Month: November 2011

Eric’s blog:  https://blogs.ubc.ca/zshan/2011/11/10/affordable-luxury/

I think Eric had a really good point when he talks about Apple being an affordable luxury. I would like to go further to say that Apple has essentially created a cult-like following never before seen in the history of technological industry. It seems that any products today with an “I” in the beginning of the name are somewhat more divine, whether that be iphone, itouch, or ipad. Central to this cult-like culture is the apple logo, which makes its products like a fashion statement.  Eric is right when he pointed out that Apple and Chanel are both top-end products in their fields. Whenever new Apple products come out, tens of hundreds of these “early-adpoters” would camp outside the Apple store just so that they can be the first to get a hold of the latest gadget. It is ridiculous how people have become emotionally attached to their phones.  Yet, this is just another example of how people get indoctrinated into the consumer culture. When Steve Jobs dies, he is portrayed as a saviour by the media. However, when Dennis Ritchie (creator of C programming language and Unix operating system) died, the media barely pay any attention to his accomplishment.

I found Tony’s post about Kobe Byrant being in the “Call Of Duty” commercial to be very interesting. The main controversy was about whether it is appropriate for him to appear in the commercial simulating shooting using an assault rifle. Some say that his participation in the commercial may have a negative impact on the attitudes of teen towards gun violence and that it may “downplays the seriousness that real combat entails”. Personally, I believe that the critics are overreacting to the commercial. First of all, the setting of the ad is in a worn-torn country and teens are simply not going to shoot people with assault rifles just because a basketball star is doing so. Besides, there are plenty of movies out there such as “Rambo” and the “Expendables” which arguably glorify gun violence; Speaking of which, a stuntman recently died from an explosion while filming a stunt sequence for the sequel to The Expendables (talk about seriousness of real combat). I doubt that the appearance of Kobe Byrant in the commercial would have any more effect than the other actors on teen’s attitude towards gun violence. I agree with Tony that we should give him a break.

Tony’s link https://blogs.ubc.ca/tonyliu/