It’s certainly true that Rob, Joel and I all find much of the Internet’s agony aunting over Steve Jobs’ illness a tad unsavory… but even so, the self-righteous indignation from the Mac community that anyone might comment on it at all is getting pretty funny, as are the superstitious and hysterical coping mechanisms some Apple bloggers are adopting to get themselves through what must, for them, be like waiting to see smoke come from the chimney of the Vatican.
Consider this comment by Robert Palmer over at The Unofficial Apple Weblog:
I wish Mr. Jobs and his family all the best, and this is the last story I’ll be writing about yesterday’s announcement for the foreseeable future. I was conflicted about even writing this, because Jobs deserves his time to recuperate, free from the spread of rumors and half-truths. Perhaps the less I write about it, the healthier he’ll get.
You may recognize this sort of logic from the climax of J.M. Barre’s Peter Pan, in which Peter exhorts all the children in the audience to save a poisoned Tinkerbell by clapping if they believe in fairies.
‘Fake Steve’ chides CNBC’s Goldman in source foofaraw [TUAW]
Oh my god.
Why is it that you can’t let someone write about their hope for the recovery of someone he personally knows?
Are you that bitter about Apple’s and Jobs’ success that you have to dance around merrily at any misfortune — no matter how low you have to sink?
You, sir, are an ass.
I’m pretty sure something similar would happen at BB if Lawrence Lessig announced he was giving up the ghost soon. Fanboys come in all shapes and sizes…
@1 Everyone should certainly be left in privacy to deal with whatever health issues they face.
But that’s not the point of John’s post, is it? The point was to call out a case of magical thinking on the part of another tech blogger (and magical thinking is clearly what it is), to make the larger point about the cult of personality that infects the Apple blogosphere, an entirely valid subject for a tech blogger.
How is any of that an indication of bitterness?
It seems your snide-ometer stole all the ‘care’ that normally powers your sarcasm detector.
I didn’t have any trouble understanding that Palmer did not literally believe that he could influence Jobs’s recovery.
The thing that sucks about this whole thing is not that investors are angry. That’s sad, but understandable.
What sucks is when Bloomberg calls physicians who have never met Jobs to ask them to make up stories of what might be happening, and these supposedly learned men, who have taken an oath to do no harm, leap to do so, just to appear on national TV.
I suppose these physicians might equivocate by pretending they are educating people. Except, of course, that “House” does a much better job.
No, the point was to make another crass, idiotic dig at Jobs, Apple, and the fanbois.
Here’s a clue for you: not having to deal with people constantly diagnosing you in public might actually help you rest. Which, shockingly, might actually help you recover.
Palmer’s point — which is apparently too subtle for the assinine to get — is that nothing is served by discussing the details, or guessing what Jobs’ malady actually is. And, maybe, if he’s left in peace — as would only be common courtesy — he’ll be able to focus more on his recovery.
And I’ll rephrase all that, because stupidity knows no bounds when it comes to excuses to attack Apple and Jobs: no journalist should do a story without checking sources. In this case, this means Steve Jobs. A man who is sick enough to have to take a six month medical leave of absence. A man who has been harangued by reporters trying to confirm or deny every piece of shit supposition out there. And a journalist actually says “I’m not going to do this anymore” — and does so in a light-hearted way — and he’s attacked as believing in magic?
I stand by my statement: you, sir, are an ass. And I’ll add to it: you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
Just FYI, this post makes you look like kind of a complete jerk.
This guy is expressing grief over the serious illness of someone who he obviously admires greatly, and all you can do is mock him. Is this really who you want to be?
I remember crying when Issac Asimov died. When Arthur C. Clarke died. I can’t explain why, it just is.
My mother died a week ago today, and I’ll tell you first hand that grief is rarely logical and often takes strange forms.
Mocking someone else’s grief is pretty lame.
@5
I don’t really follow Apple-oriented posts, so I could only judge this post based on face value, but I can see your point about the intent and appropriateness of this post, especially if it’s within the context of a pattern of attacks on Apple, Jobs, etc.
#6: “OMG Leave Steve Jobs/Robert Palmer alone! You’re lucky he even performs for you!”
