Wired’s Kevin Poulsen (Threat Level) judges Apple fanatics vs. Ron Paul enthusiasts to find out who’s nuttier.
MacDailyNews Note: In September, Mac users were called fruits; a few more ingredients and we’ll become a nice Trail Mix.
In the past two weeks, THREAT LEVEL reporters have managed to draw the wrath of two different cultural tribes renown for their resolve and certitude: Apple fanatics, and Ron Paul enthusiasts.
Apple fans pummeled Kim for her story on the iPhone’s controversial security model, while Ron Paul boosters went after Sarah for her piece on a recent spurt of deceptive spam promoting the Republican presidential candidate. Some representatives from each group got vicious, resorting to personal smears, sometimes laced with misogyny.
In other words, just another day at the office; smears and ad hominem attacks are an occupational hazard of journalism. But having two backlashes at about the same time provides us a rare opportunity to compare the religious fervor of two net-savvy cults of true believers.
Full article with handy comparison chart, in which “Ron Paulites win by a landslide,” Think Before You Click™, here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “The Dude” for the heads up and also for inspiring our Take below.]
Obviously, Wired subscribers are the real nut jobs.
MDN, a perfect take!
ACtually – Ron Paul is the ONLY candidate that makes sense – is a strict Constitutionalist.
If you are sick of government – and I think we all are on BOTH of the current pathetic sides – RP is the only one to vote for!
Ron Paul is bought and paid for by Soros, Media Matters, Move on, Clinton……
https://www.ronpaul2008.com/iphone
MW: easy.
Ron Paul is a good man and is the only candidate that is for real. The rest are just playing political games as usual.
I hope the american public will give him a fair chance
Brief Overview of Congressman Paul’s Record:
He has never voted to raise taxes.
He has never voted for an unbalanced budget.
He has never voted for a federal restriction on gun ownership.
He has never voted to raise congressional pay.
He has never taken a government-paid junket.
He has never voted to increase the power of the executive branch.
He voted against the Patriot Act.
He voted against regulating the Internet.
He voted against the Iraq war.
He does not participate in the lucrative congressional pension program.
He returns a portion of his annual congressional office budget to the U.S. treasury every year.
Congressman Paul introduces numerous pieces of substantive legislation each year, probably more than any single member of Congress.
Just make sure you have your ad blocker on before you visit Wired’s site so you don’t give them any ad views for publishing their biased crap. If you don’t have an ad blocker, just get Ad Blocker Plus for Firefox and then you can set it to block ads for biased sites like Wired. I have Ad Blocker Plus turned off for MDN as I support the site by letting the ads load in my browser. But I never support biased sites like Wired, I block all of their ads.
“Ron Paul is the ONLY candidate that makes sense – is a strict Constitutionalist.”
I agree. He’s the only one who is really being honest about the real reasons for the quagmire in Iraq and terrorism.
@rush
guess what, EVERYONE is bought and paid for. I just prefer the ones who are more honest than the others.
Oh goody, I can hardly wait! I love Trail Mix!
Rush is bought and paid for by Soros, Media Matters, Move on, Clinton……
awesome take MDN. i’m happy to be one of the nuts in that mix. anyone can see that some apple fans do fall under the “nuts” category, and even if they’re a minority of the total user base, they’re louder than everyone else and so become the most prominent representatives (online, anyhow) of the apple community as a whole. there are a few nuts here on MDN and mac sites everywhere, but its the sane ones who make the mac community one of the best out there.
and by “sane”, i mean the people who can, without crying themselves to sleep, say the following:
“apple messed up, and i expect a fix because they’re pretty good about fixing problems” instead of “it’s someone else’s fault” or “HOW DARE YOU BETRAY ME WITH YOUR GLOSSY SCREEN!!?!??”
OR (this one will stir controversy)
“although i prefer apple’s computers, microsoft does have a few products i enjoy as well” instead of “F*CK MICROSOFT EVEN IF THEIR GAME CONSOLE IS FUN AND THEY MAKE DECENT MICE!! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT ANYONE NEEDS OFFICE AND THAT IF SOMEONE’S WORKPLACE REQUIRES IT TELL THEM TO OVERHAUL ALL THEIR MACHINES WITH MACS RUNNING IWORK!!!”
that was fun. any other sane mac users have more to add to that? =)
I think we need to differentiate ourselves. There certainly are Mac Fanatics out there, those who have “drunk the kool aide” and will brook no slight – real or imagined – against any product any way related to Apple. And then there are the users like my mother who “like” Apple because it is just so easy. Most of us fall in between or are more defined by our relationship to Windows (we won’t talk about them).
Mac Fanatics are an embarrassment. They cause more problems than they solve. Nobody actually listens to them and the rest of us have to prove we aren’t them before anyone will listen to us. Quite a reputation they’ve created for us all.
Time to grow up, chillun. Even on the Internet, they can tell you are not rational. Or have the intellect of a rabid junior high school nerd. Or have had it up to HERE with FUD. Give them constant, but pleasant and well-reasoned support and they will be won over. Scream at them and a) they’ll hate you and b) they’ll stop listening. Of course, there’s always the trolls, but the answer for them is to deny them the hits, the attention, they crave.
Dave
From the ronpaul2008 link above:
The right of an innocent, unborn child to life is at the heart of the American ideals of liberty. My professional and legislative record demonstrates my strong commitment to this pro-life principle.
