This statement has everything: the bureaucratic indirectness of Soviet speech, the privileging of “fruits of labor” over the people who created them, and, of course, the utter disregard for human life.

The etiquette around “unfriending” is still evolving, a process impeded both by the nomenclature and the indirectness of the interaction.

It's a lot better than indirectness, however—and it's a whole lot less work.

That is the beauty of indirectness: When it works, you get what you want without having to ask for it outright.

Direct answers are important, but indirectness has its place too.