“The world mourned Jobs’ death a few weeks ago,” Arthur Dobrin, who teaches applied ethics at Hofstra University, writes for Psychology Today. “Why, then, don’t I join the chorus of hosannas? Whether Job’s contribution to our lives is all to the good is debatable. The impact of Apple’s works on our social life is ambiguous, making us more connected to the larger world and alienated from our immediate surroundings, both at the same time. Just think of the person across from you at a table who is texting a friend from across the world.”
“His heroic status is seriously undermined by his personal moral failures and it this which prevents me from holding him up as an icon for young people. Where there is no vision, a people perish, the New Testament says,” Dobrin writes. “But it isn’t any vision that people need for sustenance. It is a moral vision that is essential.”
Dobrin writes, “Jobs wasn’t the kind of person I want to emulate. The world would be poorer if we were all like him. Whether genius requires such narcissism is an open question. But if we are to venerate Steve Jobs, let’s not be fooled into thinking that he was a good person. And it the vision of goodness upon which a people’s futures rest.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If we all were like Steve Jobs, today we’d be able to ignore the holier-than-thou scribbles of a Hofstra egghead from our beautiful homes on a terraformed Mars.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
One of the best MacDailyNews Takes I’ve read in a while. Bravo.
Hear, hear!
I agree! Awesome commentary MDN!
Yes. Absolutely!
I wonder if the “PROFESSOR” (of BS? maybe) ever questioned his own ethics about writing such bull.
Douche
Douché
Agree; Jobs’ personal failures were done quite long in the past. And not sure that these were exactly moral failures, since, for example, when he did not believe that the daughter was his, he honestly did not believe that. It was not moral issue, it was issue of misjudgement.
And they did grow closer over the years. So it’s not like things didn’t end without some form of understanding between them.
LOL
This is why when the world needs leaders, innovators and visionaries it turns to ethics professors.
Classic
What a fool.
What a douche bag.
“Why, then, don’t I join the chorus of hosannas?”
Because I wouldn’t land any contrarian clicks for the shitpile armchair psychology site I’m scribbling for. Besides, judging someone’s personal life is a lot easier than compiling the list of industries the person revolutionized or making note of the millions of lives he bettered.
If we were all Arthur Dobrins, we’d be slinging condescending commentary about each other instead of doing the work that goes into changing the world.
Also because that would have required him to get off his a** and actually write something in the few days after Steve Jobs’ death, instead of several weeks later when no one is interested in giving hosannas any more.
I agree with him that technology changes the fabric of communities i just don’t agree that it is a bad thing and i dont blame steve jobs for any negative effects.
Technology is just a tool, like fire or the automobile, and how it’s used determines whether it is beneficial.
Just an example: We realized halfway through our sons’ middle school baseball season last year (first year of the school) that we didn’t have any photos of the boys. My wife and several others started taking photos and video clips of the action, and at the end of the year banquet (we won the championship) I put together a fantastic video set to music and showing all the boys in action. It was a great time had by all, and I gave DVDs to all the players. I can’t count the compliments we received on it, or how much the boys and their families appreciated being able to relive the season. It’s still a great conversation piece, and now we have parents taking photos and video from the beginning knowing that I want them later.
That could not have been done easily without Apple and the technology pushed by Steve Jobs.
I put together DVDs of my kids quarterly and mail them to their great grand parents. They do not have a computer but they do have a DVD player and they really enjoy getting a DVD in the mail with all the moments they were not there to see.
I agree 100%. 🙂
He didn’t even get the Biblical allusion right. That verse is from the Old Testament book of Proverbs, not the New Testament. Those dang Gideons confusing people with their New Testaments with Psalms and Proverbs at the back!
Proverbs 29:18. The Professor didn’t do his homework; kids, don’t emulate him.
Any time you look to the Bible for ethics advice, you’re on shaky ground…
Thumbs Up
suit yourself
Yes, We need to look to atheists like Stalin or Mao, or others like Pol Pot, or Hitler for great ethics. Great moral leaders! They sure followed their idealist dreams and didn’t deviate!
Ya…damn the atheists for the Inquisition, Crusades, Hamas, al-Qaeda, IRA..
I damn the atheists for their prejudicial behavior under the guise of “free thinking” when it serves as an excuse to put down other people for their belief. There are true atheists and then there are the anti-religious. Jobs certainly had his times when he did not believe in a higher power but other times he searched for spiritual meaning. I see no reason to insult him or other people with belief systems simply because you hate. Have a nice day 🙂
Then where, praytell, would you go for ethics advice?
