Lippard (2007-10-21):
Is the argument perhaps that the passivity comes into it because it's being communicated through a note?
BTW, regarding "literally," there's a blog just for that, which perhaps you've already seen...
AlisonM (2007-10-29):
I think it's funny enough to forgive the mistake. I can get pretty nit-picky about language mistakes, but I like to allow some leeway for particularly clever folks.
It always bugs me, when I go to that blog, that most of the notes are not passive aggressive. They are merely aggressive, which is still plenty entertaining; I just wish people would use phrases/words like passive aggressive, literally, and begs the question appropriately. I guess I'm just a horrible prescriptivist.