This is perhaps a bit after the event, but the word that kept screaming through my mind as I read this was 'context'. I was surprised, upon searching for the word, that nowhere in your article or anywhere in the comments below did anyone mention the word 'context'. Context is what the passive voice strips from a statement, and the lack of context is what obscures the meaning. It's a minor complaint, but it struck me as odd, the literal lack of 'context'.