I learned to do it when in a call centre to avoid laying blame on any particular party (the company or the customer). Agreed though it can come across pretty shittily.

Even in corporations that are committed to a good culture of kindness, you can still find opponents who won't hesitate throw you under the bus in order to further an agenda.

Using active tone in corporate is risky, because office politics can accuse it of being aggressive/hostile in order to block a policy. They don't necessarily care that the messenger winds up getting written up by HR and sent to sensitivity training.

I find myself being very careful about then tone of my emails after getting caught in the crossfire between two warring factions. Passive tone is less likely to come back to haunt you.

I really hate having to navigate office politics, but it is what it is.