As a native speaker I thought it was clear, akin to the “what are you gonna do, stab me?” -man who was stabbed quote.
For more context:
Andrei Molodkin, the Russian dissident artist, has said he does not believe the works by Picasso, Rembrandt, Andy Warhol and others, which he will lock away in a safe with a corrosive substance this Friday, will actually be destroyed.
“I’m not trying to destroy art, and I don’t believe I will have to,” Molodkin told the Guardian, adding that the project, called Dead Man’s Switch, was itself a collaborative artwork like any sculpture or portrait.
“It’s not activism. I believe that Assange will be free and all the collectors and artists who have donated their work did so because they believe he will not die in prison.”
Instead, the artist added, he is trying to spark a discussion over why “destroying the life of people means nothing but destroying art is a huge taboo in the world”.
That’s exactly my point… The way the headline is worded it conflates his plan with trying to destroy the art when the full context of the quote is his clarifying that he’s specifically not trying to destroy the art nor does he believe it’ll come to that. It’s a misleading headline that also doesn’t quite make sense as it conflates trying to do something with publicly “planning” to do something you don’t believe will actually happen.
As a native speaker I thought it was clear, akin to the “what are you gonna do, stab me?” -man who was stabbed quote.
For more context:
That’s exactly my point… The way the headline is worded it conflates his plan with trying to destroy the art when the full context of the quote is his clarifying that he’s specifically not trying to destroy the art nor does he believe it’ll come to that. It’s a misleading headline that also doesn’t quite make sense as it conflates trying to do something with publicly “planning” to do something you don’t believe will actually happen.
Yes unusually cluckbaity /editorialy news headline from the Guardian I thought.