Honest Question About Jobs Worship

trebuchettrebuchet
Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Really. I guess I just don't get it. People have made him into some sort of personal god or something. Yes, he and Woz came together and made a good thing for us. But I hardly think it deserves the admiration it gets, especially since it is so lopsided towards Jobs. Don't get me wrong, what they did is very cool and all, but its just... creepy... the way people talk about him. Its like a cult or something scarier!

Two of my favorite things in the world is my guitar and guitar amps. Paul Reed Smith guitar and Sunn amps. I have talked to the original designer of Sunn amps. Cool guy, funny and, in general, a nice guy. But it didn't make him this "god" to me. I have yet to meet PRS, but if I did, I would shake his hand, comment on the fine guitars his company makes and thats that.

Please, someone explain this behavior that is so damn strange to me. I'm expecting to get blasted right off the forum with angry Jobs fans. They are the ones I am hoping who will respond. I want to understand the weirdness afoot.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 23
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    I dunno, I'm not a huge fan of Jobs... Woz is pretty cool though.
  • Reply 2 of 23
    bagubagu Posts: 23member
  • Reply 3 of 23
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Umm... eew... sometimes I dream of beautiful women



    EDIT: And no, I don't consider Steve Jobs a beautiful woman... I've never dreamed about him, or Woz, or much else technology-related (only once in a while), but I can see why some people here would.
  • Reply 4 of 23
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    They have?



    I mean, he's a great salesman and a good visionary at times, but I doubt anyone around here can honestly say they see him on a God level.
  • Reply 5 of 23
    mrmistermrmister Posts: 1,095member
    He's the most charismatic guy in an industry that desperately needs some vision...I think that's why folks gravitate toward him.
  • Reply 6 of 23
    pscatespscates Posts: 5,847member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Brad

    They have?



    I mean, he's a great salesman and a good visionary at times, but I doubt anyone around here can honestly say they see him on a God level.



    Brad, open up your typical issue of MacAddict?those monkeys practically cream their 501's at the mere mention of his name.



    They're idiots, though, on so many other levels that I guess the above isn't saying much.



  • Reply 7 of 23
    serranoserrano Posts: 1,806member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by mrmister

    He's the most charismatic guy in an industry that desperately needs some vision...I think that's why folks gravitate toward him.



    Yup. There most deffinelty exists a Cult of Mac, perhaps, as the Mac faltered people shifted to Jobs?
  • Reply 8 of 23
    stunnedstunned Posts: 1,096member
    I can't be bothered with SJ.
  • Reply 9 of 23
    crusadercrusader Posts: 1,129member
    Well I like Steve alot, but I don't see lots of "Jobs Worship." Quick question for ya: Have you ever been to a MacWorld Keynote? The man's charisma, marketing spin, and the huge weight of his belief in what he is doing inspires people. I've meet alot of "cool" people, but Steve somehow effects me more. When I met Bill Clinton, I saw a man who made you feel important. When I met George Bush, I saw a competent man who listened and seemed to care. When I meet Gov. Bob Ehrlich, I saw passion and commitment. Steve seems to spin all three into one. I can't explain it, but his sales pitched captivate me. The RDF does exist. It's his shear belief that makes it possible. He seems to be like Julius Caesar inspiring the Roman Legionnaires. Steve is not a God, but he does make a huge impact.
  • Reply 10 of 23
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Bagu

    You mean, you don't dream about Steve Jobs every night?



    I do.. \
  • Reply 11 of 23
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Whoa, Crusader, what do you do that gets you meetings with all these people?
  • Reply 12 of 23
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    I think Jobs is all too human, neither the complete asshole tyrant people make him out to be, nor the clairvoyant visionary tech genius people make him out to be. He's a lot of good and bad things, and for the most part I do have a lot of confidence in the ideas he persues and how he persues them, but I've always taken the whole "Steve Jobs, Uber-God" thing as more facetious (even in MacAddict's case) than anything else. Of course there are a few exceptional cases who come through here... but they usually come back down to Earth after a while.
  • Reply 13 of 23
    ibrowseibrowse Posts: 1,749member
    I wouldn't call it worship, *hides shrine*, but more of an appreciation of his salesmanship. I think it's just that people who really like Apple's products watch the keynote, or see Steve speak, and his overwhelming sense of "This is really cool, and so am I for showing you" not only makes you know how badly you need to buy that product, but it makes you associate that coolness with Apple's history and Jobs' legacy as such a great salesmen.
  • Reply 14 of 23
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member
    I can't help but think this thread may have been to do with the thread I started about Jobs' rock star status.

