[auston]

I don't think that anyone is treating him as a "soulless mythical creature", I am interpreting this as people viewing Michael Arrington as a person of low morals/values.

Additionally, I dont actually see anyone blaming Arrington in this thread - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=491784

[unalone]

There's a tendency to assume that people that aren't you are heartless and will do things you never would do yourself. That's very rarely the case. In this case, assuming Arrington would make a huge drama for nothing, claim somebody did something they didn't, and leave the scene just to get some hits is treating him like somebody who's a tad inhuman.