular dog in this fight. All I'm trying to say is, I get that people have valid complaints about some doctors. I think lisah and ND have a right to be upset with the way that complaint was expressed.

Aims, that's truly horrible about your friend's child. How terrifying! May healing of both spirit and body happen quickly and smoothly. And may the owners of the dog know best how to handle this so as to prevent a recurrence.

I've been considering how to wade into this, but I think I will not.

Come, now! I didn't say that none of us are the *Empress*!

You did indeed qualify that. My over-inflated ego thanks you.

I would never overlook the Empress!

The words I typed said doctors are self-righteous etc., but I did not mean all doctors.

So it's incumbent on the ranter to over-explain in case someone interprets hyperbole in a literal fashion?

Good to know.

Like DJ, I have no dog in this fight, but I can think of any number of times where a negative broad stroke was painted, no qualifiers given, and someone took offense - regardless of their own personal experiences that caused them to feel like that.

I've been called for doing it any number of times (jeebus Aimee, learn will ya?) and I apologized for hurting my friends.