Objectivity is Overrated

Reflections on writing about technology and politics while having a point of view.

Why can news not just be news? Why does it have to have opinions? Why is your writing not objective? Why is it not balanced? Why do you take sides?

I read a lot of comments like this in response to the writing of others as well as to my own writing.

The follow up tends to be predictable. People complain because the author has a different opinions from themselves.

9 out of 10 times when somebody writes that I am not being objective, what they really mean to say is: You don’t hold the same opinions and preferences as me.

Do you think if I write a positive article about macOS that I get Mac fans complaining that I’m not being objective and balanced? No, this never happens. People who complain about objectivity are almost always without exception people with a very strong opposite view. They’re not really upset that you have an opinion. They are upset about the fact that your opinion is different from their own. A diehard Windows fan might complain about a positive story about Mac, but they will never complain about an article that is too positive about Microsoft…