Category: Techtoday
On the last episode of the now-cancelled video podcast, iO9: We Come from the Future, co-host Esther Inglis-Arkell remarked that one of the things she learned about talking about popular culture was to never say anything negative about Batman. If you do, the millions of fans on the Internet will bombard you with hate mail. I totally agree. I regularly visit the comic book movie website Superherohype and there's not a single article there without some Batman troll commenting about Christopher Nolan and his Batman trilogy. If you even dared comment on the mish-mash plot and unsatisfactory fight scenes of Dark Knight Rises, the Bat-fans will verbally punch you with the same verve of Burt Ward and Adam West. I expect that any fan of Marvel that dared say The Avengers was the better movie would be summarily killed the next day by a member of the League of Assassins (more likely hired by a member of the Nolan-Batman cult that resides next to the Church of Apple).
After rounding out my 4-part review of Linux Mint 14, I received a comment about the first chapter where I made a passing remark to MacOSX's Dock and Launchpad. The comment, which was made by a condescending Mac user, indignantly expressed his years of Mac and Linux experience and made a rambling explanation of using Apps in MacOSX and using the Dock. I laughed out loud, remembering how many times I've read the same type of comments in CNET, PCMag, and other tech sites. This is the reason why I avoid writing tutorials or articles about Apple products. I focus on writing about Linux because the worst comment I'll ever get is "That's not right. You can install x or y. Or this is how you do it . . ." On the other hand, Apple devotees will be offended by any negative remark you make about MacOSX or iOS (Apple maps, antenna-gate, and Launchpad be damned). To be fair, there are plenty of smug Linux users out there who are extremists in their own right. There's an exceptional openSUSE Linux technical writer who started his articles with "All the tutorials about setting up Samba on the Internet are WRONG." However, it's painfully obvious there are more Mac devotees out there more bold and forward about defending their operating system and platform of choice. Linux users, on the other hand, just insult each other's Linux distribution of choice.
"Lucius, get me my Fedora LiveCD. My Mac got hacked."
Although many regular readers of CNET commented how biased the site was towards Apple products, I can sympathize with CNET's writers. It's just not healthy for bloggers and technical writers to make honest comments about MacOSX and Apple products. In contrast, Microsoft users have been self-deprecating and shy about their operating system, going so far as to insult their own platform and later versions like Windows 8. Apple's psychological warfare/propaganda that largely took off with the old "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" ads have stunted the self-esteem of Windows users everywhere, while extremist MacOSX users feed their superiority complex with pride.
The Dark Knight Rises had a great ending, but it was far, far from perfect. I'm going as far to say I enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man even more even if it did have a stupid costume and a silly New York construction worker subplot. MacOSX is a great system, but the Dock and Launchpad still feels off. Now, excuse me as I lock my doors and windows before the League of Assassins and MacOSX zealots attack my apartment.
"I'm Brit. I'm Spidey. I'm a Windows user and I date Emma Stone in the film and in real life. Got a problem with that?"
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