UK's chief rabbi blames Apple for 'egocentric culture' - Page 2

agreed.

I guess Apple's product is not Kosher yet... However, there is a solution for that problem. As soon as they start paying the Kosher's license fee everything will be alright...

"UK's chief rabbi blames Apple for 'egocentric culture'
And that is from the culture that defines egocentric. "Share, what share?"

I should also pray to something that does not exist according to him.

Steve has done much more good than his imaginary friend in the sky,

When I pray and give money to Apple, at least I get something that gives me happiness.

When I pray and give money to the church: they have not a good track record thru history,

BTW. Earth is 4.5 billion year old.
Universe over 13 billion.
The time man have existed with its concept of God is just a small fraction of time. The world worked before the concept of God.

I dont understand why I have to respect someone else belief if they can't prove anything.
They would not respect if I believed in the Smurfs and that Papa Smurf created the world.

Quite why anyone would take the words of a man who believes in magic, fairy tales, and pixies seriously is beyond me. He needs psychiatric help, urgently.

I look forward to the day when so called religious 'leaders' get zero space in the press, aside of course from when they're on trial for child rape and genocide in Africa.

You might be half Jewish or whatever you claim to be, but who gives a shit about that, you actually sound like an anti-semite. What does a UK Rabbi's comments about Apple have to do with you launching into a delusional leftist rant about Israel?

My only gripe with Israel is that they are far too nice with the so-called Palestinians. When many people "democratically" elect a terrorist organization to lead themselves (Hamas), then they can not complain about the consequences of their moronic choices later on. The Palestinians should feel lucky that Israel has been as kind as it has been so far. Israel is showing great restraint in dealing with their enemies. I believe in the saying that goes "Do unto your neighbor as they would do unto you." If only Israel followed that saying, then their problems would be solved fairly quickly.

I wish nothing but the worst for the Palestinians, especially the many who were dancing and celebrating after 9/11. There has never been a country called Palestine and there might never be one. The world doesn't really need any more primitive Islamic countries.I am also a staunch enemy of Islamic Fascism and I oppose all Islamic expansionism anywhere in the world, including in the areas that they have occupied in the Middle East. After 9/11, I support anybody who is fighting against Islamo Fascists, worldwide. They messed with my city, they shouldn't have done that, and I will always support their complete demise.

Yeah, just read the Bible, that is full of "blanket, misinformed, statements of attack".

Religious leaders are trying desperately to stay relevant, in a world that is beginning to realise they have been lied to by these crackpots for the last few thousand years.

Apple's products bring people together, allow them to communicate across the planet and gain instant access to all of human knowledge.

Maybe that's why this guy is so scared of them, religion has only survived so long because it has been able to keep people stupid and uninformed. That time is coming to an end.

For example, if you look at the oldest copies of the Bible online. Very important parts of them are missing... like all the stuff about Jesus coming back from the dead. Those last verses were clearly 'added in' hundreds of years after the Jesus character was supposed to have lived.

Yep, one of the main supernatural aspects of Christianity is based on an undeniable lie... and we have the internet and our 'material' devices to thank for exposing that lie.

Why? Why? Why?

No Body thinks Windows as an indication of an increasingly selfish society?

No Body thinks Coke-Cola as an indication of an increasingly selfish society?

No Body thinks MacDonald as an indication of an increasingly selfish society?

But only think Apple's i products as an indication of an increasingly selfish society!

It is totally bullshit!

If Mr Sacks had made the same comments , however left out any reference to Apple or its products he would be spot on. As he said it he is wrong. Stupid for someone in his position.

what a nut-job, why are people paying attention to this?
everyone has an opinion, even the very miss-guided ones


PS, dont get to heated about this everyone, this has nothing to do with religion, leave peoples beliefs out of it.
thats just this bozos way of getting people to pay attention, he's grasping at straws.
So was Steve J moses now?

Please. Everyone who is over 35 knows that the 'egocentric age' started in 1979 when Sony released the Walkman.

Minus all the religious stuff the rabbi is completely right.

How on earth did you manage to miss the magic word 'Credit' on which the entire current Western economic model is based?


And in the true way of the modern financial system, I can't get a credit card (not that I want one) because I've had no debt for the last 6 years! It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world out there.

And your delusional right-wing rant is relevant to the subject because ... ?

Religion has caused more death and misery than Apple ever will.

