A Respectful Rant Concerning Slick and the WAN Show

[CenTexBU]

A little about myself...

 

I'm a professional political/campaign consultant from the great state of Texas.  I've been PC gaming since the mid-80s when I received my first Commodore 64, and I've been building my own systems since middle school.  I have dual degrees in Political Science (with an emphasis on constitutional and political theory) and a History degree (with an emphasis on early-American/colonial history).  Professionally, I've worked every imaginable job within a campaign from local and county races to three US Senatorial elections.

The reason I mention all of that is this:  I have a pretty intense high-stress job.  PC gaming is my opportunity to put politics aside, and I find building systems for friends, family, or myself to be cathartic.  Politics and technology are sometimes intertwined especially on issues such as NSA spying, net-neutrality, green-energy subsidies, etc. etc.  All of that is to be expected.  Unfortunately, comments are not always welcome.  I long ago completely stopped reading Gizmodo (and all of Gawker media) because the political punditry and commenting became too annoying.  When I've spent all day neck deep in politics constantly battling with the other side -- a little rest and relaxation from all of that is what I'm looking for....not political pontificating from skinny jean wearing tech bloggers in hipster glasses from San Francisco.

 

Which brings me to my issue with Slick.  I love the WAN Show, and I love Linus' videos.  I find Slick to be quirky, humorous, and very knowledgeable on the *tech* subjects he talks about -- tech is his job, after all.  We are in the middle of campaign season, so I often have to catch up on the WAN Show a week or two after the initial airing.  I just watched the August 22nd show, and Slick's jab at President Bush over his vacation days was less than welcome.  He also made a passing comment several months ago about watching 'The Young Turks', and I nearly lost my lunch -- I simply couldn't watch the rest of the show after that.

Let me say this in defense of President Bush's vacation days:  I was in college when he was a President, and I went to college very near his ranch in Crawford which afforded me the opportunity to do plenty of volunteer work with the White House.  I got to know several members of his staff, and the Secret Service even worked out in our university gym/student center.  One must keep in mind that many of Bush's Texas vacations were for world leader or economic summits.  Regardless, every vacation a President takes is a "working" vacation -- there are no days off.  President Bush, regardless of your personal views of the man or his job in office, worked extremely hard.  He was a high-energy man...always was.  

 

I like Slick, but I don't come to the WAN Show to hear how much he enjoyed TYTs or his opinion on Bush's vacation days or his opinion on any aspect of American politics....period.  I just want to take a break from politics and hear about the latest graphic cards.  Is that so much to ask?

 

/rant 

[qwertywarrior]

tl;dr version

he is pissed at what slick said about Bush's vacation and what he said about the young turks

 

 

 response to op

[AlwaysFSX]

@CenTexBU Now imagine this from the point of view from someone that is fed the general consensus about what's going on in politics and how their view of something is.

 

Two completely different worlds for the same thing.

[Dredgy]

Well a comment here and there isn't bad...they don't exactly make a topic out of it, I can't really say I even notice it. The fact that you've been knee deep in politics all day means it's a situation pretty much exclusively for you.

Likewise, I don't necessarily enjoy listening to people talk about programming in my leisure time, but I just put up with it.

[Ren]

For 1, I think the WAN show should be made as they please.. It's kind of a "get away" from the professional content they make on a daily basis.

 

The second part is that you won't always have new or interesting things to discuss. You'll more than likely see more of this in the future and I hope it stays that way.

 

 

 

The WAN show is where I can go to take a break from the puns and nonsensical humor advertising done on standard videos from LMG. Livestreams are where I go to let loose and have a little more "freedom" with what I watch. It's kind of why I love gaming/esports "talk shows", if you want to call them that, on twitch.

[Hans Christian | Teri]

You chose to work in politics. Everyone is always gonna have an opinion, misinformed or not, deal with it.

[CenTexBU]

Well a comment here and there isn't bad...they don't exactly make a topic out of it, I can't really say I even notice it. The fact that you've been knee deep in politics all day means it's a situation pretty much exclusively for you.

Likewise, I don't necessarily enjoy listening to people talk about programming in my leisure time, but I just put up with it.

I suppose that's my issue.  Programming is well above and over my head; therefore, I can't imagine making some wisecrack about the real or imagined deficiencies of C++.  It's well outside of my wheelhouse.  Another issue is that I have a very favorable opinion of both Slick and Linus, and if I have to hear about Slick's love of the American left too often then I'm afraid I'll quickly put him into the same camp as those with whom I deal on a daily basis.  That's not to say that I don't have plenty of friends from the other side (I do), but it's doubtful I'll have the opportunity to get to know Slick to the degree that I know them.  But if he and Linus ever want to hang out then I'm down with that -- bring a couple of Titans with them to sweeten the deal and we're money.

[Fulgrim]

[tobben]

Well a comment here and there isn't bad...they don't exactly make a topic out of it, I can't really say I even notice it. The fact that you've been knee deep in politics all day means it's a situation pretty much exclusively for you.