I’m starting to understand where these pro-lifers are coming from. It’s not pro-living but pro-unborn. This must be due to some religious influence. If an unborn child is innocent, then how come he carries the baggage of original sin according to the RCs?
A very significant percentage of the “innocent” unborn of Iraqis and coalition forces that served in Iraq die in the womb or are born with horrible defects due to genetic damage caused by radioactive dust from depleted uranium shells. Those responsible for this war crime should encourage abortions and pay for them, not to mention medical and funeral fees or compensation for the suffering of their parents, or even the for cancers that will affect the parents. That sounds more like “pro-life” to me.
i just realized that in my post above i called myself a nut and went on to make fun of the “nuts” in the mix. 8:00 am and the first cup of coffee hasn’t made its run yet. **YAWN**!
Just like everything, if people have anger in their lives outside of Apple, and something revolving around Apple gives them a chance to channel their anger, they will.
Just make sure you have your ad blocker on before you visit Wired’s site so you don’t give them any ad views for publishing their biased crap. If you don’t have an ad blocker, just get Ad Blocker Plus for Firefox and then you can set it to block ads for biased sites like Wired.
If you hate it so much, Booshudaa, why even visit?
I have Ad Blocker Plus turned off for MDN as I support the site by letting the ads load in my browser.
There’s definitely some bias going on here, bro – perhaps not political, but bias nevertheless. So, as long as you support the “bias” it’s OK, right?
well said, DLMeyer! glad to hear the sane apple fans putting in their two cents. =)
From the ronpaul2008 link above:
We must stop special interests from violating property rights and literally driving families from their homes, farms and ranches.
Does that mean he will pursue the British and US governments for depriving the inhabitants of Diego Garcia of their properties and banishing them to Mauritius (where many died of heartbreak) in order for the US to develop a military base in the island?
Oh wait…government and military doesn’t qualify as “special interests,” eh?
@ DLMeyer,
Sensible post. Mac fanatics are kind of like the terrorist that give all muslims a bad name and force every normal muslim to prove that they aren’t one of them.
I’m certainly glad that the Mac fanatics haven’t resorted to suicide attacks at Dell stores…but I feel it coming any day now that Leopard is here.
The answer is simple. One group is lead by a kook-fringe, political whack job…….the other is a presidential campaign for a kook-fringe political whack-job.
Obiously, we are equally nuts, just in different ways.
I like WIRED.
“Or have the intellect of a rabid junior high school nerd.”
That got W. “elected” twice.
Nutters will be found on all sides. But the characterization of Mac fans as a cult is utter bullshit. I have always thought of cults as collections of losers following some megalomaniac’s dream. And the members’ practices include self destructive behavior. Remember the nuts who “left their bodily husks behind” [ by committing ritual suicide] to allow their spirits to ascend to their cult’s space ship following comet Hale-Bopp as it passed by earth? That truly was a cult.
What cult gleefully sticks with its master inflicting virus, spyware and other security nightmares on its members? And these members spend massive amounts of time doing masochistic ritual cleansings of these sadistic inflictions and pay regular tithings to security companies who, vulture like, feed on the blood [money] of the cultists.
The fact that Macs are in the minority – for now – does not make its happy users cultists. And Mac users laughing at Windows sufferers do not make Mac users arrogant, just properly contemptuous towards Windows masochists.
> I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT ANYONE NEEDS OFFICE
You poor sod. Numbers is a glorified graphic calculator, and Pages can’t handle the weight of some of my Word files without choking. When Apple gets off its low-horse of delivering simplified applications for kidsumers and delivers some powerful apps instead then you’ll have a case. Office apps are bloated, I agree, but they are powerful – and I’m not talking about the stupid macro features included that are a security nightmare.
And how I wish Spotlight would stop searching for something until I’m finished setting up the criteria. It’s a beachball nightmare, and the fix is so simple: give me a preference-choice as to WHEN I want Spotlight to start searching. But Nooo…. Less is More, eh? It’s not when Faster is Slower or Less Can’t Do the Job.
It’s not when I have to manually resize evey New Window, eliminate the sidebar and select List View because there is no option to select such criteria for the default finder window.
Criticism makes us stronger; blind loyalty and lack of skepticism makes us patsies. Join the MW: “party.”
This is not to be thought of as support for Ron Paul, but let’s try some facts here.
“I’m starting to understand where these pro-lifers are coming from. It’s not pro-living but pro-unborn. This must be due to some religious influence. If an unborn child is innocent, then how come he carries the baggage of original sin according to the RCs?”
Not all religious faiths believe this.
“A very significant percentage of the “innocent” unborn of Iraqis and coalition forces that served in Iraq die in the womb or are born with horrible defects due to genetic damage caused by radioactive dust from depleted uranium shells.”
I thought the Iraqis had no nuclear program and no WMDs of any kind? Also, I can safely say that no unborn coalition forces have been killed by spent uranium shells.
“Those responsible for this war crime should encourage abortions and pay for them…”
What? Who exactly are you talking about?
“…not to mention medical and funeral fees or compensation for the suffering of their parents, or even the for cancers that will affect the parents. That sounds more like “pro-life” to me.”
So, having somebody encourage and pay for abortions is “more like pro-life”, you are quite lost, aren’t you?
And just to totally sink your complaint against Ron Paul, he is totally opposed to the war.