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Comment by yardie | Hacker News Reader

“ Richard Wagner’s racism and antisemitism have led some to argue that his music should not be taught”

Who is some? Who is making this argument? Why do reporters use this nebulous nobody/everybody instead of directly stating who makes these kinds of statements.

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Reporters do this all the time, presumably because it allows them to say what they want to say without having to prove anything.

Because it allows them to give undeserved weight to dubious sources or inject their own opinion or the opinions of their friends or colleagues without disclosure or justification.

The Times is a Murdoch rag, the modus operandi is start with the outrage you want to create and then find a story to shoehorn in there.

My typical approach to such unfalsifiable anecdotes is to counter them with an equally unfalsifiable anecdote, such as:

"Ah yes, I remember the person who argued this. It was a right wing nationalist who went on to kill several people, right?"

> Why do reporters use this nebulous nobody/everybody instead of directly stating who makes these kinds of statements.

Media does it: and it is strong editorial policy/media market preference, because it allows a stronger, more emotionally engaging narrative to be crafted without literal untruth.

People associate “engagement” with new/social media, but old media has been about it for centuries, just with less precise analytics.

It's journalism, not an academic paper; it's common knowledge; it's to be expected.

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