Likewise, I don't necessarily enjoy listening to people talk about programming in my leisure time, but I just put up with it.

pretty much this.

 

i don't see how they would achieve what you are asking for considering this is pretty much something exclusive to you, and thus would need to be applied in a general sense. Likewise i have been working at a factory for a while, sometimes i was running around sweating breaking my back and legs while shivering from the responsibility, guess what, i wouldn't expect them to not mention someone building a new factory or a factory burning down, or machinery because it's somehow slightly remotely related to a random thing i would prefer to get away from.

 

that way they would loose all freedom of having casual conversation/discussion or making a remark about anything, they often make misinformed statements about many things, that's what normal people do.

[Toddwjp]

Im sorry that slick is smart enough to realise the republican party is evil. anyway it was a passing comment, the wan show never is about politics but occasional people will have opinions that slip out. also dont defend bush, he was a moron

[CenTexBU]

Im sorry that slick is smart enough to realise the republican party is evil. anyway it was a passing comment, the wan show never is about politics but occasional people will have opinions that slip out. also dont defend bush, he was a moron

It isn't about defending Bush per se.  I'm a paleoconservative and RLC-member, so clearly my disgust with Bush and his presidency knows few limits.  Your poorly informed and broad generalization of the Republican Party aside, this isn't about being upset he took a swipe at Bush.  It's about the fact that all I want to do is read one tech website/blog or watch one VLOG/internet program that is about tech without the individual commentators feeling the need to let everyone know their political inclinations when it has ZERO to do with the given story or strain of conversation.

 

As I said in my OP, sometimes talking about politics is unavoidable.  It's impossible to avoid when technology and public policy intersect, so I can accept some political discussion in that context.  But other times I find it highly off-putting.

[xXxYOLOxSWAGxXx_420BlazeIt]

A little about myself...

 

I'm a professional political/campaign consultant from the great state of Texas.  I've been PC gaming since the mid-80s when I received my first Commodore 64, and I've been building my own systems since middle school.  I have dual degrees in Political Science (with an emphasis on constitutional and political theory) and a History degree (with an emphasis on early-American/colonial history).  Professionally, I've worked every imaginable job within a campaign from local and county races to three US Senatorial elections.

The reason I mention all of that is this:  I have a pretty intense high-stress job.  PC gaming is my opportunity to put politics aside, and I find building systems for friends, family, or myself to be cathartic.  Politics and technology are sometimes intertwined especially on issues such as NSA spying, net-neutrality, green-energy subsidies, etc. etc.  All of that is to be expected.  Unfortunately, comments are not always welcome.  I long ago completely stopped reading Gizmodo (and all of Gawker media) because the political punditry and commenting became too annoying.  When I've spent all day neck deep in politics constantly battling with the other side -- a little rest and relaxation from all of that is what I'm looking for....not political pontificating from skinny jean wearing tech bloggers in hipster glasses from San Francisco.

 

Which brings me to my issue with Slick.  I love the WAN Show, and I love Linus' videos.  I find Slick to be quirky, humorous, and very knowledgeable on the *tech* subjects he talks about -- tech is his job, after all.  We are in the middle of campaign season, so I often have to catch up on the WAN Show a week or two after the initial airing.  I just watched the August 22nd show, and Slick's jab at President Bush over his vacation days was less than welcome.  He also made a passing comment several months ago about watching 'The Young Turks', and I nearly lost my lunch -- I simply couldn't watch the rest of the show after that.

Let me say this in defense of President Bush's vacation days:  I was in college when he was a President, and I went to college very near his ranch in Crawford which afforded me the opportunity to do plenty of volunteer work with the White House.  I got to know several members of his staff, and the Secret Service even worked out in our university gym/student center.  One must keep in mind that many of Bush's Texas vacations were for world leader or economic summits.  Regardless, every vacation a President takes is a "working" vacation -- there are no days off.  President Bush, regardless of your personal views of the man or his job in office, worked extremely hard.  He was not a high-energy man...always was.  

 

I like Slick, but I don't come to the WAN Show to hear how much he enjoyed TYTs or his opinion on Bush's vacation days or his opinion on any aspect of American politics....period.  I just want to take a break from politics and hear about the latest graphic cards.  Is that so much to ask?

 

/rant 

Completely agree.

 

The young turds are liberal brainwashing propaganda. Anyone that watches them unironically is a fool.

[APrettyCoolWalrus]

"I'm a professional political/campaign consultant from the great state of Texas."

[MichaelBP]

It isn't about defending Bush per se.  I'm a paleoconservative and RLC-member, so clearly my disgust with Bush and his presidency knows few limits.  Your poorly informed and broad generalization of the Republican Party aside, this isn't about being upset he took a swipe at Bush.  It's about the fact that all I want to do is read one tech website/blog or watch one VLOG/internet program that is about tech without the individual commentators feeling the need to let everyone know their political inclinations when it has ZERO to do with the given story or strain of conversation.

 

As I said in my OP, sometimes talking about politics is unavoidable.  It's impossible to avoid when technology and public policy intersect, so I can accept some political discussion in that context.  But other times I find it highly off-putting.

