I was prepared to placate the many polite dot-commies by assuring them that New York welcomes their money and energy, and that this juvenile exercise in name-calling is just a way of defusing resentment at the rude minority.
Many are struggling to defuse the resentment directed at the industry.
He went out of his way to praise the "quiet professionals and unsung heroes" of the C.I.A. and said he would work to defuse any resentment of his military background.
Rumors are swirling on Wall Street that Goldman might donate even more money to charity, perhaps as much as $1 billion, in an effort to defuse public resentment directed at the bank.
We must find a way to restore harmony to Tibetan society and defuse the resentment felt toward the Chinese.
If diplomacy is, in part, the adoption of a decorous language to defuse historical resentments for political ends, then diplomacy was abandoned long ago.
Asserting that unspecified "media reports" had caused the station's problems, Pat Dolan tried to justify the policy while defusing viewer resentment.
At the outset of this campaign, he defused dissidents' resentment of sharing power with Sinn Fein by declaring that he would resign as first minister of the province at the end of June unless the I.R.A. begins to disarm.
"His apology is a key to restoring peace in the future, which will take time, but it has already defused hostility and resentment in many Muslim minds," said Waedueramae Maminchi, leader of the Islamic Council of Pattani Province.