Aristotle
Confucius.
Bill Clinton
Yourself?
Dobrin writes, “Jobs wasn’t the kind of person I could even hope to emulate.”
There, fixed that for you.
+1
Every society has at its core an ever present politically correct group of ‘do gooders’ and sanctimonious ‘whiners & whingers’ who quietly await any and every opportunity to pen there misguided thoughts in an attempt to gain a minutia of attention for themselves.
Now please go away and play in traffic you jerk!
I apologise for the incorrect use of the word ‘there’ instead of ‘their’. Whilst I’m venting my spleen I’m prone to ‘typos’!
This professor is living in his ivory tower. Talking about moral vision Dobrin needs to get his priorities right. Blinded by the many moral issues found in government and public institutions like banks, centers of higher learning, etc there is no need for Dobrin to manufacture one where there is none. If there is anyone that has failed society, it is the moral elitist such as Dobrin that deserves the Oscar for obfuscation.
Perfect
This has nothing to do with “ivory towers” or “do gooders” or “whiners”. This has to do with
1. someone talking out their ass about a person with which they are not familiar.
2. A poor view of the big picture
These are not particular to academics – they are seen throughout society.
If we were all like ANY one person the world would be poorer. Variety is the key to life.
Best reponse in the whole thread (probably counting future responses). Kudos to you.
I agree with Matt, Algr figured out what MDN couldn’t; I don’t want to live in a world where everyone was Steve Jobs. Yeechk!
We’d all be wearing turtlenecks.
I think we should all be nice. And bland. And quiet. And uninspired. And subservient. And docile. And sensitive. And humble. And self-sacrificing. And passive. And vulnerable. And communal. And green. And self-effacing. And open. And liberal. And . . . and . . . and . . . . And more like sheep! Yeah, that’s the ticket!
A recipe for a long, fulfilling, and stress-free life, I’d say. I’m sure that there’s “research” out there that shows there’s no stress in trying to keep up with or bypass your neighbors, to dress, act, and live your life completely by others’ dogma, opinions and by what marketing tells you to do, and just being a typical, drive-too-fast-and-idiotic-because-it-reflects-your-image, automaton simpleton. Yeah… great, long life to live. Where do I sign up?
Hmm.
2 rand = 1 South African pound = 1 British pound
Like blaming Gutenberg for giving the world the ability to print porn. Like blaming the sun for garbage disposals.
What a doofus.
I’m insulted he thinks I’d want to emulate Jobs.
I’m happy with who I am, thank you. And I’m happy using Apple’s creations.
Dear Arthur Dobrin,
Drop dead.
There is a great deal in Steve Jobs to emulate. Like deciding what really matters to you and focusing each day on obtaining that. Life without compromise. Fortunately, not many of us have his personality.
You hit it right on the head. It’s the outward aspects of how the company is run; especially when Steve was at the helm, that really matters. Everything else is just mob-mentality crap conjured up by the spoon-feeding, simpleton media and entertainment industry.
If everyone were SJ, we’d have no place to sit.
We learn from both the successes and failures and right and wrong other people have done in their lives. That is the real world and learning we can do.
I don’t intend to emulate Steve Jobs failures!
The prof is a dweeb.
I’m glad that I don’t go that University! Lousy professor!
The dear Dr is probably right in an abstract sense. However, the world would also be worse off if everyone thought and did the same things as the dear professor. The diversity of thoughts, opinions, actions etc. add to our culture.
This guy is right.
Yep. He has a point.
At the very top of his head
A guy holding a fringe position at a University ranked #139. Yeah, right. Tell us how it is, baby!
Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.
Philosophus sugit?
(Cough, cough) Bozo! (Cough)
Nobody would want to have a world where all people are just the same, regardless who the “original” might be. And, though Arthur Dobrin does not like Steve Jobs nor “join the chorus”, he does not hesitate to abuse his name to get some publicity of his own. So this does make him a great man, well?
I’m sure the most attention he’s ever gotten is now when he’s mentioned Steve Jobs. Where was he when the world was mourning Michael Jackson? Or, anyone else famous for that matter?
Who ever claimed that Steve Jobs’s personality was an important element of his contribution to the world or to his legacy?
Why not get LeBron James to write an article saying that he (LeBron) can jump higher than Jobs ever could? Or get Tiger Woods to write an article saying that he is a better golfer than Jobs? These — like the ethics professor’s standards — are irrelevant criteria for evaluating Steve Jobs’s life work.
I’m still looking for an article from a CEO saying that he (or she) is a better manager than Jobs.
