Category Archives: People are stupid

The iPhone Rapture: Apple Bias in the Media

(Disclosure: I own an iPhone and am extremely satisified with the device; so much so, in fact, that I have considered purchasing a MBP in the near future. It is my first Apple device ever — no, I never owned even an iPod.)

Not too long ago, I wrote a post exploring whether or not there exists an apple bias in the media (loosely defined as bloggers, journalists, TV anchors, etc.):

The media at large are enthralled with Macs and all things Apple — a major media outlet like the NewYork Times, a tech blog like Techcrunch or VentureBeat, or even a college newspaper.
Mac seems to represent not only the hip and elite, but smart, intelligent, and free-spirited — all superlatives we as writers love to associate ourselves with, even if only by brand.

Or as Stuff White People Like humorously remarks:

On the surface, you would ask yourself, how is that white people love a multi-billion dollar company with manufacturing plants in China, mass production, and that contributes to global pollution through the manufacture of consumer electronic devices?
Simple answer: Apple products tell the world you are creative and unique. They are an exclusive product line only used by every white college student, designer, writer, English teacher, and hipster on the planet.

You’ll see post, post, after post, after post, after post, after post, after post, after post by the devout and faithful Apple fans, but none of them are as honest as Mike Arrington:

So while I agree with Charles Cooper that Apple may sometimes get more press, and more compliant press, than they “should,” I think he and others miss the (much) larger point: Apple, and Steve Jobs, stoke our imagination in a way that no other technology company has ever done. Apple is about elegance, design, and potential, and we love them for it.

And he knows he’s got drunk on that Apple kool-aid:

I’ve been to enough Steve Jobs keynotes now to know that the man is able to take a crowd and bend it to his will. Every time, I’ve been a willing subject - sometimes (but not every time) to find myself in a hangover-like state a day later when I try to remember exactly why I thought that whatever he was pitching would change my life forever.

That’s why I like reading Mike’s writing: if you’re gonna be biased, be open and honest about it, and people will love you for it:

I love the iPhone for the same reason I love technology in general, and loved Disneyland as a child - it drives my imagination and makes me wonder what kind of magic to expect next. Also, it just works

This may be akin to those olds Apple Jacks commercials where the kids would always say “we eat what we like.”

The perfect reason for having an Apple bias? Nope.

An open and honest answer? Yes, sir.

For the rest of you Apple-toting fanboy press, tsk, tsk, tsk, try a full disclosure.

Barry Bonds Kicked to the Curb (and kicked and kicked)

One of the greatest hitters of all time and this is how he will go down: (say waht you want about him using steroids, but if your remember correctly from the SI article almost a DECADE ago, over 90% of the player said steroid use was at least 50% and 50% of the player said 90% of the players were on steroids): from ESPN

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants have now removed prominent tributes in the stadium to Barry Bonds, who has steroid allegations and perjury charges hanging over his head.

Take a good look: The left-field wall at AT&T Park will look much different this season than it did in 2007.

The left-field wall no longer bears an image of Bonds chasing Hank Aaron for the home run crown, nor elsewhere is the number of Bonds’ home runs in relation to Aaron posted.

There are no “756″ signs — signifying the home run he hit to break Aaron’s record — anywhere in the park, in fact. A team spokeswoman said the Giants would put up a plaque to note where he had hit his last homer with the team.

A Crime With No Victim — Americans are focusing on the WRONG thing.

I love all these so-called “experts” (i.e. they have their own TV show or wrote a book) who get on Larry King Live, Fox News, AC360 and spout some garbage about “why is Spitzer’s wife standing by him” and “this is a crime with a victim.”

That is wrong on so many levels.

First, I’m not even going to link to the many pages, but just look for Dupre, and I’m sure you’ll find that this girl got like 700k plays on her myspace page yesterday and she even UPLOADED A SONG to Amie Street.

So, Dupre is obviously a smart cookie and is TAKING ADVANTAGE of her recent fame to parlay it into a quickly rising music career. Now whether she can make it last is another story, but she’s certainly hot right now.

Second, to ever call a woman weak or stupid for standing by her husband is absolutely ridiculous. This is precisely why the divorce rate is so high in this country — because you have all these fools standing up on their squawk boxes preaching “female empowerment.”

Female empowerment is saving the victims of sex slave trade (that’s the REAL time when there is a crime & a victim in prostituion.) Go to IJM.org and see real women victims who need empowerment.

