“Lord Sacks said that advertising only made shoppers aware of what they did not own, rather than feeling grateful for what they have,” Jonathan Wynne-Jones and Martin Beckford report for The Telegraph.
“He insisted that a culture in which people cared solely about themselves and their possessions could not last long, and that only faith and spending time with family could bring true happiness,” Wynne-Jones and Beckford report. “The Chief Rabbi’s comments are likely to raise eyebrows because he singled out for blame Jobs – the co-founder of Apple who died last month – by likening his iPad tablet computers to the tablets of stone bearing the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses.”
Wynne-Jones and Beckford report, “Speaking at an interfaith reception attended by the Queen this week, Lord Sacks said, ‘The consumer society was laid down by the late Steve Jobs coming down the mountain with two tablets, iPad one and iPad two, and the result is that we now have a culture of iPod, iPhone, iTune, i, i, i. When you’re an individualist, egocentric culture and you only care about ‘i,’ you don’t do terribly well.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take:
Advertising’s function is to describe or draw attention to a product, service, or event in a public medium in order to promote sales or attendance, not to spread grateful feelings of Thanksgiving among God’s wonderful children.
Now that we’ve got the semantics settled, more importantly: Neither Steve Jobs nor anyone else who creates products for sale is to blame for self-centeredness and/or materialism. The blame for that lies with parents, teachers, and, yes, rabbis and their ilk. If all your kids care about are iPads, Mercedes, flat screen HDTVs, and McMansions, then you (parents, teachers, rabbis, etc.) failed your children. Not Steve Jobs.
Let’s apply the esteemed rabbi’s “logic” to another case in order to test its validity. We’ll use one he should know: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.” Applying the rabbi’s “logic,” when the rabbi encounters someone who covets his neighbor’s wife, the rabbi would have to blame God for creating her.
Dear rabbi, your logic sucks.
Who’s to blame? Look directly in the mirror, buddy boy.
Finally, regardless of who deserves blame, why does a so-called man of faith feel it’s proper to publicly piss on a dead man’s grave?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
That was a divine takedown, MDN!
Yes, it certainly was!
Smackdown time by MDN!
i wonder if Steve had been Jewish if this Rabbi would have made these observations and subsequent comments.
i work, i support my family, i pay taxes, i donate, i buy products that support others and their families.
RiP SJ.
—RASTER
rasterman,
u r so right.
steve would never have been accused if it were so.
hipocrisy as usual.
Not all Rabbis responded that way. Check out the post from the Ultra-Orthodox Chabad rabbis right after Steve Jobs died…
http://www.chabad.org/1642767/
Gave him a kick in the micro-sim!
Perhaps the Rabbi should give up his title of “Lord.”
I think he needs to spend more time in church.
What would Charles Stanley do?
This is typical leftist thinking– you’re supposed to be grateful in your poverty as the socialist government takes all the productive results for the profit of themselves and their friends.
Capitalism is oriented towards the future and provides a society whereby everyone is much better off… the “poor” have no fear of being without food, and in fact get large screen TVs which they are easy to afford because by todays standards they are rich.
Socialism creates poverty, and capitalism creates wealth– FOR EVERYBODY.
Peddlers of socialism decry capitalism, and blame it for the results of socialism. This “rabbi” is arguing against the mind, against freedom, and against an end to poverty.
Engineer,
Well done! You present such a nice example of how both extremes are filled with vapid stupidity.
Your comment is typical moronic thinking. Do you actually believe what you just wrote?! What an idiot!
He is aiming at the wrong target. In fact he should know who is the king of advertisement: Google. Google sponsors the freetard society which is greedy and irresponsible. This group of people thinks that they can get free lunches for no effort. They think that others should work and give away the fruits of their labor for free. This group of people are also overtly idealistic and quixotically utopian. They seems to believe that the world populated with bleeding hearts and starry-eyed individuals will solve all mankind’s problems. They take their religion of “free” to ridiculous height and inveigh successful people for their deficiency and inadequacy. I can equate such people as grasshoppers who do not work but play in summer and die in winter, as against the ants who labor the whole year long.
So rabbi get off your small-minded, blinkered approach and see who is the real culprit in your make-believe world.
“Socialism creates poverty, and capitalism creates wealth– FOR EVERYBODY.”
Exactly! That’s why everyone here in the U.S. is doing so well, and absolutely no one is going without. Once again you’ve given us a shining example of your brilliant ideology and thinking.
Compared to most of the rest of the world, nobody in the U.S. is going without much of anything.
You fscking Americans need to get out more. You have no fscking idea how good you have it. Even the poorest of your poor are rich in most places in the world.
Hopefully, the more you gravitate to Big Government Socialization like Europe, the more miserable you’ll become.
