Are You With Us or Against Us?
I have noticed a recent trend that troubles me deeply. I have seen it at work, heard it at the Apple Store, and have even seen it here on Apple Matters. People say they are Mac enthusiasts, loyalists, and zealots. But they don’t back it up. They don’t support Apple completely. I need to know from these people once and for all: Are you with us or not? And if you aren’t, then as far as I’m concerned, you are against us.
Here’s what I mean. Being an Apple user means you embrace all things Apple. Steve Jobs is your God. If he introduces an Apple vacuum cleaner as part of the Home iLife Suite of products then gosh darn it, you buy it when it comes out. And even after it fails miserably in the marketplace and Apple stops servicing it and offering support for it, you still use it! There is no half-dedication accepted here. You drink the Kool-Aid or you join a different cult. We don’t want you.
If you own an Apple Computer then you should use all that came with your Apple Computer. You shouldn’t be switching out for a more ergonomic keyboard. You shouldn’t be using a non-Apple mouse. I don’t care if it lacks the proper function keys or 2 button mouse features. You want a Mac, you keep it clean and white. You’re either with us or you’re against us.
Have an iPod? Do you use iTunes? Then you better be using it on a Mac. None of this iTunes for Windows bunk. None of this docking your iPod with USB nonsense. And don’t get me started about the earbuds. The iPod comes with white earbuds. Use those, or get yourself a Dell DJ to use with your Seinheisers. If you want the prize of using an iPod or iTunes, you do the time, good or bad, just like the rest of us. It’s either white or white. There is no gray.
Have a desktop that needs a monitor? Put your Viewsonic away. It’s Apple flat panel display or nothing pal. I don’t care if the interpolation is better and it is half the price. The G5 was designed to marry with a flat panel display with a small footprint. You want G5 power? You take the whole enchilada Jos�.
Want wireless? Linksys is a 4-letter word. Use an Airport Extreme Base Station or an Airport Express or you will just need to suffer with the hassle of wires. Or better yet, why don’t you just take back your Powerbook and buy yourself a Gateway laptop. You two will be perfect for each other.
And it doesn’t stop at just hardware.
If you use anything besides Helvetica, you will use Font Book. Yes, I know it is inferior to even the lowly version of Suitcase for OSX but you will use it because Steve gave it to you for free. Trash your Outlook, you use Mail or you don’t do email. Burning discs? You better not be burning discs with Toast. You need to limit your burning options with Apple’s built-in burning software.
Here’s something that has come up here on AppleMatters. If you like to read about Apple online, you should read about Apple using Safari. Not Internet Explorer. Not Firefox. I don’t care that the new build of Firefox is really good.(It really is) To paraphrase that WW II propaganda poster, “You ride with IE, you ride with Bill Gates.” And don’t say you tried it and didn’t like it. Listen to Yoda: “Do or do not. There is no try.”
Here’s what you can have some leniency on only because Apple does not produce anything in the category:
Printers
Digital Cameras
Vacuum Cleaners (at least not yet)
There is a thick line between Mac and non-Mac. The battle line has been drawn. I’ve chosen sides. Which side are you on?
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Comments
With all do respect - how can you be such an extremist when it comes to being an apple user, and then ditch something and deny its existence just because its old. I’m referring to the end or your article when you say that there is leniency only on printers, digital cameras and vacuum cleaners. As I recall, Apple produced the Apple Quicktake, and the Stylewriter. A digital camera and a printer. I believe they also had Newtons - what PDA do you use? A hardcore Apple user will stick with the quicktake, and the stylewriter, and the newton until Apple comes out with something new to replace those. Don’t try to be hardcore, and then end half assed.
Can’t you see that he’s making a point by taking the extreme position? Personally, I believe that the only way to know how good Apple’s products are is to have some exposure to the alternative. And sometimes the alternative is good. Fortunately for Apple, that isn’t the usual situation.
Zealot!
Hank: Can’t you tell Jspalink’s comments were tongue-in-cheek? He’s playing along with the theme of the article, and raising it one more notch.
Fun stuff!
Apple is an oxymoron. Thinking Different is illegal on the Mothership….and culturally taboo among the true believers, too, evidently.
Of course, it makes it easy to understand why people blindly trust the “Central” intelligence of the CIA, when the Think Different crowd are encouraged to be lemmings in the same way.
The irony of the 1984 Apple ad grows stronger every day.
Wow, Steve-O. Sounds like you should focus more on the FIRST part of your website’s domain name and lose some of the strange bitterness. I guess someone at Apple must have personally spit in your face.
Oh, by the way, why the quotation marks around the word “Central”? Are you implying that the CIA is _not_ centralized?
