What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Sometimes, bad ideas need to be pointed out.

I am the first to stare when companies -- especially tech companies -- are caught publicly masturbating.

PR and Tech seem to have one of those long-term, romantic comedy film-like relationships. PR keeps telling Tech how wonderful it is and Tech just keeps believing it and then they go off on goofy shenanigans only to fall into each others arm come the night.

One of the first rules of PR is to "not believe your own bullshit." It's necessary to have a critical eye and to differentiate between boasts of "world-class game changers" and actual, fact-based journalism. Technology writing (I will not call it journalism) has this slightly insecure feel about it, seeing as it's been around in its current form for less than two decades. So, like any good PR whore, it resorts to elaborate schemes to garner serious attention that is otherwise undue.

Which is why I like ValleyWag so much.

In today's must-read post, they quote icky-geeky kinda-author/VC/schill MG Siegler as saying:

I guess the larger point that I didn't get across clearly enough is that a lot of these people writing about technology today almost seem to hate it — or at least they're extremely skeptical of it by default.

It's easy to understand why MG & Co. think of the press as simply another form of PR to be manipulated. The semi-regular freak shows that are CES, Apple roll-outs and Microsoft meltdowns slather themselves across our screens.

ValleyWag points out (accurately) that tech writing really is not PR. And this "skepticism" is actually a healthy, critical review of things. Things like privacy, civil rights, third-world labor exploitation, sexism, homophobia and individual liberties. All "things" that are entrenched in tech culture and things that are really, really important outside the 408 area code Elysium Bubble. 

Perhaps this over-reaching began at the start of the personal computing process. Whether by marketing or by supernatural forces, the entire planet was split into the aquarian, vertical thinking Apple fans and the pragmatic, linear, boring PC users. This might have been helpful at the time when we were just gaining our footing on critically important shifts in the way we deal with information. Now, this schism has (de)volved into one of the purest "Us v. Them" duels. Ever. Digital Divide? No, more like the digital haves who require the existence of digital have-nots. If even imaginary ones.

Silicon Valley and The Cult of Technology seemingly aches for an elusive Digital Utopia where, above all else, technology is good. And any disparaging remarks are to be eschewed, dissuaded or otherwise banished. Much in the way the NSA tries to avert our stare with the shiny baubles of terrorism and safety.