Opinion: Taking Steve Jobs’ death personally
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
It’s natural for the world to mourn an extraordinary man, and Steve Jobs certainly fit the bill. He wasn’t just an incredibly smart and creative entrepreneur; his life story contained the kinds of material that gave people a hook to latch onto.
A fabulously wealthy man who lived his dreams without having graduated college translates to, gee, maybe we can stop worrying if a kid doesn’t go to Harvard. His talk about taking interesting classes instead of required classes energized people who feel stuck in a world of rules. His comeback after being forced from Apple -- well, who doesn’t love a great comeback story? Then, of course, there was his thinning corporeal self as he introduced new products, the very embodiment of the notion that even as we face death, we must seize life.
All that, and yet, it’s remarkable how personally the public takes his death. Reading through the comments people leave on obituaries about him, or grazing the blogosphere, many people reached for whatever connection they could with him, as though they had been best buddies by owning an early Mac or a new iPhone. I never would have gotten through college without Jobs by my side, one writes, as though the great man had personally tutored him instead of introducing the laptop he took his notes on. I used to drive by his headquarters all the time, another reports. ‘Glee’ actor Henry Shum Jr. recalls that he danced in an iPod commercial a long time ago, and then said hello to Jobs at an Oscars ceremony. A friend of mine created a memorial to Jobs in her journal, with clippings and photos, her closest relationship to him being her ownership of an iPad. My favorite, of course, was the commenter who left the tiny but ingenious message: iSad.
But what was it about Jobs that aroused in people this need for a sense of personal connection to the guy who sold them digital possessions? Greatly beloved digital possessions, to be sure. People never seemed to sing with love about their Dells or IBMs. And you seldom see people showing this kind of emotion over an entrepreneur, even a remarkable one. In this case, are the person and his creations inseparable? Certainly, if ever a man could live on through his silicon, Jobs is the one.
RELATED:
Steve Jobs’ virtual DNA to be fostered in Apple University
Technology: Steve Jobs and the tough sell in Hollywood
--Karin Klein
