Posted in June 28th, 2010 Tags:
Dan Lyons,
religion blah, blah, blah, right out front, Dan Lyons aka Fake Steve Jobs is a brilliant writer. No doubt about it. He is extraordinarily gifted at satire. What makes me hate him is the metamorphsis I saw, and to me obviously birthed by some kind of perverse love-hate fixation on Jobs, from Apple-fan to Apple “let’s pretend I am still a fan” hater. I prefer my hate upfront and honest. Anyways, he has written what very well might be his best post yet, containing his worst most bigoted gaffe yet, which gives me more reason to hate him.
Here is the nearly perfect brilliant article.
Yet in it, he says,
Every religion in the world knows this, from the Catholics to the Scientologists. It’s the oldest trick in the book. You create some uncertainty, you put people at risk — you tell them they’re going to hell, or whatever — and then you hold out the answer.
No matter how ridiculous your answer may be — like, the one about the galactic ruler Xenu, or the one where God turns into a bird and flies down to earth and impregnates a virgin — people will accept it.
Anyone who knows me well, knows I think making fun of religion is fair game. In fact, I am a huge fan of the Wittenburg Door magazine, (so much so I was interviewed by The Door in 2005). But the key to great satire is to use the truth. And “God turns into a bird and flies down to earth and impregnates a virgin” is just so stupidly a falsehood as to what Christians actually believe, well, it is angerifying (yep, new word). Perhaps Dan knows this and doesn’t care. Perhaps Dan doesn’t know it. Perhaps Dan knows this but thought that twisting it around a bit made for better satire. In any of those scenarios, it ruined what could have been a perfect piece. You see, I don’t care that he mocked religion by comparing what it teaches to a marketing scheme. Honestly, to a nonbeliever, that is one way it could be viewed. Of course I think it is incorrect, but that is a subjective opinion and fair game. But as to objective facts… Big Bird did not get busy with Mama Mary in Christian theology. He could have mocked Christianity just fine with what it really teaches. Christianity itself teaches that its doctrines will be viewed as foolishness to the world, so we can’t very well get pissed off when they are. (Well some of us can, but I am not a big fan with people with sticks up their rear).
And a brilliant observation from comments, which perhaps highlights the second reason that nothing that Lyons writes will ever be completely brilliant:
danny, we all liked you better when you actually liked steve jobs. while a troll is interesting in a comments section (maybe) it doesn’t work so well for a blog. i’ll bet your page views show this to be true, don’t they.
you should smoke a joint and do some meditation on this. try to make peace with the steve.
He is a troll with benefits. He writes well. He is magnificently sharp-witted. But a troll in a Gucci is still a troll.
PS: I agree with Lyons over the iPhone 4 antennae issue. I think Apple is on the edge of a Vista and needs to be very very careful and lose the smug.
