6 ms·

>it's trying to make things sound more nefarious than they were, and it's playing the guilt by association card Are we reading the same article? If anything th

>it's trying to make things sound more nefarious than they were, and it's playing the guilt by association card Are we reading the same article? If anything this article seems like a submarine PR puff piece to me, made to increase the image of Beto by making him seem "cool" and "hip" by associating him with the typically-seen-as-sexy "hacker" scene. This article is very similar to the pro-Beto stuff that was all over Texas during his senate campaign.

save_ferris 8y ago
From the article: Still, it’s unclear whether the United States is ready for a presidential contender who, as a teenager, stole long-distance phone service for his dial-up modem, wrote a murder fantasy in which the narrator drives over children on the street, and mused about a society without money. This doesn't read as very pro-Beto to me.
- madeofpalk 8y ago
  It's unclear why the author of the article is unsure what type of president the US is ready for, right after they elected Donald Trump.
- txcwpalpha 8y ago
  A single sentence in an otherwise glamorizing and embellishing article does not a anti-Beto piece make. That sentence doesn't even read as not pro-Beto to me, either. It's more of a neutral "this guy is really cool, but is he cool enough?" rhetorical.
  - michaelt 8y ago
    "wrote a murder fantasy in which the narrator drives over children on the street" doesn't sound particularly pro-Beto to me?
    - romwell 8y ago
      "Wrote a fantasy-novel equivalent of GTA", how about that?
    - flycaliguy 8y ago
      It seems beto-safe to me. Of all the details in this story, this child death fiction no doubt required a strategic approach. It's the weirdest of the bunch and the sort of thing that an opponent would love. In this case, it seems the best way to play it was to just cut to the chase. Summarize it as brutally as Trump could and just be the first to say it. Get it out there so that an opponent can't ride it's energy.
- rdtsc 8y ago
  It depends on how it's it's spun. They could be trying to sell his cool "bad boy" image. Some polling research must have shown them this is appealing to enough voters and others are not paying too much attention. He already has the DUI thing and apparently wrote a fantasy novel about running over children with his car. So maybe they don't have much to lose and might as well go for the cool troublemaker / hacker thing.
barbecue_sauce 8y ago
'typically-seen-as-sexy "hacker" scene'? By who? His association with At The Drive-In gives him more street cred than any tenuous relationship with hacking.
- txcwpalpha 8y ago
  Society glamorizes hackers hard. Have you ever seen War Games? The Matrix? Live Free or Die Hard? Mr Robot? Blackhat? Any recent spy movie? What about the multitude of other movies/shows where hackers aren't the focus, but are certainly glamorized, a la NCIS, CSI, Limitless, etc. There's an entire genre of film & television about hackers and they are almost always portrayed as cool, attractive, powerful people with the world at their fingertips.
  - merlincorey 8y ago
    I'm sad that you failed to mention the original /Hackers/ movie as well as /Swordfish/ -- two staples of Defcon movie nights.
    - txcwpalpha 8y ago
      Ah! I had Swordfish in mind but my brain blanked and I couldn't think of the name. For Hackers, I have no excuse.
    - appleiigs 8y ago
      Sneakers with Robert Redford
      - merlincorey 8y ago
        Yes! Another great classic Hacker flick.
      - classichasclass 8y ago
        Sneakers worked well because it had A-list actors playing up the social engineering aspect, which an A-list actor can do. It had comparatively little meditation on the hardware and technical aspects and from a plot and longevity perspective I think that was a particular strength of the movie.
eli 8y ago
We are in a world where the exact same video of Beto skateboarding was posted by both opponents and supporters and each saw what they wanted in it. I would challenge the idea that being a “hacker” polls well for a presidential candidate. Recall that “hacking” was a bit of a problem in 2016.
- sophacles 8y ago
  There's another side of that "hacking was a bit of a problem in 2016" - namely that tech savvy politicians are in short supply[1]. Associating Beto with a well known hacker group boosts his credibility wrt tech. [1] particularly when combined with tonedeaf and heavy handed legislation/regulation about the internet.
  - usefulcat 8y ago
    Only among people (as here) who have much greater than average tech knowledge, and probably a far more nuanced understanding of the various possible meanings of "hacker". Elsewhere, the words "hacker" and "hacking" have an almost universally negative connotation.
    - romwell 8y ago
      >Only among people (as here) who have much greater than average tech knowledge Which might be the whole point of this piece: >But the political balance allows him to appeal to both main strands of political thought in Silicon Valley – a key source of campaign money and cultural influence.
  - ChuckMcM 8y ago
    This will be an interesting conversation (tech savvy vs tech dumb) to play out this round. The current president argued during his campaign that the problems with the country arose from "bad deals" and his experience and expertise at "deal making" was the solution to this problem. Beto might argue during his campaign that the problems with the country arise from unacknowledged cyber warfare in both social media and voting systems. He could then argue that he is uniquely qualified to lead the government to a more solid footing in that regard and protect the democracy. Both are simplistic arguments of the form problem is X, I'm an expert in X, I can lead a group to fix X. Opponents will of course spin up the fear of X and especially if X can be used to achieve the goals of the proponent, try to paint them as being part of the problem not the solution. Unlike the current administrations "Space" force, I could see a justification for a "Cyber" force if such a force provided protection against, and options for maneuver in an algorithmically generated battlefield.
danso 8y ago
Agreed. Beto’s biggest concern is the Dem primary, and his biggest criticism is being too centrist and status quo. Appearing to be ahead of the tech curve and walking the edge of hacker-disobedience makes him more palatable to his critics during the primary phase.
flycaliguy 8y ago
This 100%. It's obviously tidying up a situation which could break bad in somebody else's hands.

