Forgive me if this is condescending, but has anyone else noticed the occasionally disturbing similarities between Apple aficionado'ism and North American evangelical Christianity? Both groups seem to consist of the same gradient of indoctrination/mindlessness.
1. There are those people who have allowed themselves and their personal identity to become intertwined with the movement that they cannot allow themselves to even doubt for a moment the legitimacy of their purpose for fear of losing all purpose in life.
2. There are those who more or less understand what it is they've gotten themselves in to and believe on the whole it has improved their life in some tangible way. As such, they seek to share their discoveries with those who are important to them. When, however, the targets of their evangelism do not respond as they had anticipated, they often grow irritable, prideful or all together indignant.
3. There are those who have had a near death experience (or blue screen of death) living without it, and have since changed their ways.
4. There are those who have been brought into the fold, but aren't quite comfortable admitting it yet. They don't let their friends know, or at least haven't yet, but are gradually easing them in to the idea by dropping hints now and then (gee, your computer seems to crash a lot).
Try this: Buy a tape recorder. Put it in your pocket. Drive to your nearest Apple Store or CompUSA, press record, and then tell a sales rep you are thinking of switching to a Mac. 30 minutes later when you are able to escape stop the recorder, replace the tape and drive to your nearest Baptist Church. Press record and tell one of the faithful you are thinking about converting to Christianity. 30 minutes later when you are able to escape stop the recorder. Now go home, put both tapes in a bag, shake it, chose one at random, and while listening to it try to determine which it is.
The scary thing is, I find myself slowing becoming part of the faithful (the Mac faithful that is). I've never been good at the blind faith thing, but Mac OS 10.4 may have been all the evidence I need. God does exist! Er, I mean, not God, Steve... er, no. Wait. Where am I?
--Hank Reardon
1. There are those people who have allowed themselves and their personal identity to become intertwined with the movement that they cannot allow themselves to even doubt for a moment the legitimacy of their purpose for fear of losing all purpose in life.
2. There are those who more or less understand what it is they've gotten themselves in to and believe on the whole it has improved their life in some tangible way. As such, they seek to share their discoveries with those who are important to them. When, however, the targets of their evangelism do not respond as they had anticipated, they often grow irritable, prideful or all together indignant.
3. There are those who have had a near death experience (or blue screen of death) living without it, and have since changed their ways.
4. There are those who have been brought into the fold, but aren't quite comfortable admitting it yet. They don't let their friends know, or at least haven't yet, but are gradually easing them in to the idea by dropping hints now and then (gee, your computer seems to crash a lot).
Try this: Buy a tape recorder. Put it in your pocket. Drive to your nearest Apple Store or CompUSA, press record, and then tell a sales rep you are thinking of switching to a Mac. 30 minutes later when you are able to escape stop the recorder, replace the tape and drive to your nearest Baptist Church. Press record and tell one of the faithful you are thinking about converting to Christianity. 30 minutes later when you are able to escape stop the recorder. Now go home, put both tapes in a bag, shake it, chose one at random, and while listening to it try to determine which it is.
The scary thing is, I find myself slowing becoming part of the faithful (the Mac faithful that is). I've never been good at the blind faith thing, but Mac OS 10.4 may have been all the evidence I need. God does exist! Er, I mean, not God, Steve... er, no. Wait. Where am I?
--Hank Reardon