What a dork.
There are things about Jobs I sincerely try to emulate.
– admiration for simplicity
– the desire to make something that the world will use
– the ability to think different.
Steve was probably more temperamental than I would like to be but I am sure I do many things that he would not want to emulate.
We are all different and we ALL have good and bad points. Steve’s drive and determination should be something we all should try to emulate as well as install it in our youth. One does not haver to emulate a person 100% and it is crazy to even think so.
Again, what a dork.
Funny how these bozos never seem to criticises Bill Gates the man who stole from a developer a technology he then fooled someone else into buying. Yep great business deal to create a stranglehold on mediocre technology infrastructures so many were forced and locked into but hardly a great example to the World but then you buy a lot of silence by spending a little of your ill gotten gains on charity projects to soothe your moments moral guilt.
At least with Steve what you saw was what you got, not perfect but at least human.
Steve Jobs was by no means a perfect man. No one is. But what he did in his short life made the world a better place. The Ethics doofus is just a click whore. His whole premise is silly.
“Steve Jobs was by no means a perfect man. No one is. But what he did…” Please stop here:
I read SJ’s bio. He was often worse than “not perfect”. A lot of us are not perfect but still not jerks.
He’s been mean and disrespectul to a looooot of people, including family members. All his creations don’t excuse that.
The author of the article is right. I admire SJ for what he has brought and all that but let’s not be blind. He was not a model of humanity.
I’m also pretty sure that a nicer SJ could have perhaps been a greater genius. Anyway… RIP SJ.
No. In no way shape or form are Jobs accomplishments undermined by his personal failings. Jobs hurt people’s feelings. I don’t give a shit This will undermine the many and varied accomplishments that continue to pile up even today and for the last 30 years? No. Not even close. It’s nonsense. Jobs did not murder anyone, did not ruin tens of thousands of lives (as do the shitty succession of US CEOs who fire tens of thousands to momentarily protect their bottom lines) and he did not spend his days accosting complete strangers for the mere privilege of making someone feel bad.
I am sickened to the point of wanting to do violence by the idea that because Jobs was larger than life, and his life’s work is a vast series of world changing accomplishments, that by extension his personal failings are also vast and larger than life. They are not. They most assuredly are fucking not, and anyone who continues to assert this bullshit is welcome to feel my boot on the back of their neck for such unbridled stupidity. All we know about Jobs from Issacson’a bio was that Jobs was a flawed human being. Now we have a succession of assholes that want us to believe that this was all there was to Jobs (in no small part because, as Gruber has pointed out, Isaacson’s bio is itself flawed) and Apple’s accomplishements under Jobs were secondary to the fact that Jobs could be vindictive and petty. This, to stress the point, is bullshit. The world is full of petty vindictive assholes. The world is full of narcissists. Almost none of them are worth the air they breathe. But Jobs changed the world. Not once, not twice but arguably three times and possibly more. His exactlng nature created a company that at the same time it demands higher standards from everything is capable of making significant profits, because the product of the standards is in high demand, leaving would be competitors routinely trying and failing to trap lighting in a bottle. And by the time the competition gets a clue, Apple and Jobs pull the rug out from under them again.
These accomplishments are not on par with and are not diminished by Jobs firing someone in an elevator or initially denying paternity or whatever everyday occurrence somehow writ large by involving Jobs. Indeed, if you find any high percentage of single 20 something males that would immediately take responsibility for fathering a child they didn’t want you are living on a planet different from this one.
I could go on but it’s just more of the same. These smug sons of bitches that know nothing of the history of Jobs and Apple are a dime a dozen and not even worth that.
WTF is he talking about????????????
There is no connection with the reality.
The world wasn’t meant to have billions of clones, and it is completely idiotic to even wonder what the world would be like if everyone were _____________.
It doesn’t matter who you fill in the blank with. Some people are engineering wizards and can’t communicate how they feel. Some people can write beautiful prose but can’t work a screwdriver. Some people are artists, and some are incredibly gifted at building what others design.
And, as we come to Steve Jobs, some people are great because they eliminate the clutter (be it in design or even people) to build something simple and pure that hides all complexities and empowers what others are great at to be enhanced beyond what could be imagined a few years ago.
And one more thing . . . if we all had stories thrilling enough to tell and the balls to tell them so that our lives would be thrown open in the form of a best-selling biography for all to see, I’ll just bet there’d be some “glad the everyone’s not like him” skeletons lingering.
What a waste of bandwidth this “story” was.
What. A. Nimrod.
What the F is a hosanna?
