The Californian Ideology Analysis

When constructing an argumentative essay, the author must always tailor their work to fit the audience. In the case of articles published in magazines or journals this audience is determined by the respective publication. The differences in the audience and purpose of a magazine or journal has a significant impact on the language, content, and underlying values of the articles it contains. “The Californian Ideology” by Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron and “Why the future doesn't need us” by Bill Joy are two essays that, while having much in common, were published in magazines with very different audiences and functions. The former was published in Mute magazine, while the latter was published in Wired. Wired is a mass market publication dealing with issues surrounding technology while Mute is a much more niche magazine that deals in a variety of issues including technology left wing politics. Both “The Californian Ideology” and “Why the future doesn’t need us” were influenced by their respective publishers in language, content, and underlying values. Understanding these differences can help us unpack the arguments being presented and can shed new light …show more content…
“The California Ideology” is clearly critical of free market capitalism and has an underlying leftist values. Barbrook and Cameron even advocate for, “a major redistribution of wealth” (12) in the United States. This excerpt from the Mute magazine website clearly shows that the magazine shares similar values, “we need to critically engage with the ways in which new media also reproduce and extend capitalist social relations.” “Why the future doesn’t need us” takes no apparent political stance which is ideal for reaching a broad audience. The main value present in this piece is that it is a good idea to preserve humankind. This value statement is something that the vast majority of humans agree with and can relate