Rodney O. Lain - 2001.06.29
Everything that emancipates the spirit without giving us
control over ourselves is harmful.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
You may not know it by looking at me, but I am a student of human
nature. If there were universities granting degrees in human
nature, I'd be a Ph.D. If there were honorary degrees for studying
the subject, I'd be a professor emeritus. In my "postdoctoral"
studies, I have discovered a universal truth: For some people,
there is something they find unmistakably offensive about those who
possess passion or style.
When you have style, you have to do one of two things: (1) tone
down, so that you don't "show up" others, especially if they're
someone who is petty and jealous, especially if they have some form
of control over you - your boss, for example; or (2) you can ignore
the peasants and be all that you can be.
I know whereof I speak.
I stay in trouble for my passion. I have been fired from at
least one Mac web site over the expressed passion in my writings (a
cheer goes up from the crowd); I quit another site over the same
issue; and I'm sure that some of you have personally seen to it
that your protest letters have spammed the inbox of at least one or
three web editors. I wear your complaints as badges of honor, and I
thank you for proving the aforementioned point; you know who you
are.
Such venomous contempt makes me pause and think from time to
time, for we use a computer that evokes similar reactions from the
non-Mac-using public. Maybe you evoke similar reactions because of
your "fanatical" and "slavish devotion" to things Macintosh. If so,
you can feel what I'm saying.
What is it about people with passion that turns others off so?
What is it about people with style that ignites the same disdain in
others?
Segue: I had a few of my neighbors over a few weeks ago. I'm
trying to shed my impulse to avoid my neighbors; I must admit that
there is a part of me that feels they are a bunch of whitebread
cheese eaters. But I had a minor epiphany while they were over
here: I discovered that I am a snob.
I am a Mac snob, as well as an intellectual snob, in many
respects. I'm not as bad as I used to be. I used to love arguing
with the PC users in computer stores, as well as arguing with
people about nearly any other topic extant. I loved to sniff in
condescension whenever I was around anyone who complained about
some problem they were having with their PC; ditto for anyone who
complained about some ideology that I didn't subscribe to.
Why do I say I'm a snob? The epiphany occurred to me while my
neighbors were over. A few of us were downstairs talking about the
topics of the day, when someone from upstairs called to us. When we
got there, we saw what the commotion was about: 
One of the ladies was with my wife
in my study, when she saw my G4 Cube
(click the picture for a larger version). There were gushes of
praise. Of course, the Mac fan in me had to take them through a
guided tour of the hardware and the OS&
- ;X install that I had
running.
That's when it hit me: I feel like I'm giving a tour through an
art museum. ("To your left is the G4 Cube, the epitome of the
artistic vision championed by the Bauhaus movement, a marvelous
combination of form and function. Feel the curves; notice the
texture; lose yourself in the illusion of art combined with the
reality of technology. Dah-ling.")
And, you know what? I didn't feel self conscious about what I
did.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not shy about showing off my Mac or my
"library." I avoid taking people into my study, not because my Cube
is in there, but mainly because I have a million books. I've
learned that people are put off at times, because I love to talk
about ideas - and it is usually some idea that I've developed after
feeding my mind from a slew of books. I've learned that not
everyone spends time enriching their mind, pondering grand and
lofty thoughts. The pale of humanity shuns reading, much less
thinking. Those of us who don't are wide brushed as bookish, geeky,
or antisocial. Far from it. We are adept at synthesizing disparate
ideas and focusing them through the lens of our experience and
intellect, coming up with our unique perspective. But people don't
like that.
The same is true about my Mac. Many of us who have used Macs
extensively have taken a look at "the competition" and found it
wanting. We see what is lacking in the PC. We often want to share
this viewpoint with others, assuming that people want to be giving
advice about the best technology, or at least to be aware of it.
But people don't like that.
I've discovered that about other topics, too. If you are
successful in making money, for example, and you try to pass this
information on to others, not everyone is quick to thank you. I've
found the same reactions when I tell people about my conclusions
upon comparing and contrasting American conservatives and American
liberals. Ditto for Christianity vis-à-vis other world
religions. Wanna here my theories on race?
The long and short of my point is this: If you use a Mac, you
have style. If you promote the Mac platform, you have passion.
Internalizing and acting on either of those traits (style and
passion), you will have enemies. There are people who will hate
you.
One clear, dead-giveaway sign that you have style and/or passion
is that sooner or later people will hate you. But that's good.
To have style, by definition, implies that others do not. To be
told that you don't have style is patently offensive. If you have
style, that is exactly what you are saying to others by your very
presence, every time you open your mouth, every time you move. That
is what the Macintosh computer screams at the PC world. That is
what Apple Computer says to the rest of the industry. That explains
Michael Dells obsession with Steve Jobs and Apple, doesn't it?
Ditto for passion.
Having passion and style comes at a price, though. You will
always be in someone's crosshairs. To have style and/or passion
means you will be relegated to walking a lonely road. It isn't for
wimps. You will offend people, and sooner or later, you will offend
someone who has power to hurt you. I should know (I speak of
passion, here; it's up to you, gentle reader, to decide if I have
style).
Apple's "loneliness" is translated into five percent market
share. Sure it will grow, but it will always be small compared to
the rest of the industry - because style and passion are offensive.
Only a few dare embrace it. Those who don't have style and passion
know not what it means to walk the lonely road. That is too harsh
for them. It is a hard thing; who can understand it?
But they don't realize the big payoff of style and passion:
satisfaction. Those with style and passion are satisfied souls,
because their passion compels them to never settle for less, and
their style makes them look good while they do it.
So the next time you meet a stylish person or a Mac user, try to
understand their situation. They are doing the rest of the world a
big service. Those with style are the vanguard. Their style and
their passion inspires the rest of the world - the former inspires
imitation; the latter, more passion.
Style and passion doesn't always come into being by fiat.
Usually they come about because they were catalyzed by someone
else's style or passion. If you look around you, you see that there
is neither an abundance of style nor passion, so we have our work
cut out for us.
That may be Apple Computer's real task: To keep reminding the
rest of the industry of style and passion, regardless of how bad it
makes the rest of them look or how angry it gets them. The same can
be said for you and me.
