Which Politics for Which Artifacts? [thanks purselipsquarejaw]

Things carry politics, but in critiquing them, you need to know (or choose) which politics you want to apply. Politics are choices humans make, even if inanimate objects are the tools of those politics—and what's more, there's are levels of politicization. Tools can be very specialized for their politics, or admit ambiguity.

The argument here goes for more than functional artifacts, too. As I've echoed before, everything is political, but the political dimension need not be what we focus on. That's up to your own politics, or aesthetics, or spirituality, or whatever other reservoirs of value you possess.