 

I think you make way to much of a deal out of this. The personal-host style of the WAN show is pretty much a fundamental thing, of course you are getting some political references ones in a while, but that is sort of the cost with that style. It could be a lot more, and much more often then it is. I really don't see the problem. 

 

If you don't want to hear about jobrelated topics in your spare time, then a job in politics might not be ideal. 

[Toddwjp]

It isn't about defending Bush per se.  I'm a paleoconservative and RLC-member, so clearly my disgust with Bush and his presidency knows few limits.  Your poorly informed and broad generalization of the Republican Party aside, this isn't about being upset he took a swipe at Bush.  It's about the fact that all I want to do is read one tech website/blog or watch one VLOG/internet program that is about tech without the individual commentators feeling the need to let everyone know their political inclinations when it has ZERO to do with the given story or strain of conversation.

 

As I said in my OP, sometimes talking about politics is unavoidable.  It's impossible to avoid when technology and public policy intersect, so I can accept some political discussion in that context.  But other times I find it highly off-putting.

 

 

my view of the republican party is very well informed and i don't appreciated you insinuating other wise, the evil was a jest exaggeration.  Also believe me being an atheist liberal we have to deal with what your complaining about alot more. the way i cope with it is i dont let it bother me.

[-TesseracT-]

Wow who the hell cares?

[Totallycasual]

I'm just from Australia but doesn't most of the world hate Bush anyway? i mean everyone is entitled to their opinion and i respect everyone but i cant see how being offended at someone having a crack at Bush would be a good way to go, if that's how you plan to go through life prepare to be offended all the time. I would have thought someone in politics at any level would have thicker skin. 

[SeriouslyMikey]

What can I say? George Bush was and still is a moron. Probably would eat the pieces in a Scrabble set. 

[CenTexBU]

I'm just from Australia but doesn't most of the world hate Bush anyway? i mean everyone is entitled to their opinion and i respect everyone but i cant see how being offended at someone having a crack at Bush would be a good way to go, if that's how you plan to go through life prepare to be offended all the time. I would have thought someone in politics at any level would have thicker skin. 

I addressed this in the OP.  I'm not offended at all -- My point was that I like to take a break from politics when I watch tech shows such as the WAN Show.  The last thing I want to hear is Slick's personal political views.  Irony being, I suppose, is that by mentioning all of this I'm sitting here discussing the issue far more than Slick ever did on the WAN Show.

[Totallycasual]

You would rarely if at all see politics mentioned in any of the content Linus produces but the WAN show is a little more informal, its a personal sit down with two nerds to talk crap about the weeks events/news and sometimes it strays from tech but very rarely. I think you're making way too much out of this honestly, are you sure you didn't just want an opportunity to toot your own horn and talk about your political leanings? 

[Briggsy]

The rest of the world generally have no emotional attachment to U.S. politicians or to U.S. political notions. our news abroad isn't saturated with US propaganda and bipartisan rhetoric. demanding that people outside of the U.S. be sensitive to U.S. politicians is asinine. threads like this are why words like "Waambulance" and "whine-1-1" exist, especially when personal frustrations are vented at the easiest target in sight, in the guise of defending someone else.

[CenTexBU]

The rest of the world generally have no emotional attachment to U.S. politicians or to U.S. political notions. our news abroad isn't saturated with US propaganda and bipartisan rhetoric. demanding that people outside of the U.S. be sensitive to U.S. politicians is asinine. threads like this are why words like "Waambulance" and "whine-1-1" exist, especially when personal frustrations are vented at the easiest target in sight, in the guise of defending someone else.

Aye, but I don't care if he's sensitive or not.  I would simply rather not hear about it on a tech blog.  If he has some sort of personal blog in which he rants about American and Canadian politics then more power to him, but I desperately want to keep my tech news political-free.  Surely nobody wants to hear my thoughts on Harper or Mulcair.  

[flibberdipper]

Pretty sure it was all meant to be a joke, but whatever.

[Totallycasual]

Aye, but I don't care if he's sensitive or not.  I would simply rather not hear about it on a tech blog.  If he has some sort of personal blog in which he rants about American and Canadian politics then more power to him, but I desperately want to keep my tech news political-free.  Surely nobody wants to hear my thoughts on Harper or Mulcair.  

If you desperately want to keep your tech news politics-free you should probably avoid informal content like this then, stick to the product reviews/benchmarks and you can be sure you wont hear anything about Politicians.  

[Briggsy]

Aye, but I don't care if he's sensitive or not.  I would simply rather not hear about it on a tech blog.  If he has some sort of personal blog in which he rants about American and Canadian politics then more power to him, but I desperately want to keep my tech news political-free.  Surely nobody wants to hear my thoughts on Harper or Mulcair.  

 

actually, anyone ripping on Harper is usually met with high-fives, even by Harper himself if hes within ear shot.

 

I can only speculate that U.S. culture is over saturated with political rhetoric, and some people in the U.S. have had their fill, even when its a joke like the Bush comment (which I laughed out loud at when I heard btw).