....by *blank*

Here's what infuriates me when someone is speaking and they say something like, "It's not safe to walk home late at night in the city because you might be harassed or assaulted by men." And then someone else says, "Not all men assault women." 

Because 1. Did that person say all men? Did they specifically say, It's not safe to walk home late at night in the city because you might be harassed or assaulted by men."? 

And 2. It's just the way people talk. It's not meant to offend universally, and if you are offended, try to check yourself and see if that's more than a defensive reaction to a painful truth. 

People say things using the plural form of things without the implication that they mean ALL of that thing. 

"If you get cut and are bleeding while you are swimming in the ocean, you should get out of the water before you are attacked my sharks."

"When Harry Potter was picked up by Hagrid and introduced to the world of magic he was happily welcomed by wizards."

"While I was driving during the storm, the leaves were being blown off the trees by the wind."

You don't have to drop everything and interrupt someone to tell them, "NOT ALL SHARKS ATTACK PEOPLE/ WIZARDS LIKE HARRY POTTER/ WIND BLOWS LEAVES OFF TREES."

Because most people already know that. Because they can listen to a statement and think critically about what that statement is really trying to say and not get tangled in the semantics of the statement. Unlike people who go around shrieking "NOT ALL MEN."