It's not, it's merely a counter reply to the leftist rant. I welcome a mod deleting both of them.

That is true. I doubt that Apple has killed that many people.

However, Apple does cause a great deal of misery for certain people. Their competitors must be pretty miserable people by now and Fandroids are also another bunch of people that are pretty miserable. That is fully understandable though. I too would be pretty miserable if I were stuck using Android.

lol...of all things possible that could lead to such a mindset amongst a culture (if one exists) he blames Apple????????

Not music? Not the media? But Apple?

lol, so you are simply a bad person overall...

You say that as if that's a negative thing.

I actually am a pretty good person, but I can be bad when required. Nice people and naive people usually don't make it very far.

The Rabbi's analysis is flawed in many ways, but the underlying point about our culture is spot on. When I read on here about the number of iDevices people have in their families, how their wife (usually) is going to get the "old model" when they upgrade to the new model (which they are desperate to queue for the day it comes out) and how people want to change to an Android phone because they are "bored" of the iOS design, it's clear that that part of what he is saying is pretty accurate. This is hardly a startlingly original revelation though, as one of my email signatures reads: "No matter how loudly the business-as-usual bells chime, we cannot silence that quiet voice within that asks how a system dependent on lack of satisfaction could ever lead to satisfaction".


Now I've owned a Mac since 1984 (not the same one!) and have an iPod touch and an iPad, but please let's not get delusional!

You could use the same arguments for getting the new fridge, TV, car, a pair of shoes, sofa, camera and and This is what the consumer culture is about. It is about "this year's model" and "The top 10 must-have gadget" lists that pop up every week and magazines whose main purpose is to make you unhappy with whatever you have just bought because Company X has just released something smaller, faster, cheaper and way cooler than what you have just handed over your credit card for! Time to upgrade again

Of course, for things to improve, they must to some considerable degree, replace what is currently available, but the degree of this fetish for the new, the latest, the "must have" that is all around us is now is something new.

Human happiness does not depend on an iPad or an iPhone or a Mac. Or the latest TV. Or the latest pair of trainers. These may well be enjoyable things to have in our lives, but can you really believe that I was less happy in 1976 as a teenager than a 15 year old today because I didn't have a mobile phone? And was a teenager in 1940 less happy than me in 1976 because she didn't have a Stylophone (look it up!) or a cassette recorder? The idea is absurd. Project it back through time 200 years and the people of 1811 must have been almost suicidal with the lack of everything that makes life worth living, or forward to a teenager in 2045 who would therefore look back to your poor, deprived current existence because you don't have an Apple iXylogenzt, which as every 20 year old in 2045 knows, is absolutely essential to a happy life and they would just die if they didn't have one.

We are not put on this earth to get to the end of our lives counting the number of iPhones, iMacs, cars and other cool gadgets we owned. We can hopefully look back at times of beauty, joy, ecstasy, friendship, contentment and love and realise that that was where the core and wellspring of true happiness comes from. The trouble is that these are available to each of us without buying anything and that's not very good for business

lets start talking about that multimellinium love affair.

Maybe someone should tell him the 'i' stands for Internet.

Those quicker upgraders also feel that it's "absolute necessary to upgrade" to 4S. Why do you think you're any better at judging when to upgrade?

I think what he was trying to get at was that the majority of those who went from 4 to 4S did so because it was a new device. Not so old that it was no longer able to perform its tasks correctly (that to me is the definition of "absolute necessary to upgrade" ).

Excellent! So he promotes a personal connection with him, the Rabbi, by iPhone. Gosh, has he been consumed too?

You really should to seek for help because with that blind and extreme hate-them-all attitude you may eventually kill some innocent target or just end blowing yourself up. I believe that's the kind of attitude your hated terrorists motivate themselves with.
Just a friendly warning to others. And yourself.

Blaming consumerism on Apple is like blaming narrow minded bigotry on religion: both thrive on those mindsets, but neither invented them.

The irony of Lord anything critiquing anyone's ego is beyond amazing. Wow, toss in the chiefrabbi web site and we may well have the most narcissistic person on the planet. If there were a God, he would be looking down and laughing at the things done in his name.

Here's the email I sent to the Rabbi:

Oh 'Lord', For a religious luddite to carp about the iPad is an asinine case of straining a gnat while swallowing a camel. To quote the esteemed Sir James Paget, "I know of no book which has
been a source of brutality and sadistic conduct, both public and private, that can compare with the Bible. " And you have the gall to ignorantly blame a piece of technology for the ills of society when the superstitious Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, etc., have been and continue to be the blood stained bane of our world? Rabbi, you make me want to vomit.

