Havent you heard? I'm the king of NY! (news thread)

[Babar]

An inspiring visionary with a brilliant mind. Requiescat in pace.

[Greg Nog]

My twitter feed is doing the Emmy/SuperBowl thing again, just this huge sudden surge of crud.

[milly balgeary]

Only 56. Jesus. I didn't realize he was so young.

me neither.

[elpollodiablo]

I mean regardless of whether or not you're an Apple partisan it's kind of undeniable that this guy had a huge impact on the way we use communications technology. And it's pretty damn sad to go that way, at that age.  

[Antero]

All technology, really.

[Ignatius]

His significance isn't even the issue for me, I'm just wowed by people forming a 'freeze steve jobs' facebook group in seemingly total seriousness.

[Chet]

yeah one girl said "Poop, another tragic death" :/

uhh well, anyone dying of cancer is kinda tragic.

[peacocks]

She should say that a bunch of times every day though because a ton of people she doesn't know die of cancer. It feels weird to me to feel sad about a corporate figure who died just like many many other people die every day. Of course it is sad, he was young and his family must be hurting, but I'm just never going to be broken up about it enough to post "RIP" on my facebook.

[fishjim]

Only 56. Jesus. I didn't realize he was so young.

I had the same reaction.

No question he was a dynamic and visionary capitalist, but if I hear one more talking head - from NPR, the NYT, even the EFF - refer to Jobs as a poet, I'm going postal.

[fishjim]

Also, it's worth re-watching Apple's famous Macintosh commercial from 1984 with an eye to what's happening on Wall Street right now.

[RavingLunatic]

She should say that a bunch of times every day though because a ton of people she doesn't know die of cancer. It feels weird to me to feel sad about a corporate figure who died just like many many other people die every day. Of course it is sad, he was young and his family must be hurting, but I'm just never going to be broken up about it enough to post "RIP" on my facebook.

This is exactly how I feel. I'm suspect much of the reaction simply has to do with the way Americans worship anyone who has managed to become famous and rich. If in addition they are associated with a popular product, Facebook panegyrics abound.  

[jebreject]

He became famous and rich, and it seems like he was a pretty big asshole much of the time, but he was a true innovator, there is no question about that. The man helped change the way we view the world and interact with one another in very real ways.

[kyle]

Of course it's sad when anyone dies, but mostly I've been enjoying the tasteless humor attached to his passing and his last name.

[fishjim]

My wife just emailed me and said President Obama just called on Jake Tapper by name in a press conference at the White House and Tapper asked him about Occupy Wall Street.

HOLY SHIT.

Jake, I take back everything I ever said about you.

[kyle]

And it wouldn't be a celebrity death if Westboro Baptist wasn't ironically involved.

[davy]

In person, in prison and in the media, [Amanda] Knox was subjected to all manner of outlandish, misogynistic behavior. A prison "doctor" (he has never stepped forward publicly) tested a sample of Knox's blood and then informed her she was HIV-positive, prompting Knox to list every man she'd had sex with. Authorities passed the names of seven men to reporters from the British tabloid pack, who printed it. Soon thereafter, Knox was told the doctor was mistaken and she didn't have AIDS.

Sheesh.

http://tinyurl.com/3zxxr52

[Babar]

She should say that a bunch of times every day though because a ton of people she doesn't know die of cancer. It feels weird to me to feel sad about a corporate figure who died just like many many other people die every day. Of course it is sad, he was young and his family must be hurting, but I'm just never going to be broken up about it enough to post "RIP" on my facebook.

This is exactly how I feel. I'm suspect much of the reaction simply has to do with the way Americans worship anyone who has managed to become famous and rich. If in addition they are associated with a popular product, Facebook panegyrics abound.  

I need only mention one person who was rich and famous and also brilliant to falsify your theory.

[Good Intentions]

No, it wouldn't.

[Babar]

:*

[Little Sixes Little Nines]

WHO IS THE PERSON BABAR

[Babar]

Voltaire.

edit: 

[Good Intentions]

That's not the point I was making. 'There are rich, famous, and deserving people who receive public adulation' does not falsify 'rich and famous people get disproportionate attention'.

[jebreject]

That's not the point I was making. 'There are rich, famous, and deserving people who receive public adulation' does not falsify 'rich and famous people get disproportionate attention'.

& it's true, of course they do. But RL's statement was totally reductive and mean-spirited. 

[RavingLunatic]

I think it's pretty difficult to characterize any statement that begins "I suspect that much of..." as reductive. None of that was meant to mean-spirited either.

[jm]

I think it's pretty difficult to characterize any statement that begins "I suspect that much of..." as reductive. None of that was meant to mean-spirited either.

Uh, except what you said was "I suspect much of the reaction to [reductive statement about what Americans do]".