"Protestants are heretics" is not making it personal. "You are a heretic" is making it personal.
"Catholics are socialists" is not making it personal. "You are a socialist" is making it personal.
"The Inmans hate that" is not making it personal. "You hate that" is making it personal.
Catholics are socialists, I am a Catholic, I am a Freeper, I am a socialist (apparently).
Protestants are heretics, I am not a Protestant, I am a Freeper, I am not a heretic.
What we're doing here is playing games with the English language and reason, I think we should admit it at long last. Allow me to illustrate:
Americans are ignorant hicks.
Who here would not take that personally? I wrote it and even I take it personally. It's an offensive and bigoted thing to say and if I actually meant it I would expect people to take it personally.
The game, as I see it, that's being played, is the pretense of overlooking the silent "you". "You" Catholics, "You" Protestants, "You" Americans, "You" used car dealers. "You" Freepers who happen to be included in any particular group of people.
We are walking virtually into each others living rooms by way of the intertubes and making blanket statements that we then expect magically not to be taken personally by the persons to whom we are communicating. It defies reason because it requires people not to react as they would if the statement was made to their faces.
Imagine this exchange:
Catholics are communists
"Oh really? People who make that claim are festering morons."
SOMEONE just got called a festering moron after someone else was called a commie. Someone should take that personally.
What makes the whole thing absurd is that writing "You really helped me to understand your position" is ok but "You really make me want to drive a fork into my eye" isn't.
Oh well, thank God I don't make the rules or I'd have you all doing laps.