On that note, no one blindly trusts the CIA, but if Bush had not acted, and a few years from now, once the UN had lifted the sanctions and Saddam had built nuclear weapons, handed a couple off to terrorists, and they nuked a US city, you’d probably be in line screaming about how Bush neglected to protect us by wiping out Saddam.
Idiot.
eeeww I’m so scared! Thank God I had GWB and the “Centralized” intelligence of the CIA to protect me. (Is it sort of like the Borg? You will be assimilated by stupidity! Thinking is futile.)
But really, I am quite happy. It is so entertaining watching the wheels go round and round.
Apple makes great stuff, we all know that, don’t we? I just think the position that somehow if I purchase a third party keyboard that the Earth will spin off its axis and hurtle into the sun a bit absurd. Afterall, America built the Sun (nuclear weapons) that we are now trying to protect ourselves from. Oh yes, engineers are so very “intelligent.” Maybe they need a CIA, too.
Where do the lemmings rendezvous? I wouldn’t want to miss my place in line.
P.S. A city has been nuked by terrorists before. Twice. Fortunately, we can trust intelligent men not to do it again. <eye roll>
Should we keep score? $20 of box cutters vs $200 Billion. Who is winning?
I sure hope my keyboard doesn’t break…..that would be the end of the world as we know it.
Actually, recognizing your fear (in its myriad of subtle ways) is what you need to understand be happy and free. Think of fear like Applescript. Some code is better than other code, even if it appears to be doing the same thing. Inertia.
P.S. I didn’t say anything about Bush, you did. Funny how the mind plays tricks, isn’t it? I am non-partisan. I vote holding my nose.
P.S.S. Yes, Apple does (did) drive me nuts. Good observation. They are still an oxymoron.
...it’s funny how we are all human, no matter how much we think of ourselves.
Respectfully,
If you call Americans terrorists for ending World War II, I’m going to make a wild guess that you’d be voting Dennis Kucinich if you voted your ideals. If you are voting by who is closer to believing America is the enemy, vote for Kerry. He’s had America-hating Michael Moore as an honored guest.
Hey guys, I’m glad my article has sparked such lively debate but let’s please try to stay on topic here.
What is more scary? Michael Moore or a non-Apple branded keyboard? You see Gregory, it is very much on topic. Your fear that somehow I can hurt Apple by not purchasing their product is the same as Krioni’s fear of Kerry, Kucinich, Moore, Osama, etc. You unwittingly have staked out a position which advocates fear (on a minor issue) but that is part of the seed of fear that we live with on the big issues. Thinking we have engineers that we need to “protect” is part of the problem. They are always building things to protect us from fear. (Star Wars, etc.) The catatonic state of hero worship, whether for Jobs, Gates, Bush or anyone is not healthy, and it is always just beneath the surface.
Unfortunately, the thing that scares people the most is pointing out their fear. So Krioni probably thinks I am American-hating too, when in fact I don’t hate anybody. And that is the problem. Because I don’t fear what he fears he is afraid of me.
Nor do I fear for Apple if I buy a third-party keyboard. Somehow we will all manage just fine, if we just had a little courage to confront our assumptions. As Plato put it, “Courage is knowing what not to fear.”
Americans fearing Americans (Left and Right) or their shopping habits (keyboards), is a sad state of affairs.
So, what is your response to my criticism of your article? I think brand loyalty is the same as blind loyalty. Relationships should be symbiotic, not subservient. (That is the underlying premise in WE in We The People, too.)
Wow. Steve, we thought you were kidding. Gregory’s article was obviously tongue-in-cheek. If you didn’t get that, then I am scared of you.
Yes, you are right. HIS remarks are tongue n cheek. I see that on a closer reading. But clearly some people (you?) do have the attitude that “you are either with us or against us” and it was that premise that I was responding to. It is the title of the article, eh?
Apple does run like a mothership. They try to create a cult status in their marketing. And then we are surprised when crazy cults fly planes into buildings. Well DUH!
Get it?
If people think like that (brand loyalty) it is because Apple encouraged them to, too, as well as their own infatuation with magical boxes.
It is a conversation about brand loyalty, and not me, isn’t it?
Steve,
You obviously have some difficulty with perspective and the scope of things. Apple fomenting a little “love this product” attitude is hardly comparable to Islamic militants killing themselves just to kill “the infidels.”
Time to work on a twisted world-view, guy, rather than pick on people for loyalty to a good product.
Loyalty or blind loyalty? Isn’t that what the essay is about?
I think the latter (blind loyalty) is itself a twisted world-view.
You call me an “idiot,” and then say I shouldn’t pick on people.
I’d say it’s you who has more work to do on the twisted world-view, not me.
Evidence: comparing product loyalty based on a pattern of high-quality products to a militant cult that believes in wiping out through suicide attacks anyone who disagrees with them.
THAT, my friend, is a twisted world-view.