Friday, October 14, 2011

Priorities, Part Deux

My point on Steve Jobs was not he was a bad person, nor that the toys he made were bad, but that so much idolization was heaped on him at the same time that other wealthy capitalists were being so roundly condemned. My criticism was directed not at Steve Jobs or his corporation, but rather at the people who were idolizing him.

Jobs' corporation was exporting production jobs to horrible working conditions overseas, selling products using predatory pricing, monopolizing ideas, destroying anyone who threatened his monopolies, etc. And yet he was revered and worshipped even as thousands were marching and screaming in protest of others who are using that exact same business model, purely because they are using that exact same business model.

Why did we revere Steve Jobs and condemn the others, when all of them were doing the same thing? Because Jobs strutted his products on a stage and showed us, “Isn’t this exciting, isn’t this fun.” The other predatory corporations are merely providing us with things that we need, like food and fuel, and health insurance. They are taking advantage of us. Steve Jobs was providing us with excitement and fun.

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