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Entry: Remembering Kent State: The President as Street Thug Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/kent_state_the_president_as_street_thug#1425 Post contents: I hate to be a nag, but... "Yes, they were construction workers — dressed up as construction workers." "I recall that the costumes were worn with particular pride..." Please. They were construction workers. Not construction workers in costume, disguised as construction workers, they were construction workers. And like a lot of people who work to pay the bills for both the government and themselves, they were fed up. Also, referring to the phrasing, it is a well known technique to mitigate culpability by deflecting identity of the offending group to some other group. The implication in your original phrasing is that it was not construction workers, but unknown thugs dressed as construction workers who converged on peaceful demonstrators; this is the intended interpretation when it is written such. Thereby solidarity is maintained with both the 'real' construction workers as well as the 'peaceful demonstrators'. Sent at: 2008 10 07