Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

He also said that his internet access had been cut off “by a state actor” when the Ecuadorians kicked him off their WiFi. I wouldn’t trust what he says.


> He also said that his internet access had been cut off “by a state actor” when the Ecuadorians kicked him off their WiFi.

That's strictly true, though misleading.


Yeah, it’s kind of funny. But it does seem to indicate that he’d rather cause a fuss than convey the truth.


What about it is misleading?


It strongly implies that it was a covert action by the US or its allies to cut him off from the world. When it was actually just his hosts getting tired of his shit.


Wikileaks tweeted it was a "state actor" [0], which is not just technically true, it's actually true because Equador is a state actor and there's no reference or implication at all to the US in that Tweet.

[0] https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/787889195507417088


What's the difference between "technically true" and "actually true"?

Just look at the discussion that occurred:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12725427

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12722929

Everybody understands that phrase to mean some significant action. I am certain that Wikileaks knew that people would understand it that way. They could have said "the Ecuadorians cut off Julian's WiFi access" and people would have understood the situation. Instead, they used extremely slanted language and caused everyone to understand something completely different from what happened.

Communication is ultimately about creating certain thoughts in other people's minds. "Technically correct" gets you no points at all if you deliberately use language that will create incorrect thoughts in others.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: