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 José.
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
My original post, before you derailed it with your fear that I might be somehow insulting your annoited candidate:
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.
Hmm. Stills sounds paranoid, considering it was in response to obviously-joking article.
Lighten up, Steve, and I’ll try to, too.
Hmmmm…
Sounds like somebody opened his stupid mouth.
Just what we need, more Kevin Maney fodder. Tongue-in-cheek or not, this stuff gets quoted out of context, you know.
Unless Steve Jobs is your God. Of course, had you really drunk the Kool-aid, this article never would have been written in the first place.
;O)
I didn’t know who Kevin Maney was, but I would say that it was an excellent reference.
Mac or PC? Windows’ security issues help some users choose - By Kevin Maney
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/kevinmaney/2004-09-21-maney_x.htm
Get a Mac!
There. I hope all you Apple crazies are happy now and WILL STOP E-MAILING ME!
Sheesh.
Last week, I wrote about a virus giving a lobotomy to my Windows XP home computer. I got more e-mail about that column than any other, ever. The comments generally split into two camps:
• People who have Windows PCs and wanted to commiserate.
• Mac zealots who swarmed over my sad story like ants on a dropped Popsicle, all on a mission to “save” this allegedly misguided Microsoft captive. Now I know what it would feel like to wander into a Branch Davidian convention. Or to be a Democrat trapped in a room with Zell Miller…..
Um, Zell Miller is a Democrat who feels his party left him by moving to the extreme and punishing anyone who disagrees with the party line.
Two pro-choice Republicans spoke at the RNC, while the D’s focus on ignoring moderates like Joe Lieberman who don’t tow the party line. He even had to move left to get the nod as Al Gore’s VP in 2000.
LOL Politics is silly. No matter where one sits on the line, there are always people to the left and right who are “unpure” (inferior and evil) because they do not sit where you sit.
If people could understand that life is a round table, and everybody brings a worthwhile but different perspective, things would be much better. Instead, somebody (everybody?) insists on being the head of the table (as in “central” intelligence) thus making the meeting more about who sits “where” rather than the purpose of the meeting.
The party line of the left and the party line of the right are the same thing. It is a call for lemmings so somebody can get the seat they want.
People say that all men are created equal, but they don’t really mean it. They always think of themselves as best.
Maney wasn’t really talking politics here. He was stereotyping all Mac users as members of a cult. But then, even some Mac enthusiasts use the same words.
Maney got blanketed by emails from all types of Mac users. I’m sure a certain number of them were from bonafide, poorly-worded Mac zealots. But from forum posts out there, lots of those emails were congenial, sincere expressions of sympathy with a solution. My response was one of them.
The contents of my email as outlined:
1) My heart goes out to him and to the personal friends I have whose Windows PCs have been turned into zombie servers by Windows malware.
2) Fellow columnists like Walt Mossberg, David Pogue, David Coursey, Chad Dickerson have been quite vocal about a very healthy alternative: Mac OS X.
3) Even IBMer Gary Booch says he’s sick and tired of Windows garbageware and has switched to Mac OS X. I quote a few lines from Booch’s blog.
4) Quote an email response from Patrick Kolla when I asked him why he didn’t port SpyBot S&D to Mac OS X: “Because you don’t need it.”
5) Discount the marketshare myth: 25 million Mac user base is not insignificant, and the Witty worm proved that small, specifically targeted computers can be successfully attacked. Real reason for security: Unix.
3) For the sake of his and his reader’s sanity, I suggest he give Mac OS X (like taking a G5 model for a spin) for at least a month, then report back to his readers.
4) “You can always go back to your PC later on if you prefer.”
Here was the automated answer he sent to every Mac user who wrote him:
“Thanks, but I do know this already.
It’s a funny thing—why do Mac users feel a need to tell others to get a Mac? It really seems cultish, like the Moonies or something.
Kevin”
A week later, he wrote the article cited above by Steve, in which he writes:
“There’s a book coming out called The Cult of Mac. It is aptly titled. Loving a product is one thing, but these folks recruit non-believers like missionaries.
“There is a computing world where viruses and spyware are unheard of, and the promise of technology making life better is actually a realistic goal,” e-mails Michael Bino of New Jersey, using evangelical language that would make Oral Roberts proud. “Try a Mac.”
“I was in the same position until I saw the light,” writes Wilson Gill of Australia. “I am a very, very happy Mac user. Take the plunge, and I guarantee you will never look back.”
Am I missing something? Do the mushrooms come packaged right in the Mac box?”
The man wrote an article that actually acknowledges the apparent resistance of Mac OS X and Linux from malware “for whatever reason”. Even though the Mac OS is put in a good light, its users were not. So a piece I would have been proud to share with my PC using friends and relatives was ruined by the cult metaphor.
Or maybe it is Gregory Ng who is serious and Kevin Maney who was writing tongue-in-cheek. It’s awful hard to tell on “paper”.
To be sure, an unusual level of enthusiasm and loyalty come with being a Mac user, because the positive experience we have, especially when contrasted with the constant barrage our beleagered “brethren” in the Windows world have to deal with, makes it hard—maybe even unethical—to keep our mouths shut. And that is a good thing.
However, I, for one, do not appreciate being labeled a cult member of any sort. And the last thing we need is Mr. Ng putting words into the mouths of writers like Kevin Maney or perpetually fueling one of the many reasons so many “serious” IT people refuse to consider the Mac.
They don’t want to join the “cult”.
The readers of Applematters deserve better—more tasteful and, in fact, funnier humor.
All Mac users deserve better.
Kevin Maney writes for USA Today. When you want to get serious commentary on technology, that is not the place you should go.
MacSmiley, you will notice not once do I write for you, as Mac user, to spread the word “missonary style”. Uh wait, that didn’t sound right. Who cares what your friends say? Who cares what IT people want.
This article is not about growing marketshare. This is about a personal decision.
Are you in or are you out? The fact that you are having a problem with this tells me you’re out.
Finally, there is nothing tasteless about this article. it is striking up a lively discussion about what it means to be a Mac user. Applematters strives to give our readers a diversity in our views. If you want to be force-fed useless “Cultish” Mac content, go to another site.
Greg, your response puzzles me. Is your essay tongue-in-cheek or not?
As far as the “cult” goes, in all walks of life there are people who think their ignorance is bliss because they are too unimaginative to try new things. As Bob Dylan put it, “He that isn’t busy being born is busy dying.” So when people say “anything” they disagree with, they blame the messenger. It is an old problem, and not likely to go away anytime soon.
However, the authority of speaking invites a response, so the speaker should be expecting a response, and fairly consider it. Nobody is going door to door evangalizing macs (unless they are a salesman) and likewise, nobody should be going door to door inspecting people’s set-ups for brand loyalty compliance. Both situations only exist in people’s minds, not in reality.
Kevin Maney was complaining about a problem that was easily solved a long time ago. Sort of like the joke:
Doc, I banged my head and it hurts, what should I do?
The doc says: Stop banging your head.
Kevin Maney didn’t want a response, he just wanted to complain. Is that true of Gregory, too?
So is that why this site STILL doesn’t display correctly under Firefox?
</sarcasm off>
I think the article is meant to straddle reality and absurd - and it has obviously done its job.
Some of the best pieces of writing, design, art, make you make a decision - how you perceive it, how you react to it, makes you draw a line in the sand so to say.
The article resonates because I wonder if I am protraying cult-like behavior. I refused to buy a linksys wireless router simply because it was 1/3’rd of the price of the Apple Airport. I also refuse to use Entourage - and stick with Mail, iCal and Address Book. With the exception of Mail, the other two have a lot lacking. I also hate but still stubbornly use FontBook.
I am not a cult person, I am a pretty logical balanced human being. But I am also an emotional one. I, and others, can connect at some level that is not logical to our Macs. The Windows OS was somehow produced without a emotional touch, and if there is some attempt at one, it comes across as asinine (Clippy comes to mind) I don’t think that making the decision to stick with a Mac, even when it doesn’t make the most rational or logical sense - is still a pretty normal thing.
whoops, the last sentence is meant to read:
“Making the decision to stick with a Mac, even when it doesn’t make the most rational sense - is still a pretty normal thing.”