You had the formula (rugged individualism, American exceptionalism, entrepreneurial spirit), but you’re losing it rapidly.
The more “Obama-ized” you become, the more misery you’ll have – and that makes me glad.
If you’re so stupid as to kill the golden goose, you deserve nothing but misery.
You are very right. I worked in a welfare office here in California. Most of our clients (these are people without jobs mind you, or any way to support them selves) had cell phones, manicured nails and fancy hairdos. Some even had a nicer cars then my self and I was working full time for well above minimum wage.
Almost no one in America today goes hungry unless they want to. There are a number of government programs and privet charities that care for those who are without means.
“Almost no one in America today goes hungry unless they want to.”
you actually believe that?
Just because you have some anecdotal evidence that fits your narrow mindset, does not make it the case for majority of people.
Actually, and this is a fact, only the mentally ill or incapacitated or drug addicted go hungry in the USA today.
If you are going hungry, there are programs up the fscking wazoo for you – many overlapping, wasteful programs that are in dire need of streamlining.
That said, if you are going hungry right now, and you are a U.S. citizen (or just play one in everyday life), go here:
Nutrition.gov Food Assistance Programs.
“rhetoric.assassin”, my knowlege is not based purely on anecdotal evidence but on knowlege of all the programs we have for people to keep them from going hungry. I acquired this knowlege over 10 years of working for the county welfare office.
Although I rarely agree with “First in 2010, Then in 2012” he is right in this case. For the most part, the only people in America who starve are those who are so mentally ill or strung out on drugs that they can’t get them selves down to a local welfare office or food closet. There are odd exceptions to this (for instance the underage children of said mentally ill and/or drug addicted people who starve because their parents can’t/won’t get food for them). For the most part though, if you’re willing to avail your self of the myriad of programs out there, you will not starve in America.
“You fscking Americans need to get out more.”
You may be right. How about letting me know where you’re located? I’d love to listen to more of your ideas in person, although it might be difficult to understand you while I’m choking the living shit out of your pansy ass.
Funny
You are not a very intelligent person. Perhaps more accurately you’re not a well informed of the state of poverty that resides in the United States.
People do go hungry here, not by their choice. Some suffer from mental illness, others from addiction. But a number, a growing number, are plain and simply broke.
Add to that not being able to afford enough food, not having shelter or facilities for personal hygiene.
We are not proud of the fact that America has homeless but it’s an inescapable fact of life.
I worked in Washington DC for a while and one morning after it had heavily snowed I came up out of a Metro station and walked past one of the grates. There on the grate was a homeless person who had spent the night sleeping on that grate, they sleep on them because the air coming up is warm and melts the snow, and while the grate was clear of snow the man who had slept there was covered in snow.
Most of us do have more than we need in this country. It’s a testament to the work we do, but more to the choices we make.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that there aren’t people who live in this country who have no choices at all.
But there are poor people without food and tv, there is poverty in capitalism, capitalism is a specific thing, leftist is generic without definition and not the opposite of capitalism and you contradicted yourself by saying “poor have no fear of being without food… Capitalism creates wealth – for everyone.” there would be no poor in capitalism if it created wealth for everyone.
Incidentally, there is no mention of socialism in the article.
Absolute nonsense. What does this have to do with leftist or righting ideology? He’s a rabbi with a religious ideology.
“Socialism creates poverty, and capitalism creates wealth– FOR EVERYBODY.”
What a load of cr@p.
As a society, we should be seeking a balance. Unbridled capitalism is not a virtue – “everyone” is not much better off and some people do have problems with shelter, food, and medical care. In addition, capitalism tends to be short-sighted with no care for the long term welfare of society or the environment. Neither is socialism the answer, because it accentuates some of the negative aspects of human nature and drags everyone down as a result.
Engineer, you appear to believe in a binary world – everything is 1 or 0, left versus right, capitalist versus socialist, etc. That is a fundamentally flawed and illogical viewpoint.
You’re kidding, right? What political party is currently trying to regain the US presidency on the theme that millionaires and billionaires are too hard done by and deserve welfare from an already strapped federal government? Hint: it’s the anti-science, reality deficient party of demagogues like Bachmann.
Today Apple awareness has grown to the point that even trying to mention the i’World’ in a negative way can’t do anything but boost Apple sales.
says the freeper class of institutionalized tax free businesses collecting money for an invisible man that apparently needs terrestrial currency for what reason was it again?
that’s always fun to listen to a holier than thou creeper insulting the same people he expects cash payments from every Sunday for his lifestyle
Excellent MDN take. That rabbi needs some coolaid .. Fast
Bravo, MacDailyNews, for deftly demolishing the Chief Rabbi’s argument with pristine logic!