And oh BTW, if you have a problem with computers, get off the Internet - religious hypocrisy at it's finest.

Can't remember where this quote is from - "The church is like a swimming pool... all the noise is at the shallow end" - but I think it's very true.

Hold on there sparky, if you start doubting the smurfs, we are going to have issues.

That has nothing to d what this Rabbi is trying to bring out in his message.

""The consumer society is in fact the most efficient mechanism ever devised for the creation and distribution of unhappiness"

While I could live my life happily without my iMac and my iPhone, both made (and make) me happy, to a small but significant degree. They NEVER made me unhappy.

Religion, on the other hand, made me very unhappy. Often. Not just unhappy, but angry to the point of hate.

Like, when religious groups propagandize against LGBT rights.


IMO, that Rabbi is just trash talking competition.

I find this type of person disgusting. Misinformed, superstitious, manipulative ... using his "platform" to peddle FUD. The best counter he has is to offer irrational super-natural clap trap about thanking an imaginary friend in the sky. I just don't understand why people would listen to such an evident imbecile.

Consumerism can certainly be an ill in our market economies, as at times a quest for profit and market share can leads to a race to the bottom in terms of quality, elegance, art and creativity. Interestingly, this is exactly the opposite for Apple ... which has been driven by a desire for quality and ingenuity and elegance. Of all the companies this idiot chose to attack, his stupidity would of course lead him to one that (at times) exemplifies the greatness of man.

I think it's true that modern people are too materialistic in general. I don't subscribe to religion.

It's when people want to do something about it that fact they get off track very quickly. A subtle, but important distinction.


Consumer debt harmed that model. Heck, Apple originally wouldn't sell you a phone unless you had a credit card.


You don't pay bills? That usually counts in deciding who is credit worthy. Paying bills is effectively net 30 debt/credit. Like how people should treat credit cards, not as something to carry a balance.


You have a point, but some people code that as "justice". I'd say, based on history, the bad people often make it the highest and farthest. Not really the desirable model to work from. However, your comment previous to this makes it sound like you've been listening to an AM radio fascist loon.

Apparently this fellow doesn't realize the "i" prefix was short for "Internet" IIRC. It's not about a "me, me, me" self-centered viewpoint.

Now MobileMe, with it's @me.com email address domain...

Funny, for someone who speaks so strongly against egocentrism, consumerism and Apple, Lord Sacks seems to parade his name and mug rather prominently across his website and iPhone app.

Reflecting on his call on the devout to observe the traditional Jewish day of rest, I wonder if his website and iPhone app are disabled on the sabbath.

Based on my friend's hate-laced diatribe, sadly yes.

One of the other posters pointed out that Rabbi Putzberg's own website encourages viewers to download his App Schtick onto their iPhone

hmmmmmmm

The original meaning of i was internet, but it seems to have gotten more generic to mean an Apple product, iLife, iWork originally had very little or nothing to do with the internet, neither did iPod for maybe a couple years.

This "chief Rabbi" is a man-hating, miserable piece of sub-humanity peddling his primitive, irrational, supernatural ideological nonsense to the detriment of individual human beings who simply want to enjoy their lives. The hypocritical bastard uses an iPhone and iPad while trying to destroy them and keep us from enjoying them. I love myself, I love my life, I love iProducts, and I love any thing that can bring joy, convenience, and comfort to my life. I have zero tolerance for and hate any jackass who attacks any of these fundamental human values. So "chief Rabbi" go to the hell that religionists like you invented, because you and your anti-material, anti-Earth, anti-life, anti-man, anti-values, anti-enjoyment, anti-happiness putrid ideology do not belong on Earth! This chief Rabbi, who lives off the money that he mooched from working individuals by spewing his guilt-inducing anti-existence, anti-Earth, anti-material, anti-life, anti-self, anti-happiness ideology, should join forces with the chief of Christianity (the Pope), the chief imam of Islam, the chief of Buddhism (Dalai Lama), etc. and go live in a primitive cave with no running water, no electricity, no toilet, no microphones, no books, no computers, no Internet, no materialistic appliances, no consumeristic devices, no iDevices and leave us alone!