That isn't how I read it either. I honestly wasn't making it about that. However, the premise that "gankers gank because there's no other kind of PvP in open" was part of the OP and challenging it was therefore not a derail.
As for "absolute statements", Just calling like I've seen it since premium beta. When I'm not in "completely asocial and grouchy hermit" mode I enjoy meaningful PvP. At game launch I played open more often than not and had some memorable encounters with some of the ED pirates that made quite a name for themselves on here. I was even on decent terms with many members of the CODE even though if we ever found ourselves in the same instance it was a given they'd be after a piece of my cargo, or a piece of ME if the cargo wasn't forthcoming! We respected each other and enjoyed the challenge of outwitting each other as much as the pewpew. We each collected our share of the others scalps too although they got more of mine than I ever did of theirs. But slowly, over time, the "real pirates" became a smaller and smaller percentage of open-mode PvPers.
These days, I get my PvP fix in a "RL buddies only, no jerks allowed" PG, which nobody gets invited to unless a few of the current members know the prospect IRL. It takes away the anonymity that is so much a part of the GIFT theory. It's hard to be a jerk if you know that if you do the next dozen rounds of drinks are going to be on you the next time we get together IRL.