TWIT 773: The Duchess of Sealand

Beep boop - this is a robot. A new show has been posted to TWiT…

What are your thoughts about today’s show? We’d love to hear from you!

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If you are going to be a 50% political show could you at least bring someone on who is a conservative. You aren’t doing your audience any favors by creating another echo chamber. I enjoy your conversation, but you obviously don’t know the counter arguments very well. Love the shows. Listen every week.

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I think quite a few of Leo’s guests across the network have some conservative and even more with libertarian views. Leo wears his heart on his sleeve but certainly isn’t afraid to have alternative views on the show.

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Not sure what you mean by alternative views, seems to be pretty one sided.

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The touchscreens on Dragon are a backup system so presumably if there are problems with it they’d be aborting anyway. Also, there are some analog controls which are on the bezels of the screens. On the vision requirement comment, I’m pretty sure that the vision requirements have actually gotten stricter. I’m also pretty sure that Doug was wearing reading glasses which don’t specifically break the vision requirements as the requirement pertains to distance vision.

Regarding the inability (unwillingness) to show dragon launch footage, it appears it did get figured out, just not in time for TWIT.

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what are some of your counter points? this is probably a good place to start the conversation.

I’m not wanting to get into a political debate in the comments section. I just want to point out that not having the opposing view present creates an echo chamber. Very close to half the country is conservative. I don’t see why one of the people on these podcasts can’t be right leaning. If the topics discussed weren’t political it wouldn’t matter much, but because of how much politics is affecting tech I think that we should hear just a little bit from someone who agrees with the majority of the senate and the executive branch.

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I get what you are saying. For instance on DTNS today I had to cut it off. I loved the concept of the show. Let peoples voices be heard. I listened to Ant’s section because it was about what HE has experienced. Myself live 20 mins from Charlotte, NC and can honestly say that I have witnessed more racism away from the south than in it. However that is my experience not his so it was good to hear his.

Now why I cut off DTNS is because of the guys after Ant. When they started pushing the narrative of Dylan Roof and making it seem like the police arrested him and on the way swung by Burger King. That is not responsible journalism (I think is the right phrase) because no one is there to say “Wait. That’s not a fair statement” and if they would do research they can see it is not a fair and it is misleading.

So I see what you are saying because it is frustrating having to hear someone’s opinion and not having a chance or someone there to counter their opinion. I think that is why Leo usually tries to get away from it the best he can however sometimes tech requires you to talk about politics.

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That sounds to me like it needs inclusion of flat earthers in NASA, because otherwise it would be an echo chamber. The panel appeared mostly shocked by the current state of affairs in the US. That captures quite aptly the perspective I get from the outside. It does not take representation of one or the other party to communicate that.

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There shouldn’t be any left or right wing commentators, they are supposed to be journalists, not party apologists or cheerleaders and should therefore be neutral. Any journalist who takes sides is not doing their job properly.

Looking in from the outside (I live in Europe and don’t see either party providing sensible or coherrent arguments, from what is reported here), I would say that, in general, the TWiT guests are generally fairly neutral (I see them throwing their hands up when the Democrats do something dumb, just as they do when the Repulicans do). Yes, they point out the many mistakes that Trump and his administration make, and that is what journalists should be there for, even the pro-Republican press, like Fox(?) should be calling out his howlers, they are journalists, not cheerleaders!

In the UK, when the Conservatives lost their way at the end of the 80s, early 90s, the right wing press, whilst supporting the Conservatives in general, were in no way shy of calling out the Government, when they made mistakes. That is their job, whether they are pro- or anti- a particular party, if that party cocks up, they should report that as a cock-up. How it is reported will be affected by the political leanings of the publication, how much ridicule and how much trying to provide insight into the bad decision, but neither side should gloss over the cracks.

The same with the German press. There are sides to a story, but where mistakes are made, both the left and right leaning press report the same facts and when it is a howler, it is laid out as such in the story. They might then go on to provide left or right leaning commentary to put some background into it. But, for example, if Merkel or her cabinet makes a mistake, none of the general press will rally to hide the mistake and push it under the carpet

But the US press is fairly unique for a “free” country, it seems to be very partisan and forgets its primary role. In this light, I think TWiT does a good job.