This MacDailyNews Take ought to be framed and hung in the Hall of Fame of MDN Takes!
(I have a feeling that MDN’s “weekend guy” didn’t write this one.)
Of all people, you’d think a rabbi would know better.
scapegoat
Noun:
(in the Bible) A goat sent into the wilderness after the Jewish chief priest had symbolically laid the sins of the people upon it (Lev. 16).
+1
1
Also I blame the Rabbi for help in inflicting child abuse on to millions of children by circumcision.
Circumcision? No skin off my nose…
=:~)
Amen.
Nice job MDN! You took that loser down as well he should be!
I think think the Rabbi is a little grumpy after buying his Galaxy Tab…and realized that it is not as good as the iPad.
Actually maybe the Rabbi should crap on Google’s Android by saying maybe this is what is wrong with the world….stealing other’s hard work.
Does anyone really listen to a group of sicophantic control freaks disguised as do-gooders?
The good rabbi should focus his problems on the palenstine conflict. I mean stop being so selfish and let the palestinians live in the hazard strip. Why so selfish and carrying over possessions like land? It’s only a piece of dirt. You’d think after 2000 years, you selfish mofos would have worked something out.
But it’s bloodstained dirt, and holy dirt
Bollocks, Lord Sacks
Ludicrously, indeed. I hope the rabbi gets to read MDN’s Take somehow. He needs to be recalibrated.
As a member of the Jewish faith, I am ashamed and completely puzzled at this rabbi’s comments. Comments like this from religious zealots of ALL faiths make one wonder about how relevant any of these so-called leaders really are anymore.
Didn’t Jesus tell his disciples to go forth and spread the Gospel? In other words, advertise and market Christianity upon the world for the greatest “materialistic” product ever Created… man’s Soul!
Taking the Rabbi’s advice, I guess as advertisers, the Chruch(es) needs to shut down and the Rabbi choose a more worldly profession.
Mark 16:15 – http://bible.cc/mark/16-15.htm
Typical Theologist speaking in tongues… stupid tongues and giving Religion a bad wrap!
Jewish faith don’t have churches or believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God; they have temples. Know your facts before you say anything.
Semantics You Dumb@ss…
In the scheme of things, please cite ONE religion in ALL of time where someone in a “leadership” capacity HASN’T said something stupid be it Christianity or Judaism or Islam or… Just cite one…
Facts?! You can’t cite one can you. There’s your fact!
“Didn’t Jesus tell his disciples to go forth and spread the Gospel?…”
What does I Rabbi care about what Jesus had to say about anything?
Nothing that you said makes any sense.
Well, MDN certainly nailed that guy to the cross.
MDN TAKE: brilliant.
Also, I guess Rabbi Out-Of-Touch makes an exception for those who love their iPads because they allow them to download and read their Torah any time they have a spare moment no matter where they are. The iPad isn’t a crack pipe, it’s a tool for people to learn, create, connect, and yes also have loads of fun.
Well said MDN!
Certainly technology can drive people apart…but it can also bring people together. Witness the recent revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, where technology was used to great effect in spreading the news.
NO Mazeltov for him! Really. MDN nailed.
How about a Molotov cocktail? This would enlighten him somewhat. Great take MDN!!
😉
I can resist anything but temptation.
I will say this once and one only. Fsck all you religious crazies and your lunatic delusions. When your worldview is based on lies and myths, you will inevitably draw erroneous conclusions about absolutely everything.
1 = 1
Inappropriate. Not all religious people are out of touch. You should see the article Chabad, an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish group, wrote right after Jobs died…
http://www.chabad.org/1642767
Oh how refreshing it is to be lectured by a man who sits in the House of Lords, is unelected by me or any other British voter, yet has the gall to inform me of the shortcomings of a society for which he makes the rules: along with all the other spongers and anti-democratic members of an outdated institution. Give me an elected upper chamber Sacks and shut yer gub about Steve Jobs. You’re not fit to drink the water he walked on.
You can lead a horse’s ass to water, but you can’t make him drink.
wow.
this coming from one of the world’s 3 major religions, a representative of it, a priest of it, that like most religious fanatics is blind & hypocritical.
if he’s so holier than thou, how has he improved society lately?! certainly not by spreading fud.
people always bitch, it’s easy finding scapegoats.
but who are really to blame?
we are.
it’s always the “man in the mirror” as michael jackson sang.
it’s always reflective.
we are each individually responsible for our actions, no matter how bad the situation.
it’s easy to say that, but it’s true.
revenge is never the answer, but that is that man’s holy word: an eye for an eye.
gandhi was not religious but philosophical.
that makes more sense, there’s no hidden agenda then, no hypocrisy.
gandhi said “An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
luther king said “The old law about ‘an eye for an eye’ leaves everybody blind”
priests owned all world knowledge till 1436 gutenberg printing press, nowadays they are hypocrites. beside being the biggest herd of perverts & molesters, priests in any religion, or abusing their powers like every common man and not being any higher morally, they are the best and most forgiven actors in society with the most privileges in that “everybody lies” syndrome as Dr. House, A.D. repeatedly reminds us.