save_ferris 8y ago

From the article: Still, it’s unclear whether the United States is ready for a presidential contender who, as a teenager, stole long-distance phone service for his dial-up modem, wrote a murder fantasy in which the narrator drives over children on the street, and mused about a society without money. This doesn't read as very pro-Beto to me.

madeofpalk 8y ago
It's unclear why the author of the article is unsure what type of president the US is ready for, right after they elected Donald Trump.
txcwpalpha 8y ago
A single sentence in an otherwise glamorizing and embellishing article does not a anti-Beto piece make. That sentence doesn't even read as not pro-Beto to me, either. It's more of a neutral "this guy is really cool, but is he cool enough?" rhetorical.
- michaelt 8y ago
  "wrote a murder fantasy in which the narrator drives over children on the street" doesn't sound particularly pro-Beto to me?
  - romwell 8y ago
    "Wrote a fantasy-novel equivalent of GTA", how about that?
  - flycaliguy 8y ago
    It seems beto-safe to me. Of all the details in this story, this child death fiction no doubt required a strategic approach. It's the weirdest of the bunch and the sort of thing that an opponent would love. In this case, it seems the best way to play it was to just cut to the chase. Summarize it as brutally as Trump could and just be the first to say it. Get it out there so that an opponent can't ride it's energy.
rdtsc 8y ago
It depends on how it's it's spun. They could be trying to sell his cool "bad boy" image. Some polling research must have shown them this is appealing to enough voters and others are not paying too much attention. He already has the DUI thing and apparently wrote a fantasy novel about running over children with his car. So maybe they don't have much to lose and might as well go for the cool troublemaker / hacker thing.

barbecue_sauce 8y ago

'typically-seen-as-sexy "hacker" scene'? By who? His association with At The Drive-In gives him more street cred than any tenuous relationship with hacking.

txcwpalpha 8y ago
Society glamorizes hackers hard. Have you ever seen War Games? The Matrix? Live Free or Die Hard? Mr Robot? Blackhat? Any recent spy movie? What about the multitude of other movies/shows where hackers aren't the focus, but are certainly glamorized, a la NCIS, CSI, Limitless, etc. There's an entire genre of film & television about hackers and they are almost always portrayed as cool, attractive, powerful people with the world at their fingertips.
- merlincorey 8y ago
  I'm sad that you failed to mention the original /Hackers/ movie as well as /Swordfish/ -- two staples of Defcon movie nights.
  - txcwpalpha 8y ago
    Ah! I had Swordfish in mind but my brain blanked and I couldn't think of the name. For Hackers, I have no excuse.
  - appleiigs 8y ago
    Sneakers with Robert Redford
    - merlincorey 8y ago
      Yes! Another great classic Hacker flick.
    - classichasclass 8y ago
      Sneakers worked well because it had A-list actors playing up the social engineering aspect, which an A-list actor can do. It had comparatively little meditation on the hardware and technical aspects and from a plot and longevity perspective I think that was a particular strength of the movie.

eli 8y ago

We are in a world where the exact same video of Beto skateboarding was posted by both opponents and supporters and each saw what they wanted in it. I would challenge the idea that being a “hacker” polls well for a presidential candidate. Recall that “hacking” was a bit of a problem in 2016.

sophacles 8y ago
There's another side of that "hacking was a bit of a problem in 2016" - namely that tech savvy politicians are in short supply[1]. Associating Beto with a well known hacker group boosts his credibility wrt tech. [1] particularly when combined with tonedeaf and heavy handed legislation/regulation about the internet.
- usefulcat 8y ago
  Only among people (as here) who have much greater than average tech knowledge, and probably a far more nuanced understanding of the various possible meanings of "hacker". Elsewhere, the words "hacker" and "hacking" have an almost universally negative connotation.
  - romwell 8y ago
    >Only among people (as here) who have much greater than average tech knowledge Which might be the whole point of this piece: >But the political balance allows him to appeal to both main strands of political thought in Silicon Valley – a key source of campaign money and cultural influence.
- ChuckMcM 8y ago
  This will be an interesting conversation (tech savvy vs tech dumb) to play out this round. The current president argued during his campaign that the problems with the country arose from "bad deals" and his experience and expertise at "deal making" was the solution to this problem. Beto might argue during his campaign that the problems with the country arise from unacknowledged cyber warfare in both social media and voting systems. He could then argue that he is uniquely qualified to lead the government to a more solid footing in that regard and protect the democracy. Both are simplistic arguments of the form problem is X, I'm an expert in X, I can lead a group to fix X. Opponents will of course spin up the fear of X and especially if X can be used to achieve the goals of the proponent, try to paint them as being part of the problem not the solution. Unlike the current administrations "Space" force, I could see a justification for a "Cyber" force if such a force provided protection against, and options for maneuver in an algorithmically generated battlefield.

danso 8y ago

Agreed. Beto’s biggest concern is the Dem primary, and his biggest criticism is being too centrist and status quo. Appearing to be ahead of the tech curve and walking the edge of hacker-disobedience makes him more palatable to his critics during the primary phase.

flycaliguy 8y ago

This 100%. It's obviously tidying up a situation which could break bad in somebody else's hands.