Limits of Magical Thinking
Steve Jobs wasn’t a technology visionary, but he convinced the world that he was.
Steve Jobs was a disturbed and disturing individual, and he was no technological visionary but a crafty marketer who knew how to create a cult of Mac, iphone, and ipad worshippers, three of the most ideologically loaded pieces of technology in the world. Think of how many people, consciously and unconsciously, have been sutered into this cult in the mistaken assumption that technology is inocent and that Apple products are inherently superior simply because, well, they're Apple after all, and think of the control Apple exercises in the world as a result of its cult following. Any and all religious analogies are appropriate.
And let's not forget that Apple still hasn't revealed its carbon footprint and is still dragging its corporate ass on conflict minerals.
All shopping is political.
In that case, both the Liberals and NDP could both use a Steve Jobs. Brand recognition is a powerful thing.
ReplyDeleteThe walled, proprietary garden that is Apple is like all other proprietary gardens (Microsoft,IBM, Adobe, Oracle etc.).
ReplyDeleteFree software is the only way out of those proprietary gardens: http://fsf.org
It's much more difficult to climb over the Apple wall than Microsoft's or IBM's.
ReplyDeleteAnd,yes, as Steve, master marketer, knew, brand recognition is indeed a powerful, controlling force that functions in unconscious and subtle ways.