“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?