There’s no goddamn grief involved in this story Steve Jobs is still alive, and what Apple bloggers are doing is much akin to sports fans wearing the same pair of underpants every game day so their football team of choice wins.
However, I am sorry for the loss of your mom, that’s a very rough experience.
This post contains no speculation about Jobs’ illness… the first sentence says we find most of the agony aunting and warrantless speculation about his health to be unsavory at best. It is totally neutral towards Jobs and Apple. Those of you who are getting upset are getting upset because it is critical towards Apple and Jobs’ sweatiest fans… namely: you.
As @3 says, this post is is a guffaw at the mystical, magical self-righteouness of Apple’s most feverish and unthinking fans. But guess what… even though Jobs is ill, the people who uncritically worship him and the company he founded are not. Jobs is exempt. But the Cult of Mac is fair game.
Suck it up.
Grief isn’t only for the dead. It starts the moment you first perceive the inevitability of loss.
Apparently there’s no one in this world whose illness would cause you consternation. How sad for you.
Leaving said for a second the stated intent of John’s post (again, I personally only judge it at face value), people have some very strong opinions about what the apprporiate limits are on journalism and public commentary regarding the health status of public figures (and Steve Jobs is clearly a public figure).
I don’t have a well formed opinion on this, so I’m honestly interested in hearing people’s thoughts.
My question: what are the limits, if any, on public commentary regarding the health status of public figures? For example, it seems that nothing is off limits in terms of speculation and wild rumors concerning political figures like Dick Cheney or Fidel Castro.
More potentially divisive question: Should Steve Jobs be exempt from that same level of scrutiny? More generally, should CEOs be exempt from the same level of public inquiry as, say, politicians like Cheney or Castro?
#10: You lose, thanks for playing. Consternation =/= Grief.
I used a football analogy earlier, but I think think a Chicken’s blood sprinkled liberally over a MBP might help the Apple crowd more.
#12: How kind of you to identify and define grief for the whole of humanity and the human experience. A topic of philosophical and psychological discourse since the dawn of time and you have cracked it in a few moments. How extraordinary.
I’ve learned more about grief in the last seven days than I ever really wanted to know, and only the willfully ignorant or pathologically obtuse could fail to see any parallels between the community’s reaction to Job’s health and the Kübler-Ross model of the 5 stages of grief. (which can occur out of order, missing some aspects etc.)
1. Denial. Enough said.
2. Anger. Ditto.
3. Bargaining. The TUAW post that Brownlee chose to mock is a textbook example.
4. Depression. I think you’ll see this stage start to set in soon. You can already see the first hints in the TUAW post.
5. Acceptance. Won’t see this for a while yet.
Perhaps you would like to do a little research before responding. It seems only fair. This wiki is a reasonable place to start.
The Apple fanboys are really living up to their name in this thread. Good job guys!
Apple doesn’t sell widgets, it sells an illusion. When you buy an Apple product you buy into the Jobs mystique. This allows you to participate in a psycho dynamic theater where all the fame and adulation heaped on Steve Jobs is also conferred to you.
Jobs won’t be coming back. It’s very likely he has pancreatic cancer and will be dead in six months. Apple should have switched to a software company long ago but Jobs’ boundless ego and control freak nature wouldn’t let him. When he does Apple will go back to it’s 1.8% market share. Which is too bad, OSX is a great OS.
This was, in my opinion, just not a good post. I am a fan of Apple and I also have been affected by pancreatic cancer. I see no fun in this and wish we could humanize our discussions of people’s lives, even CEOs. I recognize that I am biased by experience, but nevertheless, I find no joy in speculating on someone’s impending death by slow cancerous decay (if that is what is happening). I wish him the best and hope he recovers from his current illness, but I don’t like the coverage in media, like this one. I see the point about Cheney and know we sometimes get desensitized, but cancer is so slow and so horrible, I don’t find this fun, interesting, useful or intriguing. Let’s continue to set the great example of the kinder side of the internet that Boing Boing is so often (in my mind). This post came across as crass and dismissive. I usually don’t flame on, but I wanted to side with those saying that they didn’t get the “joke”.
Get well soon, you groovy emperor!