2014/05/04

the abyss between "steve jobs" and you...




steve jobs. a genius at pushing boundaries too far? 
(the nytimes on jobs being "a walking antitrust violation")



it's not about jobs personally (he is dead now, and he won't be useful for apple for that long anymore). and it's not even about apple (other companies will take it's place). and it surely is not about being pro apple products or against them (i guess, you know what you are doing with your money).
it's about our culture steered by icons of creativity and innovation, guided by images of visionary ceos, lulled by heroes of individuality in a world of alleged sameness - all strategically generated by the well-funded marketing departments of corporations, like apple.
what should be talked about is this kind of culture that hides a banal truth - that what a corporation like apple does has to do with work, with production, with advertisement and consumption. it is not about self-actualization (of employees), about freedom or quality of living (of consumers), or even about the 'prowess of a nation'.
the real questions are the ones about quality of work and of employment contracts, about working conditions, about working legislation, about truth in advertising, about the 'biography' of a product we buy, about the autonomy of politics, about corruption in the economy and ability of the state to oppose it.

there is an abyss between the image that corporations create of themselves and their products, and the reality this image hides. an abyss  t h a t   w e   c a n ' t   a f f o r d.

just ask the 64 000 workers that have filed a class action against apple, google, adobe, and intel.



images: hagiography by fans and by the advertisement industry.

1 Kommentar:

  1. http://broutundbrusman.blogspot.it/2014/01/if-you-love-what-you-do-its-not-work.html

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