Steve Jobs was a great family man. his success has nothing ado with society’s egocentrism, as much as Clinton’s most famous blow job in the world (in the tax-paid white house, not church), has nada to do with his other job well done ; )!
the rabbi needs to change careers or religion or disque or brains. he needs to look deep inside. f’g hipo…
“wow.this coming from one of the world’s 3 major religions, a representative of it, a priest of it, that like most religious fanatics is blind & hypocritical.”
Judaism is a Major Religion at 18 million followers? Okay…..?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups
I was going to pick apart the rest of your statement, but.. the “ipod, itune, i, i, i”… thing was, yea, pure jibberish. Wow. He doesn’t get it.
yes, indeed.
the world’s main religions are considered Christianity-Islam-Judaism.
what’s with the numbers?
it’s about the influence.
the 3, though hating each other, stem from jerusalem & share the Old Testament.
the 3, are the cause of human strife & terrorism since their birth over 2000 years ago.
the 3 influence the world since.
they affect the global political, military, cultural, economical, educational lives…unfortunately much too negatively too
plus, if Judaism is so weak due to its lesser numbers, vs the other 2, you’re just playing with numbers & twisting facts.
fact is, judaism, despite its numbers, has the most influence on the world’s policies…
Also, the Rabbi misinterpreted the use of the letter “i” when referencing Apple products. When the iMac first came out the “i” stood for “Internet” Mac. It still roughly applies to today’s “i” products. It was never intended as a possessive and/or selfish description of ownership.
of course rabbi misinterpreted the “i”.
this idiot was knighted to Lordship?!
he can’t even think back 2 decades, that’s how weak his sense of history & FACTS are.
i stands for: (i)internet, (i)interactive, (i)intelligent…
but if rabbi is smart, or smarter since he’s chief rabbi, smarter still since he’s Lord, then where is his supposed intelligence in his simpleton deduction of the “i” factor?! guess his X-Factor is that he should be aXed from his job.
to think the Queen listened to him!
scary who the governing bodies get their info from for their policies!
but if this Knight’s logic is that “i” in Apple products stand for i as in i, me, ego, then his simpleton logic would mean his beloved belief in religion & his god are just as illogical, or logically feeble, unscientific, unproven…for the same token, his God is Dog backwards – how is this any less logical or intelligent than his conclusion?!
schmuck!
Originally yes, but you have to admit that ended when Apple introduced the iPod, which was in no way internet-capable until the iPod touch came out almost six years later.
When every computing device became internet capable the “i” ceased to take on that meaning. Even when Steve Jobs was “iCEO”, the “i” obviously didn’t mean internet.
Product-wise, the “i” most certainly can be taken at face value to mean a personal product or service (or loosely to include close household family members, e.g. managing devices and services through iTunes or iCloud).
Doesn’t change the fact the rabbi misused it for his own purposes, just saying I disagree with your argument that the “i” was never intended as a possessive, because it clearly is for most of Apple’s products/services today.
No… in the case of Apple products the lower case “i” still refers to the internet, and all things considered, probably more than when the original iMac debuted.
Denial isn’t a river in Egypt. Explain the first six years of the iPod.
It’s not that the original iPod was for SURFING the web, it was that you were getting songs off the web.
iMovie was for creating short videos to be posted on the web.
The iStuff became the consumer ‘signal’ because consumers are obsessed with getting and posting stuff on the Internet, sharing it with their friends and family. (See: Facebook)
Conversely, you don’t need a Mac Pro to do that.
Apple would not have argued that “getting songs off the web” was a reason for the “i” in iPod. They were already riding a thin edge with the music studios who were accusing them of promoting piracy (the “Rip. Mix. Burn” ads that came out prior to the iPod), and the iTunes music store, which finally let people legally download music, didn’t come out until a year and a half after the first iPod’s debut.
I’m sorry, but the reasons I’m hearing as to why “i” in “iPod” did NOT mean (or least heavily suggest) a personal device, is warping logic far beyond even what this rabbi did to suit his argument.
What if you take out an advertisement for family values?
MDN… Amen to that, brethren! Adam tried blaming someone else and God for his poor choices and sin, too. “it was that woman…that you gave me!”. Man up society! Man up, men of God!