Since when hacker news promotes political threads?
Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group
171–180 of 400 posts
Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group
#172He named his BBS "TacoLand". He should definitely play up this angle...maybe campaign on a taco cart on every corner. I know people who will vote for him for that alone. This piece is a disaster. It's an excerpt from a soon to be released book, it's light on facts about O'Rourke and is at least equally about Cult of the Dead Cow, it's trying to make things sound more nefarious than they were, and it's playing the gui…
Don't forget that he was also quite a wordsmith (NSFW) -
Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group
#173Why are all the articles about Beto about how cool and antiestablishment he is? Just absolutely nothing about what he really intends to do, how he intends to do it, and most importantly, how do we reconcile his conservative voting record with this contrary image he presents?
Somebody is still running Beto's campaign to the old (Clinton/Bush era) standard of use the media to build up brand and brand . Meanwhile there is a crop of new-style politicians, all over the spectrum, that run via the new (AOC/Trump era) standard of use the social media+memes to build up brand and support .
I don't think their style is as new as it appears. Yes, they are more active on social media, but most Americans are not on Twitter directly; there is a whole genre of news story now that revolve around things politicians say on Twitter.
AOC didn't really have a national brand until after she won, and she got there mostly through traditional retail politics. Trump had a media brand to begin with so he was able to create traditional media coverage whenever he wanted.
Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group
#174Having been involved in the community for most of my life, my very first thought was "oh that's cool he's one of us" and then I remembered that historically hackers have been phenomenally bad people to give any kind of real power to.
> then I remembered that historically hackers have been phenomenally bad people to give any kind of real power to.
As opposed to the paragons of virtue who wield power now.
Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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…
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.
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Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group
#176Why are all the articles about Beto about how cool and antiestablishment he is? Just absolutely nothing about what he really intends to do, how he intends to do it, and most importantly, how do we reconcile his conservative voting record with this contrary image he presents?
It's how the establishment pushes new politicians on you. Why should this person receive any coverage at all?
He's one of the more charismatic contenders, is young, and has a large cult following both in a deeply red state and online. Those factors naturally lead to coverage, at least in today's press.
Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
'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.
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…
I'm sad that you failed to mention the original /Hackers/ movie as well as /Swordfish/ -- two staples of Defcon movie nights.
Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
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.
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.
Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group
#179He named his BBS "TacoLand". He should definitely play up this angle...maybe campaign on a taco cart on every corner. I know people who will vote for him for that alone. This piece is a disaster. It's an excerpt from a soon to be released book, it's light on facts about O'Rourke and is at least equally about Cult of the Dead Cow, it's trying to make things sound more nefarious than they were, and it's playing the gui…
Don't forget that he was also quite a wordsmith (NSFW) - http://textfiles.com/groups/CDC/cDc-0050.txt
Warning: NSFW ^
(though cool, NSFW)
Re: Beto O'Rourke's membership in America's oldest hacking group
#180Why are all the articles about Beto about how cool and antiestablishment he is? Just absolutely nothing about what he really intends to do, how he intends to do it, and most importantly, how do we reconcile his conservative voting record with this contrary image he presents?
For real. Dude sided with republicans against his own party even though he was in a solidly blue district. Even campaigned all over the state for a republican! I love what he did for downballot dems in 2016 and he had that great speech on youtube. But c'mon. Mr GOP Lovefest is not who we need in 2020.
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