Well, as far as using Apple-only products:
1. I use an SMC Barricade rather than Apple’s Airport since I wanted its configurability.
2. I use Eudora rather than Apple’s Mail, since it has many un-replicated options.
3. I use OmniWeb instead of Safari, since it has a LOT more features than Safari.
4. I stopped using .Mac when they asked for money. If I’m going to pay for a hosting account, it’d better have SSH, MySQL, etc. .Mac is much to limited for me.
5. I use Smile to program in AppleScript, since Script Editor has annoying limitations.
Oh, and for Steve: I disagree with a lot of Bush’s positions. For example, letting our southern border be a sieve, expanding socialized healthcare (let’s see if we can do to all healthcare what we did to flu vaccine supplies), and expanding the federal government in general. Problem is, I think Kerry will get all those wrong and a lot more. That’s not blind loyalty, its knowing who you really oppose, and knowing who you generally agree with on important issues. I suppose I could pretend to be one of those reasonable “undecideds” that are so fashionable, but I don’t think anyone who is still undecided in the US election choices has a brain.
To Krioni:
LOL I agree, the undecided probably don’t have a brain. But in the scheme of things, I’d rather have incompetence trying to help people rather than incompetence trying to kill people.
At least, when governmental kindness kills, it wasn’t intentional.
But I use a trackball and have a linksys router (after my Airport broke), so I am an evil person anyway…but I do pay for .mac
We live in the land of Oz: Some have no brain, others no heart, others no courage.
In an election, we seldom get more than two of the three. People simply pick leaders with the same faults they have.
P.S. We should open our borders. What are you so afraid of? Obviously the INS, NSA, CIA, FBI, etc etc don’t make a difference anyway. It REQUIRES extra-big government to close the borders; you can’t have it both ways. Look at the Department of Security Blankets. It will grow until we become a fascist state “for our own protection.”
America is the land of the intolerant chickens who fled their homeland, starting with the Pilgrims. Any moron can start a war. That’s what Osama did.
“We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Those words are still true, unfortunately, the guy who said them created a huge government. If you have ever read Kerry’s remarks about FDR, you would know that he doesn’t think the same.
Kerry is much smarter than what he lets on. Like Solon, the author of the Athenian Constitution, he gives people the best they can receive, not the best he can imagine.
When the Buddhist monks killed themselves in Vietnam in protest of our actions there, we ignored them. Now when people kill themselves, they kill others with them. Were the Buddhists nuts? Were we doing the right thing burning down people’s huts and destroying villages? Did communism spread all over the world because of the domino effect? No. Our theory was based on fear, and it was wrong.
Has America ever admitted to a mistake and changed course? Why do we have a memorial to Lincoln, who killed 600,000 Americans?
Why are those who advocate peace always crucified?
...people are blind to their own fear. By locking the borders, we lock ourselves in, along with our paranoia.
Following the 80/20 rule, I think we got the 20 with Bush. The major difference between the candidates is that Kerry is smarter than his party, whereas Bush is dumber than his party.
Double-think is alive and well. Today the Democrats are complaining about Sinclair’s planned proaganda broadcast. If I were Kerry, I’d be thrilled. He was on the right track then. He is even more right today. You can’t blame somebody for being young and passionate. It is the dumbest and weakest charge that could be made, and they had to go back 30 years to make it. It’s so lame, but unfortunately, both sides are too familiar with fear and scapegoating and guilt by innuendo. Kerry, in general, avoids it, but he can’t control what other people say, either. So the propaganda isn’t Bush’s fault either. And it isn’t either of their fault’s that Americans are so dumb and scared.
The masses are like children and are led like sheep with lies, myths and false promises.
“The masses are like children and are led like sheep with lies, myths and false promises.”
Sometimes seems true, but I think we still have enough people who pay attention to overcome those. Hope so, at least.