People prefer to be stupid

To quickly recap: Bob Keefe asked Steve Jobs why Apple doesn’t put Intel stickers on their computers. The world leaped down his throat, quickly notifying him that he’s a jackass and a moron. Duh, Apple doesn’t use Intel stickers because they are ugly. QED. Idiot.

Except no one bothered to ask Mr. Keefe why he asked the question. Fortunately, he decided to share. He even posted a picture of his head on a jackass. Pretty damn classy, if you ask me. He asked a question that, granted, does seem to have a fairly obvious answer to us egotistical Mac fanatics (even if there are solid reasons why asking a seemingly obvious question can be a good idea), and when the opinionated Mac blogging world jumped down his throat he responded with humor instead anger.

So why are people still shitting on Mr. Keefe? Simple: people prefer to be stupid. Life is much more fun when Mac users are right, Windows users are wrong, and Bob Keefe is a jackass (unless you’re a Windows user or Bob Keefe, of course). Making fun of people is hilarious. It’s easier, too; you never have to think about the fact that the person you’re ridiculing is another human being with a set of reasons for their actions. (And as to why bloggers prefer attack mode to investigating and reporting, it’s because attacking takes little to no time and sells well; people much prefer split-second opinions to hearing that the world is more complicated than their black and white fantasies.)

I don’t think the whole thing is about cultural relativism as M Diced claims (after all, Mr. Keefe is a Mac user). I think it’s because, in general, people prefer to be stupid (and John Gruber, who loves the jackass thing, enjoys falling victim to the fundamental attribution error—hell yeah I took psychology).

And then there’s me: I think the people who are making a big deal out of Bob Keefe’s question are being stupid, so I go on the attack and write a blog post about it. The irony does not escape me, but I at least have a consolation prize: I’m pretty sure that I’m right, and those other people are wrong.

Leave a response