    I don't see him as God...but perhaps just the closest thing to a computer industry god. Not so much for his technical prowess but for his vision, his ability to raise the bar and take chances.

    (Heck with out him, we'd all be still using 5 1/4" floppy diskettes!)



    I've never met him, and for all I know he's a jerk in person. But it's obvious his charisma and marketing savvy has brought him far. Far enough to bring together the world's five largest record companies.
  • Reply 15 of 23
    kennethkenneth Posts: 832member
    I am...



    Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak.
  • Reply 16 of 23
    thuh freakthuh freak Posts: 2,664member
    he's very good at what he does. when i watch keynotes, he makes me want the products more than i could rationally account for. when i read the time article he recently did about apple's music service, i became more interested and accepting of the idea (which previously i had much trepidation about). he's not a god (although, he hasn't yet died... coincidence? or unholy immortality?), but he's damn cool.
  • Reply 17 of 23
    not unlike myselfnot unlike myself Posts: 2,037member
    Steve rocks.



    He is the icon we use to 'humanize' Apple. You can't worship a computer or a platform, but you can a person. People love SJ because he represents all that is good and right about computers. He doesn't have to believe in windows and really makes you believe they are thinking different every day. I love the guy, but not because he is SJ, but instead because he is Apple.
  • Reply 18 of 23
    salmonstksalmonstk Posts: 568member
    I will skip debating whether he is a visuonary etc.



    But one can not debate that he IS an awesome pitchman. The RDF does exist. I too watch a keynote, sometimes days after I have heard about the product read reviews etc. And he just jazzes me up.



    I think I have nailed at least part of the RDF. He is always so excited about his products that a listener can't help being excited too.
  • Reply 19 of 23
    giaguaragiaguara Posts: 2,724member
    What isn't nice is .. that the technical details of anythign dont get out before the products. So imagine yourself doing digital cameras like in Sony, Minolta, Canon ... or printers, or even simply selling those ... "Will these products work with 10.2?" "Yes" "Will these work with 10.3?" "Sooner or later...". How can you manufacter - or even sell the products of compatible hardware if the new products will be a surprise for you? As Steve wants to pull the rabbits out of his cylindar hat in every MW, WWDC etc, it means that the technical details get out for the manufacterers about as early as they get to us.



  • Reply 20 of 23
    amorphamorph Posts: 7,112member
    I think the "Steve worship" thing is actually more a fiction of the PC world than a fact of the Mac world. I usually only here of it as a snide dismissal of Mac users in general - if Mac users are a cult, and they must be, or they'd be like everyone else! then they must worship the leader of the cult, right? Mac Addict's publisher actively tries to stir up partisan sentiment in all their publications, so cheerleading from that quarter is no surprise. That's their marketing approach regardless of what the subject is.



    As for Steve, the man has charisma, he has a good instinct for design, he has (lately acquired) the sense to surround himself with really talented people, and he has the sheer hubris and willpower necessary to herd the army of cats that is Apple Computer.



    A lot of people are grateful to him for what he's done for Apple since he came back, and some of those people (e.g. yours truly) were absolutely horrified at the initial announcement that Steve would come back. This does not translate into any form of personal admiration. I don't know the guy. From what I do know, I prefer Woz, but I don't think his more easy-going approach could steer Apple quite the way that Steve can. That's not worship, it's just a matter of one human being better cut out for one kind of work than another. Whether some aspect of a person's personality is a flaw is a matter of context.
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