Inserting unneeded politics into tech articles/discussion

[UsandThem]

https://www.pcgamer.com/i-built-my-...-old-pc-parts-and-ive-never-felt-so-powerful/

I never go into P&N as I hate discussing/arguing over politics. I generally avoid anything politically focused (news channels, pundits, etc.).

So I see an article on PC Gamer about an author building his own router. It sounded interesting as I like learning about stuff like that, and I began reading it. Then about halfway through the article, and for no logical reason I can think of besides the author wanted to politicize a tech article and insert their views, they decided to say:



Once I read to this point of the article, I stopped reading it and closed the tab. It's not like I even disagree with it, it's just some people (on both sides of the fence) try to insert politics into something that shouldn't be political at all (like building a router). As you can imagine, the comment section became a political argument battleground of insults, with users from both sides taking part. PC Gamer is owned by Future, so I'm kind of surprised the editor (or whoever looks at the articles) approved it as they had to know what would happen.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

 

[brianmanahan]

lol how would that even get through the editor?

regardless of what people think there's not even a segue there

 

[lxskllr]

I don't think I've really seen that unless there was a political element to the article topic. He had to really stretch to fit that analogy in there. Regardless of politics, that's just poor writing.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

lol how would that even get through the editor?

regardless of what people think there's not even a segue there

You think anybody pays extra for editors anymore? Hah! Shows what you know about the flaws of capitalism. Read more leftist Twitter rants, fascist!

(Am I doing it right?)

 

[shortylickens]

The big problem with this year is too many people locked up, which leads to unrest and things worth talking about but people can't talk in person so their opinions get put into their work. I am glad for one reason I lost my job at New Years: Probably would have been forced to talk to co-workers about current events and we would have gotten irritable and had fights. Way too many people wanna share their opinions and thats a recipe for disaster.

 

[KMFJD]

Someone messed up, that would normally never make it past the editor

 

[Torn Mind]

Um, wake up dude. The people in the press always was the "influencing class" in this country. The "news" used to be the only platform. It's just now in to lay it all out these days.

Also, the poor guy can't get things straight. That link for the local LA budget. That is one locality in which defeunding may or may not work. Not something that can be swallowed wholesale on a general level.

Directing traffic is the least harmful thing a cop can do. Like seriously. It's hand signals and maybe a flag.

Yeah, good luck fixing the LAPD. They are corrupt but taking away a little money won't stop the corruption. Ah, that is the same force that protected Stephanie Lazarus until internal goals of just closing cases did her in, and the detectives working to bust her had to be verrrry secretive so they wouldn't get caught and face....consequences.

Defund the police actually means "give it to other bureaucracy that may or may not work because it assumes the target group and government officials cannot act in bad faith and waste funds".

 

[UsandThem]

Um, wake up dude. The people in the press always was the "influencing class" in this country. The "news" used to be the only platform. It's just now in to lay it all out these days.

Also, the poor guy can't get things straight. That link for the local LA budget. That is one locality in which defeunding may or may not work. Not something that can be swallowed wholesale on a general level.

Directing traffic is the least harmful thing a cop can do. Like seriously. It's hand signals and maybe a flag.

Yeah, good luck fixing the LAPD. They are corrupt but taking away a little money won't stop the corruption. Ah, that is the same force that protected Stephanie Lazarus until internal goals of just closing cases did her in, and the detectives working to bust her had to be verrrry secretive so they wouldn't get caught and face....consequences.

Defund the police actually means "give it to other bureaucracy that may or may not work because it assumes the target group and government officials cannot act in bad faith and waste funds".

You could probably become a writer for PC Gamer.

 

[Torn Mind]

You could probably become a writer for PC Gamer.

No one would want me because I would not tow the lines. I drop my axe on any piece of trash that displeaseth me. One day I sound "conservative" and another day I'll sound "liberal"

Reading the Wikipedia article on Bonnie and Clyde and the sensational errors by journalists then served as a clear eye-opener that newspaper pen boys and gals are real pieces of garbage and the record only gets cleared years after the intended audience are dead or no longer cares.

 

[UsandThem]

No one would want me because I would not tow the lines. I drop my axe on any piece of trash that displeaseth me. One day I sound "conservative" and another day I'll sound "liberal"

But just think, you could write a review for a game like Cyberpunk 2077 or Microsoft Simulator 2020, and get the opportunity to discuss whatever politics you wanted to. You could totally be like "Cyberpunk 2077 is not in a playable state at this time, and is full of bugs and other issues. And speaking of issues, can you believe [insert president here] inaction in [insert region here]? Furthermore, this game would be a more playable condition if they changed the [insert law here] and [funded/super-funded/defunded] funds that should be spent on [insert group here]".



That's the point. It's keeping political debate out of things where it shouldn't be. An article on building a router should never include statements on police funding or defunding.