As to the current show, I didn’t see anything that was politically swayed to the Democrats, for example, pointing out the problems, but not taking sides. Looking at what the German press have been reporting, the TWiT guests were fairly neutral.

If you are referring to the bit at the end with Baratunde Thurston, I found he was very factual, he kept any outrage out of his commentary and concentrated on the facts of being a black person in America. I didn’t see any political sway at all in his comments, in fact, I was very surprised at how calm and balanced he managed to bring his view over. There was no rhetoric, no hate speech, no call for retaliation, just a call for calm and painting a picture of what it means to be black in America at this time.

I can think of many black personalities over the years who’s comments would have poured more fuel onto the situation and think he did a remarkable job.

@Parker4381 what is DTNS? It is not a show I am familiar with and looking at the TWIT.tv homepage, I couldn’t find a show with those initials.

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@big_D It is Tom Merrit’s show. I was using it as an example.

I agree with a lot you say but unfortunately a lot of “journalist” have their opinion and report it and not always factual things. That was my point. I like hearing other people’s takes on things because if you don’t keep an open mind and listen nothing will ever get solved but sometimes you wish you had a voice in the convo to express your take. So I can see what Relyt was saying.

Now I was using DTNS because I liked hearing Ant’s story however the guys after pushed the narrative that this dude was arrested, took through the drive thru at Burger King and got special attention because they put a vest on him. That is how they pushed it and if you just do the research into it you can see they are wrong. That is where I have issues with it. You can have an opinion but don’t push fact unless it is fact. There may be someone who was not familiar with this story and now this is what they believe and sometimes it is hard to show truth because their first impression was something else. So reporting something as fact or making something seem worse than it is is very harmful.

I have disagreed with a lot of things TWiT hosts have said however usually something false someone calls them out on it or if it is so they are reporting halfway or wrong. So personally I didn’t really too much wrong with this episode however some things said in the past I wished I was their to ask some questions.

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Daily Tech News Show

This was not the exact narrative today but it did get mentioned in some fashion. Whenever we talk about the US being behind in broadband speeds, one or more of the guests will tell everyone what service they receive (it is also slow of course). Several guests have 200Mbps down. Today one had 100/10. That is great and all but in most cases, it is because they CHOOSE to pay for the bottom tier, it isn’t reflective of them being underserved. I had 200Mbps down 20 years ago when I first got cable internet. I’ve had 1Gb/50Mb for the last 5 years and most if not all major metro areas served by Comcast also offers this package.

As far as politics, all I heard were facts and their reaction to them. Why is this a Liberal vs Conservative debate to some?

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Thank you Leo for the beautiful discussion with Baratunde after the show. Twit really is more than tech.
Love you guys.

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@Leo I tend to post more often when I disagree with something or don’t like something. Sorry about that.

This time however, I want to thank you for bringing on Baratunde. That was very refreshing. As a white guy living in a very white community, I struggle with understanding what the hell is going on. I’m going to start with the resources he listed. This past winter my Rotary club read and held discussions on the book Waking up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race by Debby Irving. It was a start, but I frankly could not relate to the author’s life experience.

As to calls above from those saying they want more “political balance” on TWiT I disagree. The last thing I want TWIT to turn into is a debate show. You give your side and perspective. I know where to go to find opposite views.

And a question: I see on Twitter that TWiT is supporting funds to bail out protestors. Are you helping those who are hurting other people and property? I support all peaceful protestors, not rioters and looters.

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@P_J I saw that on twitter and instantly thought about that. Like are these groups checking and making sure that who they are bailing out is someone who simply impeding the flow of traffic or for failure to disperse? It would be bad if a company pushed something like this and the funds are used to help someone who just looted a store and beat the owners half to death with a 2x4.

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Thank you Leo for the special discussion with Baratunde after the show. Twit really is more than tech.

take my cap off

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To any of my fellow white TWiTers…I found this helpful:

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Thank you Leo and thank you Mr. Baratunde for the after show discussion. It’s very heartening and comforting to hear thoughtful and well-meaning discussion in these turbulent times. I’ve held to the belief that those in power have the obligation to help those who have fallen through the cracks, but it was put much better on the show, as it becomes so much more applicable.

“The work of fixing [the system] has to keep shifting to those who are benefiting from it being broken in the first place.” — Baratunde Thurston

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