Puppy's comments about the use of the passive voice leaped into mind as I read The Note... Deflecting any responsibility or the fact that We Make Choices. Not all of this Just Happened...
Yep. It's the ol' "mistakes were made" defense, rather than "I made a mistake."
or,
Instead of saying "I'm truly sorry I did thus-and-such," you say "I regret if anyone was offended by my actions," almost always followed by some sort of "that certainly wasn't my intention" plea by the Offender to be judged by their intentions rather than their actual results -- a subtle difference that puts all the onus on YOU instead of on ME.
