There's a distinct difference between saying that you know someone is incompetent, and saying that you don't know that someone is competent. It's the same as the difference between agnosticism and atheism.
Understood, but it's still weaselly because you're offhandedly casting aspersions on a group of people's ability ("I have no reason to believe those people are competent") and then pretending like it doesn't hurt their reputation because of the exact words you spoke ("I never said they were incompetent, just that I have no reason to believe they are competent").
Agnosticism vs atheism, while logically the same distinction does not have this libelous aspect to it.
Understood, but it's still weaselly because you're offhandedly casting aspersions on a group of people's ability ("I have no reason to believe those people are competent") and then pretending like it doesn't hurt their reputation because of the exact words you spoke ("I never said they were incompetent, just that I have no reason to believe they are competent").
Agnosticism vs atheism, while logically the same distinction does not have this libelous aspect to it.