 

[PowerEngineer]

FWIW, the phrase is "toe the line"

IMHO the author of your article provides an example of an underlying problem we see all too often in these days of rising "populist" politics. So many people who are arguably knowledgeable enough to be considered experts is some narrow field come to think that their opinions about matters outside their field are equally deserving of attention. Just look at how many non-medical "experts" are spewing their convictions on the value of face masks and the safety of the COVID vaccines. 🙄

Of course, human psychology is outside my field of expertise... 😄

 

[Iron Woode]

I built my own router/firewall back in the day using Freesco for the software.

I used a socket 370 setup with 128 MB of ram and a 2 GB HDD. I used an 8 port switch(10/100) and it worked great.

 

[UsandThem]

I built my own router/firewall back in the day using Freesco for the software.

I used a socket 370 setup with 128 MB of ram and a 2 GB HDD. I used an 8 port switch(10/100) and it worked great.

Cool tech experience, but what I really want to know is how do you feel about your Prime Minister's performance in handling the economy and Covid response, and dealing with the increase in crime in major cities in Canada?

 

[Iron Woode]

Cool tech experience, but what I really want to know is how do you feel about your Prime Minister's performance in handling the economy and Covid response, and dealing with the increase in crime in major cities in Canada?

I am not sure if I am allowed to post that many swear words in OT.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Is it any different in how your local evening news forces its reports to hype every story for the sake of ad revenues? They'll hide whatever it takes to make money in whatever boring article they can dream up. But I've encountered the same exact thing and just stopped reading and visited other sites instead.

 

[UsandThem]

I am not sure if I am allowed to post that many swear words in OT.

I guess someone will never be a tech writer for PC Gamer then.

 

[WelshBloke]

FWIW, the phrase is "toe the line"

Maybe he's going to moderate things with a fancy wire guided missile?
I'm sure a few moderators here have wished abouts such things!

 

[UsandThem]

Is it any different in how your local evening news forces its reports to hype every story for the sake of ad revenues? They'll hide whatever it takes to make money in whatever boring article they can dream up. But I've encountered the same exact thing and just stopped reading and visited other sites instead.

I understand advertising hidden in plain site as a "story".

I just don't understand a tech article (on a major tech site) including political viewpoints in an article that has nothing to do with the article. This writer created an analogy of police directing traffic compared to how a router works, and then immediately went on to defunding police departments. It would be like "SSD controllers work by telling the operating system where on the NAND the data is stored. It is very much like our illegal immigration system, where only the government knows where the detainees are".

That makes zero freaking sense to me to make such huge leaps trying simplify how computer technology works. How a router handles internet traffic has zero connections to police defunding.

 

[sandorski]

I could have written for PC Gamer, but I Misgendered an Adaptor and got Cancelled. :sadface;

 

[WelshBloke]

How a router handles internet traffic has zero connections to police defunding.

This is true. But look at the advertising at sports events. They have nothing to do with those either and people don't blink an eye.


I agree that the advertising you flagged was clumsy and horrible in the middle of that article but that's just because we aren't so used to political ads in tech stories. Make it about sugary drinks in a sports event and its suddenly totally fine!

 

[WelshBloke]

I could have written for PC Gamer, but I Misgendered an Adaptor and got Cancelled. :sadface;

Thats why we wanted that USB C plug that could go in in any orientation!

 

[UsandThem]

I could have written for PC Gamer, but I Misgendered an Adaptor and got Cancelled. :sadface;

 

[shortylickens]

Family Guy is normally just unfunny pop references, but once in great while they really nail one home.
Like The Simpsons they continued way too long.

 

[UsandThem]

Family Guy is normally just unfunny pop references, but once in great while they really nail one home.
Like The Simpsons they continued way too long.

Yeah, I still like most new episodes and still like their brand of humor (crude, sexual, immature stuff that my wife rolls her eyes at ), but the quality has dropped off. They really aren't afraid to make fun of anyone or anything (sometimes they can go too far).

However, I really haven't watched a new Simpsons episode in a long time. The quality of that show took a huge nosedive and never recovered IMO. The first 10 years were pretty funny for the most part.

 

[WelshBloke]

Family Guy is normally just unfunny pop references, but once in great while they really nail one home.
Like The Simpsons they continued way too long.

Thats a pretty pithy clip.
I like to think that I'm fairly inclusive and non judgmental. I'm also pretty old and forgetful. If I call people something they don't want to be called its because I either didn't remember them telling me what they wanted to be called or because I can't be arsed to keep up with what the latest acceptable thing is. Hell I only just found out that "Oriental" isn't OK to describe people or things from the Orient. I'm not entirely sure why but if it pisses people off I'll try not to use it. I'm assuming that Asian and European is still OK.
I've found that being wrong about stuff is fine. Being stubborn about stuff isn't. And if someone wants to pick a fight with you about something daft it's just best to walk away.