“Whether Job’s contribution to our lives is all to the good is debatable.”
WHO EVER SAID all of Steve Jobs’ contributions were to the good?! Is this guy nuts, or just a dopey ABSOLUTIST?!
Like anyone worships Jobs as some saint? Be LOGICAL please professor. Sheesh! 😛
“The world would be poorer if we were all like him.”
The world would be poorer if we were all like ANYONE! There is no such thing as a viable monoculture in nature. Diversity rulz!
I think this guy is a bit lost, expecting some Messiah, getting all rant ridden about him not showing up. 😯
“personal moral failures”
don’t all people make mistakes. It’s whether we learn from them and try to correct it. Jobs seems to have.
From the things his family (like his sister) and friends have said the ‘later’ Jobs tried to be a good family man. His top lieutenants like Cook, Forstall and Ive were with him a long time although all of whom apparently were offered more lucrative jobs by others – why would they stay with Jobs if he was a ‘moral failure’ especially if others would pay them more money?
You really have to question the veracity of a so-called, Professor of Ethics, who quotes Scripture, and yet, seems surprised by human frailty. One wonders what skeletons are dangling at the back of his closet.
Edward Teller was well known for his difficult personality and sometimes quirky ideas… Teller was also one of the brightest, most influential theoretical physists of the 20th Century. His actions and personal life, though tempestuous, does not diminish his accomplishments.
The professor has a point, but I think we can admire a persons accomplishments separate of their personal lives.
Sanctimonious prick. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”
I’d like to poke around in this guy’s private life to find out just how pure and sin-free he is.
Prof paraphrases the new testament in his rant. That Jesus feller struggled with moral ambiguity too. I don’t think anyone nominated Jobs for sainthood. We just admired him as a technical innovator and visionary.
Jesus prevented a prostitute from being stoned by a group of moral hypocrites. He challenged those who were about to commit a murder, saying: “Let him who has no sin cast the first stone”. He scripted on the ground the sins of the would-be perpetrators and one by one they slipped quietly away. When he looked up, there was no one left except the woman.
So poignant. After the crowd dissipated:
John 8:10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?
8:11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
If we were all put up for adoption and had no meaningful relationship with our real parents, do you think we’d be better off or worse?
WHAT A FREAKIN GENIUS!!
*Facepalm*
PS. Ethics Professor? I bet he picks up alot of chicks with that one. What a blowhard.
“Whether Job’s contribution to our lives is all to the good is debatable”
This is where he loses me…he strung up by the balls for this line: what? Inventing/Influencing pretty much every consumer tech gadget in the last 30 years isn’t good enough for you?! What have you done that’s so special!
one of the first things you learn in an ethics class is that no ethical behavior will work if everyone does exactly the same thing.
I love Apple products. But I must agree with the ethics professor on this one. I have worked with and for a-holes, and Steve was certainly one. I don’t hold him up to anyone for emulation. If that’s what it takes to be a “success,” then he can keep it. I would not anyone I love to be like he was as a person of moral principles worthy of emulation.
Way to go Choc!!
Prov. 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Hofstra, eh? Remind me to not recommend that school to my son.
I think I agree with the ethicist. Jobs never did, and still does not, strike me as a “good” person from what I hear of his personal life. It is interesting to see what appears to be a large number of people ascribing positive personal characteristics to him only because of the incredible companies and products he made, not because of what sort of man he was. He was a visionary and a genius to be sure, but his personal life is questionable.
He lost me at “New Testament.”
That’s a sad confession, but, I can’t laugh at it, nor am I surprised.
I agree with the author. Mdn take makes you sound like a member of the popular front of Judia….. Let’s look to MLK, Gandi and such like (re 1984 ad) for role models. Jobs was great, he’s in my top 5. But he’s
no Jehova.
Ethics professor: “Hey everybody, look at me! LOOK AT MEEEEE!”
Steve is receiving accolades for his professional life. People want to emulate his professional life. People admire his professional skills.
Nobody is standing in rapt awe of his personal life. Nobody wants to emulate that.
So what exactly is Arthur Dobrin’s issue? Steve isn’t being held up as a hero of morality and we all acknowledge that he wasn’t.
But out of all of Jobs’ moral failings, at least he never sunk so low as to flog the recently deceased just to draw attention to himself. How exactly did this asshole end up teaching applied ethics?
The bottom line is that Steve made the world a better place. Arthur Drobin has not. Infact, if his students leave the classroom thinking like he does, then he actively makes the world a worse place to inhabit.
Nice job, Hofstra University. You sure know how to pick them.