It’s been a few weeks since someone has opined about how Steve Jobs caused the downfall of western civilization, but don’t worry: Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, is going to read you hipster i-punks the riot act.
The consumer society was laid down by the late Steve Jobs coming down the mountain with two tablets, iPad one and iPad two, and the result is that we now have a culture of iPod, iPhone, iTune, i, i, i.
It’s probably not worth pointing out to Sacks that those other things came before the iPad, since he’s obviously more interested in ranting about consumerism than getting any particular facts straight.
What the bitter scolds like Sacks won’t tell you is that these new technologies actually help enable people, particularly by bringing them together in more convenient ways. Clearly, the Rabbi has never seen a FaceTime ad.
The Macalope must admit that, based on this anti-Jobs and i-device screed, he found the Rabbi’s website a little odd.
You see, Rabbi Sacks is apparently not so opposed to the horrible consumer culture that Steve Jobs single-handedly fashioned and set loose on us to not advertise that his published works are “Available on iPad.” Or to have his own iPhone app.
Yes, you read that right. You can download ChiefRabbi from the iTunes store to “view the Chief Rabbi’s videos, articles, book information and more.”
Sorry, Rabbi, you were lecturing on the evils of material goods and how Steve Jobs ruined everything. Please. Go on.
If in a consumer society, through all the advertising and subtly seductive approaches to it, you’ve got an iPhone but you haven’t got a fourth generation one, the consumer society is in fact the most efficient mechanism ever devised for the creation and distribution of unhappiness.
Unhappiness like, for example, Rabbi Sacks’s iPhone app. One wonders what generation iPhone the staffer who runs the Rabbi’s Twitter stream and frequently tweets from “Twitter for iPhone” has. Presumably whichever one isn’t tainted by Steve Jobs’s patented consumerism.
Here’s a tip for you moralists out there. If you want to rail against the evils of consumerism, try not to lay the lion’s share of the blame at the feet of the man who was largely responsible for creating the platform you’re exploiting to foster your own cult of personality.
[Editors’ Note: In addition to being a mythical beast, the Macalope is not an employee of Macworld. As a result, the Macalope is always free to criticize any media organization. Even ours.]