There was some video I was watching about Steve Jobs' death and someone posted a comment about how "everyone is so sad about Steve Jobs' death but no one seem to think about the women and children enslaved in factories to make the merch we love so much." I think this is a little unnecessary. How come every time a celebrity dies someone needs to bring of the problems with an industrialized/first world society and juxtapose it to the conversation? I don't get it.
Anyway, the reason I'm bringing this up at all is because the way that I found out about his death was someone posted a picture of the comedian that plays the PC is those commercials and made a caption that said, "I'm a PC and I didn't die of cancer."
It's not like jaded, bad jokes about celebrities dying right after they die is a new thing. But still, that's how I FOUND OUT that Steve Jobs died.
Really guys? I find this troubling. I mean, I know there's this problem that every time a celebrity dies they get way more news coverage than say, a mass killing somewhere else in the world. But still, I worry about this intense level of cynicism. I don't think it's healthy. It's hard to afford a lot of sympathy for celebrity deaths. Celebrities die all the time, people die all the time, it's just nature. It's not like we have to have a moment of silence every time a celebrity dies, but I feel like there needs to be something difference about the way we approach this.
I guess I just feel like it's a short step from making a PC vs. Mac jokes when Jobs bites it to making jokes about civilians getting killed in war or something. But I suppose that all ready happens.
Anyway, I was wondering what you guys thought about this because my feelings are so mixed.
God, another Steve Jobs post. One more and I swear...
ReplyDeleteSo that's how I feel about his death, actually. I think it's sad that he died, but the amount of press is almost frustrating. I don't know if that's anyone's fault, really. We're egocentric. We know more about Steve Jobs than we do about the wars in other countries because he was a part of "our" (I put that in quotations because I refuse to touch Apple products unless it's my iPod, and I've never spent money on those as they were gifts) lives. America is geared on technology and new electronics. Jobs gave us what we want. And now that he's deceased, people are really putting him on a pedestal. And of course, if you have people putting him on a pedestal, you'll have people trying to pull him down.
I just think that while celebrities are people, people in our society often forget that they're JUST people and that there are other people suffering out there. I think that all the comments should be a little more respectful, they're also very valid statements. As for the PC vs Mac horrible jokes, those are the ones that I have a problem with. If you want to critique the man's ethics or his bad temper or whatever, I think it's fine, but when you're making light of cancer and using it to "be funny", then those people are definitely going to suffer the karma later.
Anyway, some cynicism is okay. Media never helps with that though, now, does it?
My distaste for media grows stronger as I grow older. I wonder what sort of a cranky old maid I'll be if I live to be in my 60s.
@ Ada: the media is generally distasteful. So I fail to see how that will make you especially cranky when you're older. I pretty sure I'll be crankier than you about it... :)
ReplyDeleteBut I don't really think there's too much press for Steve Jobs ' death. Maybe I haven't been as exposed to it, but I haven't been overwhelmed by the volume of coverage to become annoyed by it. At least not yet.
I heard about it on the news and then my family talked about it at dinner. And that was pretty much it. My mom was listening to a baseball game and they mentioned it when it happened.
The jokes are awful and not remotely funny. I guess some people just crave attention so much they will even use tragedy to get noticed.
However, I don't think this celebrity death was that overwrought. He was a really intelligent guy and he invented or reinvented a lot of things millions of people use daily. He made the mouse. Creating the iPad and iPod and other iShit is cool and all, but the mouse... he was a brilliant guy. So I think a little bit of public due diligence is warranted. I know people die everyday, but since this guy touched more people's lives more people care about him, so it's a bigger deal for everyone. Not that other people dying is less of a deal, but you know what I mean. Humanity lost someone who contributed a lot of things to the world, and it makes sense to me that people mourn and talk about it.
Honestly, one of the most recent celebrity deaths that kind of annoyed me was Michael Jackson. It was talked about for weeks, with vigils and televised mournings and everything else. Not that it wasn't sad, but kind of unnecessarily drawn out. However, I haven't gotten the same feeling from the coverage of Steve Jobs'.