To ever lambast a woman for standing by her Husband is absurd, and it shows the utter stupidity of the pyschologists, authors, and famous people writing books today.

So some woman who it happened to before spoke /wrote about the struggles. You know what? Life’s tough. Relationships are tough.

And who are you — who have no knowledge of this marriage, who have nothing to do with the family, that have no idea hwo this relationship started, how it developed, and how they have endured — who are you to say anything?

Third, honestly, this is when I say Americans are incredibly stupid.

Always focusing on the wrong thing.

They should looking to see who aer the people who most benefit from Spitzer stepping down (i.e. the crooks on Wall Street) and say to ourselves — hmm, now that Spitzer’s gone, can we make sure we get behind Paterson & Cuomo and allow them to tear down any corrupt super-wealthy fools?

The Victim in this crime is the people of the US, because with the fall of Spitzer, we have lost (not only a future presidential candidate) but someone who went after the big boys and made them shiver in their pants.

The fact that they cheered when he fell should be a red flag to anyone — with Spitzer gone, let’s hope Cuomo can help take on the ridiculous insurance companies, lying & cheating investment bankers, et. al.

The secret of success (should I say now that I don’t have it either?)

I love how so many big mouths over the “blogosphere” get excited about these micro-debates. (I would link to some of these posts but I don’t want to provide even more trackbacks.)

I live in the real world — the one where those who don’t have time to bicker over useless topics for hours live. (And arguably the world in which real people make it possible for those pointless discussions to happen in the ’sphere.)

I love the internet — everybody wants to tear each other down and proclaim victory.

Ever heard of King of the Hill?

Pick up an Xbox (or if you’re cheap just go to Gamestop and play it there) and try a copy of the Halo series, link it to Xbox live, or battle with some friends, and you will see what I mean.

See when you have some virtual guns, grenades, and rocket launchers, its actually quite amazing.

But when all you have is a bunch of pretend know-it-alls running their fingers all over their keyboard proclaiming they have THE ONE SINGLE ANSWER.

Hilarious.

If they really did they probably wouldn’t be blogging, that’s for sure.

If it’s financial status you’re looking for — I haven’t read Bill Gates’ rant about workaholics (for or against) yet.

If it’s a solid family life you’re after — you’re family would much rather enjoy you then listen to you whine and complain about how “right” you are.

If it’s fame you’re looking for –keep blogging, because outside the tech world nobody knows or cares who you are — and they probably never will.

And if it’s beauty you’re after, well, suffice it to say that the sedentary lifestyle which this sort of mind-numbing useless, time-wasting calls for probably won’t allow beauty — but hey, it is possible.

I do really like one post (a positive post) and wanted to highlight one of my favorite excerpts of all time.

Former:

There is no secret formula or obvious path to success. Just one common trait…an indomitable desire to succeed against all adversity and doubt. Very few people have this drive and the leadership ability to attract great people to their cause. This drive is indefinable but we know it when we see it. It is sometimes misdiagnosed as being delusional and fanatical. The difference in diagnosis is success or failure. Succeed and you are a brilliant visionary. Fail and you are a delusional loser. The line between them is very fine.

Latter:

A well-regarded speaker spent several years compiling information on what makes a successful person. He was astounded by his results.

Of course, like most of us, I’d been brought up on the popular belief that the secret of success is hard work, but I’d seen so many men work hard without succeeding and so many men succeed without working hard that I had become convinced that hard work was not the real secret even though in most cases it might be one of the requirements. And so I set out on a voyage of discovery which carried me through biographies and autobiographies and all sorts of dissertations on success and the lives of successful men and women until I finally reached the point at which I realized that the secret I was trying to discover lay not only in what people did, but also in what made them do it! I realized further that the secret for which I was searching must not only apply to every definition of success, but since it must apply to everyone to whom it was offered, it must also apply to everyone who had ever been successful. In short, I was looking for the common denominator of success. And because that’s exactly what I was looking for, that’s exactly what I found.

He expected to find a correlation between gender, race, age, I.Q. or other hereditary factors out of human control; conversely, in his report titled “The common denominator of success” he found something entirely different: “The common denominator of success – the secret of success of every person who has ever been successful – lies in the fact that the person formed the habit of doing things that others don’t like to do…Because successful people have a purpose strong enough to make them form the habit of doing things they don’t like to do.”