> Both statements are true, but without some other fact they don’t matter so the only reason to mention them is to make a claim without evidence. Especially since I explicitly said I’m not calling you a slut.
Except that's not even remotely like what the Newsweek article said. Sticking with the middle school comparison, what the article said is that hn_throwaway threw a large graduation party that was open to the public, and some religious cultists came to try to recruit from among the partygoers.
There is no attempt to imply that hn_throwaway is a one of the cultists, or approves of the cultists. It is just reporting that the cultists tried to use hn_throwaway's party to find recruits.
I think the newsworthy piece would be if the religious cultists were going to every party trying to recruit, or there was something special about hn_throwaway that the cultists targeted.
The school newspaper writes an article about the party. The article doesn’t answer this question or even indicate whether they tried. So there’s no real reason to report on this other than to link the cultists and hn_throwaway. Actually, the reason is that more students will read the article trying to learn about this cultist thing and hn_throwaway’s recent activity that made them popular among kids.
Yes, but no. It’s called throwing shade and while it is very different from actually showing evidence on a subject and making a claim, it is intended to link the ideas in the readers mind.
In middle school it would go like “I’m not saying hn_throwaway is a slut, but I did see her watching Harry Potter and also saw three other boys who say they like her at the theater that weekend.”
Both statements are true, but without some other fact they don’t matter so the only reason to mention them is to make a claim without evidence. Especially since I explicitly said I’m not calling you a slut.
The article linked does not act responsibly by mentioning these facts in the same article without some link. I think it’s mostly last journalism coupled with trying to click-bait get eyeballs for ads.
I too like HN for our attempted critical thinking, and I like that people keep busting through different theories and trying to get to the source of truth.