Editorial - Macrimination 
The Mac Smackdown Coming Down On You
By Steve Sobek - Contributing Editor
For the most part, the purpose of this column is not draw out
singular perpetrators of Macrimination, as they are all over the place,
not worth the time it takes to argue with them and for the most part, as
set in their ways as we are.
But every once in awhile, you come across someone who needs a big
dose of the reality stick. I couldn't help it this week -- this guy
needs a Mac Smackdown.
Last week, on one of the Mac-oriented e-mail lists I belong to,
someone wrote to point out a column written in her local student
newspaper, The Oklahoma Daily at the University of Oklahoma. I
was not prepared for what I found when I clicked the link to Farhan
Shakeel's column, "Macs: great paperweights, bad computers."
Here's just a taste of the words of wisdom Mr. Shakeel spouts
forth:
"The once-proud bastion of personal computing superiority
has today been reduced to the mediocrity of wonderfully designed heavy
paperweights. Founded on principles of user-friendly and simplicity, the
Macintosh has become too simple for the modern world that demands more
than just attractive cases for its computing needs."
The rest of the column is similar, and the only backup he gives for
his opinion is the fact that he allegedly sees Mac users who are "red
with discontent" in his school's computer labs, while the PC users "move
about their tasks in an efficient, no-nonsense manner."
Well, I know a little about journalism, and even columnists with
controversial opinions must still back up their facts if they want
anyone to believe their musings. Sure, it's just a student paper, but it
was still unsettling.
But the Mac Smackdown was on the way. Just a couple of days after
that column, one of Mr. Shakeel's colleagues, Ryan Fulda, wrote his own
column: "It's not PC to make fun of Macs." Apparently, Mr.
Fulda found that after the earlier Mac-bashing column, the paper
received more letters to the editor than it normally does. "The paper
has received literally dozens more, from states as far away as Montana
and Washington," he wrote.
Mr. Fulda also said he was surprised to see such a reaction to such
an "apparently trivial subject." It just goes to show that most people
outside of our little world don't really understand us Mac people very
well. It's like men trying to understand women, or women trying to
understand men -- to get along our only choice is to celebrate our
differences.
While it may seem trivial to PC users, we take these matters
seriously over in the Mac world. Not because we're insecure, not because
we want to convince them that we are right and they are wrong, but
because we are creative and productive computer users who have little
patience for ignorance.
I would go more into Mr. Shakeel's column and how I could refute his
points, but apparently many of our fellow Mac users have already done it
for me. Just check out the bottom of the page his column is on. As of
this writing, there were already more than 75 comments attached to the
piece doing a much better job of it than I could here. For example, one
person, identified only as ZKinney, wrote: "Helpful hint #1: Upgrade to
OSX!"
Every once in awhile, it's good to be reminded that such
Macrimination still exists.
Steve Sobek is a journalist and Webmaster of United Mac. Reach him at ssobek@stevesobek.net.
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