[iszomer]

> The statement "P doesn't Q people, people Q people" is absolutely devoid of any useful information or novel insight, and doesn't take the conversation in a new direction that is useful. In fact, it can kick the conversation into an anti-productive quagmire.

Are you presuming everyone reading and responding to this thread are on your level of interpretation or analytical superiority? This is the first time reading about "P doesn't Q people, people Q people" on HN and I imagine won't be the last. There is no "In fact," here and it already rubbed off as a completely pretentious statement, which given the circumstances is not unusual in a place like this.

(I didn't downvote you but am expecting a downvote)

[austinjp]

Well, the parent post I replied to said this:

> Is the knife a murderer or the person who wields it?

I attempted to abstract that, to make my response impersonal. The archetype is based on a phrase well known in some countries, but certainly not all (my apologies for making assumptions): "guns don't kill people, people kill people".

Another reason I avoided that specific sentence was to avoid the strong emotions it invokes.

About what I wrote starting "In fact...", the sentences following that were my attempt to expand the point about quagmires.

Oh well. Thanks for the response anyway! :)