7 ms·
tl;dr: Gruber is too smart to pull shit like this, which makes his pundit-like editorializing even more disappointing. Gruber recently addressed criticisms abo
by achompas 15y ago
tl;dr: Gruber is too smart to pull shit like this, which makes his pundit-like editorializing even more disappointing.
Gruber recently addressed criticisms about his lack of "objectivity" on The Talk Show [0]. He substituted the word "fair" for "objective," then demolished a straw man where people want "$FAIR coverage" from him, where $FAIR = "don't pick on the short kid."
Here's the problem: "objective" doesn't mean "fair." Like Dictionary.com, [1] I use "objective" as in "report the whole story, and stop spinning everything to accommodate your world view." This is what Fox News does, and I've started noticing that Gruber does the same thing.
Consider that his "linked list" articles take two forms: positive links on Apple performance [2], or negative links on Apple's competitors with snarky commentary [3]. Take the Galaxy Nexus: if someone wants one, they just don't get it! [4]
Or...they're like my brother, a graphic designer who wants to do more with his phone. Or they're a coder like me, worried about a future where closed systems dominate. Or they're like my friend, who hates the elitist Apple attitude--the one where people who don't buy Apple products "just don't get it." Or they want a cheap feature phone, and don't have the $99 for a iPhone 4 right now.
Gruber is too smart to make generalizations like this. Hell, he likes David Foster Wallace -- whose books aren't exactly high-school reading -- and posted this a few weeks ago:
That’s why Wallace’s work serves as a beacon, a yardstick, for my own.
As incisive as his writing could be, DFW almost always eschewed cynicism in favor of humanism and emotional sincerity. In a way, Gruber's recent stuff provides the opposite: an unyielding pro-Apple view, a scoop of cynicism and disdain for Apple's competitors, and a black-or-white view of the mobile scene that doesn't reflect reality.
Seeing this from someone as smart as Gruber is really a disappointment.
[0] http://5by5.tv/talkshow/71 http://5by5.tv/talkshow/71
[1] http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/objective http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/objective
[2] http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/13/nielsen http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/13/nielsen
[3] http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/05/verizon-google-wallet http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/05/verizon-google-w...
[4] http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/14/siegler http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/14/siegler
- Steko 15y ago"Unyielding pro Apple view"? You decide: http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/14/hollington http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/14/hollington http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/13/ios-5-photo-stre.. http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/13/ios-5-photo-stre.... http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/05/browse-vs-search http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/05/browse-vs-search http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/05/linen-underneath http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/05/linen-underneath http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/01/apple-carrier-iq http://daringfireball.net/linked/2011/12/01/apple-carrier-iq {mistakenly put in the wrong box earlier}
- achompas 15y agoI mean, you're right. 's/unyielding/strongly' and all that. I've read DF enough to know that Gruber points out small Apple missteps far more often than he points out Android victories (often; never).
- GHFigs 15y agoWhat's the quota of Android victories that an author is required to cover?
- achompas 15y agoWho is talking about quotas? ICS has revolutionized Android, but you wouldn't know it from reading DF. That's already a failure by Gruber, as a tech journalist.
- GHFigs 15y agoI'm confused by what you're saying. You claim to not be talking about quotas, but cite not covering the fact[1] that "ICS has revolutionized Android" as a failure. If he had covered it, that would be better, correct? So evidently there is some level of positive Android coverage he's required to do before he's allowed to say what he actually thinks and link to what he actually wants to link to. If that's not a quota, what would you call it? [1] Here I get absolutely bewildered by what you're saying, given that the first device with ICS was released today, and I know this precisely because I read it on Daring Fireball yesterday, wherein Gruber writes: "I spent a few minutes playing with Topolsky’s Galaxy Nexus in the On The Verge green room; some of the text editing improvements in Android 4.0 alone make it quite obviously the best Android phone in the world".
- achompas 15y agoHave an upvote: you're absolutely right, and I shouldn't have hammered out a response during class. Forgive me though--it's finals time, and I only caught this through HN (and not my RSS feed).
- petrichor 15y agotl;dr - gruber knows exactly what he is doing, which is generating page views. the market for information is greatly surpassed by the market for confirmation clearly he is a reasonably intelligent guy who puts a lot of thought into his writing. whether or not he really believes everything he posts, i don't know and don't care. the thing is these type of posts serve a very specific purpose: to activate the apple fan's and generate page clicks. we live in a world where the way to drive traffic in the tech blogosphere is to post rumors, and predictions about apple (and to some extent, other big tech cos). readers then seek out stories that confirm their pre-existing views--the market for information is greatly surpassed by the market for confirmation (see: fox news). and this works both ways, i imagine that gruber/seigler are getting lots of page views from people are angered by the whole apple fanboy thing, and want to have the satisfying feeling of knowing that gruber/seigler are just two more unthinking fanboys.
- achompas 15y agoI had a bit about the irony of Gruber quoting PG's "Trolling" essay, but took it out. It really seems like Gruber trolls for views and ad money at this point.
- imrehg 15y agoHe doesn't get my ad money, I stopped clicking any link to daringfireball a long time ago....
- LeonidasXIV 15y agoI don't think you'll missing anything. I just go there when I like to read a bit of the holier-than-thou attitude of Apple fanboys. Reminds me of the earlier Ruby / Git attitude which has, fortunately stopped. I couldn't stand these weenies.
- alastairpat 15y agoIt's tragic what is being lost in this race to the bottom for increased pageviews/audience share. I really want to believe that people like Gruber (who I, at least used to, have a great deal of respect for) are above it, but watching things change over the past few years does make me wonder…
- betageek 15y agoGruber comparing himself to Foster-Wallace made me throw up in my mouth a little bit....