Editorials @ Applelust

Lust Gone Awry: Don’t Mix Macs and Politics

As a Canadian writer and a member of the group of regular Applelust columnists, I feel that I must strongly object to Charles Moore’s recent editorial piece about the current international crisis, in which he claims to be speaking on behalf of “many Canadians”. First I want it to be quite clear, as an Applelust contributor and as a Canadian, that Charles Moore is not speaking on my behalf at all.

More importantly, however, I do not believe that this kind of piece should appear on a site that is about computer-related issues in general, and Macintosh-related stuff in particular. Charles Moore has a history of trying to use Mac sites (such as Low End Mac and Applelinks) to promote his political views. I honestly don’t think that any Mac site has anything to gain from this kind of contribution. Whatever the political views that are being promoted, it is highly unlikely that they are fully shared by all other contributors to the same site. Yet, due to the very nature of online publishing, these other contributors end up being associated with these views. Such an association is unfair to them, and it is unfair to their Mac-related writings. Charles Moore is taking advantage of us, and we are not getting anything in return — quite the contrary.

As you can tell from these comments, other Applelust contributors were not consulted before the article was posted on Friday, March 14, 2003. That is what has prompted this reaction. As a regular contributor to Applelust, I have a right to distance myself from Charles Moore’s article and from his views. I also have a right to question the appropriateness of this move from an editorial point of view.

Other Examples

There are very few other examples of such a move on the Mac Web.

Adam C. Engst, the editor of TidBITS, recently published his own article describing his views on the prospective war with Iraq — but he took pains to explain why he was doing so, and to indicate that other members of the TidBITS staff were supporting what he had to say.

As he said, he has always kept TidBITS “personal”, from the very beginning, and this has created a sense of community among TidBITS readers that entitles him to exceptionally publish such an article. As far as I am aware, Charles Moore has never been a regular contributor to Applelust and cannot claim to have created a similar sense of community that would entitle him to publish his political views on this site.

Other mainstream Mac web sites have remained completely silent on these political issues, and rightfully so. They simply do not belong on a Mac web site. I am quite sure that, if Applelust readers want to hear political views about the looming war with Iraq, they know where to look, and they don’t need to find them at Applelust.com.

Freedom of Speech?

I am not talking, of course, about censoring anyone at Applelust.com. I think it is quite obvious that we have all always been free to express our views — on Apple, the Macintosh, and third-party Macintosh products, as well as on other topics related to the computer world.

But this is an issue of relevance. The very nature of the web is that people spontaneously form communities because they share common interests. What brought me to this site as a writer and what brought you to it as a reader is a common interest in the Macintosh platform. It is that common interest that fuels our online exchange. Since I want my writing to be of a professional-level quality, I owe it to you, Applelust readers, to maintain this tight focus on Macintosh-related issues — and I expect other Mac writers to do the same.

If I want to express other views on unrelated topics, I can do so on my own (and I do, as a matter of fact), through my own blog, or through other forums that are devoted to these topics. The fact that you find my Macintosh-related writings interesting might lead you to be interested in reading my views on other topics — but you won’t find them at Applelust.com, and I will not try to force you to read them by posting them here. Call it “self-censorship” if you will. I simply call it self-discipline, which is a basic requirement if you want your writing to have any kind of focus and attract and retain readers.

Not The Issue

I happen to disagree with several of the views that Charles Moore expressed in his article. But that is not the issue. Had I been in full agreement with him, I would still have reacted in the same way. I simply do not see what Charles is hoping to achieve by using Mac-related web sites to try and disseminate his political views. If he really thinks that they are worth reading, then he should publish them in appropriate places. He’s free to start his own blog. He’s free to contribute to mailing lists, web forums and newsgroups devoted to these topics. He’s free to submit his articles to newspapers and other publications that might be interested in publishing them.

The 9/11 terrorist attack was an extraordinary event and, as such, it generated a highly unusual level of emotional distress in many people, including myself. This led me to indeed try and find out about the responses of other people that I “knew” through my online activities. It did not bother me when Applelust was used as a forum to respond to this tragedy. I think that everyone needed to respond and hear other people’s responses during these tragic moments.

The present situation is entirely different, however. The incidents mentioned by Charles Moore in his article do not deserve the same level of attention, and definitely do not deserve to be mentioned on a Mac web site. Maybe the major issues in this crisis (which are not covered by Charles Moore’s article) do deserve such treatment, and maybe a number of Applelust readers do expect us to publish something on this topic during these difficult times. But, if so, it should only happen through a consensual decision made by the Applelust writing team as a whole. Applelust doesn’t deserve to be hijacked in the way that it was by that article. It goes completely against the sense of community and shared interests that the site has managed to build over the past few years.

As a regular Applelust contributor, I wanted to make it clear that I am in no way associated with this article by Charles Moore. And I hope that we will be able to resolve the issues raised by the publication of this article at Applelust.com with the site’s editorial team in a satisfactory fashion.

Thanks for reading.

- Pierre Igot

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