Catholics and the iPhone
June 27, 2007, 4:32 pm
Posted by Paul Lauritzen
A study recently conducted by Commonweal showed that Catholics were more likely than Protestants to buy an iPhone when it goes on sale this Friday. Well, actually I made that up, but it seems to me that there is no reason that Commonweal shouldn’t get in on the iPhone hype. In fact, I want to offer my services here. If Commonweal will buy an iPhone for me, I’ll get in line and document the whole experience, including preparing an exclusive review of the iPhone, for this blogsite.
I do believe that Protestants are probably People of the PC, and Catholics are People of the Mac. Yet I cannot seem to get away from my PC ways and give into the iEverything world that is so clearly a manifestion of, or a lure to, the Catholic Imagination. Perhaps it is my inherited Protestantism. Perhaps my fear that all my Word files will die in a software glitch. There is much fodder here for you, Paul. Let’s pass the hat. But who will stand in line overnight to buy the damned thing?
David — I went off the (PC) grid about a year ago and can’t imagine going back. I’m willing to stand in line if Baumann et al. fill the hat.
David Gibson said: I do believe that Protestants are probably People of the PC, and Catholics are People of the Mac.
Jean replies: I think a computer should last at least as long as a furnace or a refrigerator, so I’m not a fan of either PCs or Macs. But I frankly find Mac-dom with its fake hippie technology-for-the-masses message, its bring-your-dog-to-the-office work ethic, and Steve Jobs’ turtlenecks cloying in the extreme.
I have a TracPhone. It turns on and off, takes messages but no pictures, and fits in the little pocket in my purse. I don’t plan to buy an iPhone.
Jean — Are you suggesting that I should stop wearing black turtlenecks? I’m not sure what to say to that.
Hello All,
A few months ago one of my colleagues sent me an ad for the upcoming iPhone. My colleague uses a Mac and was way excited about the iPhone. As soon as I saw the ad, I concluded I do not want an iPhone. I don’t even like owning a cell phone, though we have reached the point where they are almost as necessary as credit cards. And I have always used a PC, in part because I agree with some of Jean’s opinions of the Mac. (In many ways I am an oddball in academia. Macs tend to be far more popular in universities than out of them. Oh and sorry Jean but I think one should replace one’s computer every three years. The technology advances so rapidly that computers older than three years tend to be hard to use.)
On a more serious note, if this survey that Paul refers to summarizes a statistically robust result, I’d be interested to know what possible causal explanations could account for the result. I confess I can’t think of any myself.
Hello Again All,
One other jiffy, since we seem to be having a light hearted conversation so far. In the classes I lead, I have a standing rule (which is hard to enforce) that no one is to use electronic devices of any kind in class unless one is showing the class a film clip or playing a recording that is directly relevant to the discussion(*). I resist as much as possible having members of my classes accessing the Internet while we are trying to have a discussion about philosophy, although I have to admit I’m being really fussy given that so many of my colleagues surf the Internet when they are supposed to be paying attention in department meetings.
To help explain why I have this rule, I tell my students about a really annoying incident at which I was present. Last year I was attending a concert by the Eroica Trio, my favorite classical chamber music trio. Prior to any classical music concert, someone will announce an explicit request that all present turn off their cell phones and set their pagers on vibrate mode so as not to distract their neighbors and the performers. At this concert, the Eroica Trio had to interrupt one of the works they were performing at the end of a movement, which classical musicians will do only for the most serious of reasons. The Eroica Trio had to ask a member of the audience to shut off his cell phone, because he was reading his e-mail during the performance and the light from his phone was making it hard for the musicians to see. I stress to my students that they need to be much more considerate of each other than people like this.
(*) Another rule I have is that anyone is allowed to bring anything to class like a photo, a magazine, a CD or a video on condition that it is relevant to our philosophical discussion. On occasion my students bring in newspaper articles with relevant stories, and I have on occasion brought in relevant pieces from Commonweal. I also sometimes play my students selections from the Eroica Trio’s recordings. The Eroica Trio are masters at performing together beautifully without communicating verbally or overtly signaling each other. I frequently use them as an example of a small group that can execute a difficult coordination problem (namely a chamber trio) without making any explicit agreements or making anyone in charge. My students like this example of spontaneous coordination. And the Eroica Trio are very good sports about me sharing their music in this manner.
It’s a little known fact that Apple is also putting out a limited-edition iPhone just for Catholics…the “i(nfallible)Phone.” Available only at the Vatican, it is impossible to say anything in error when using it.
I’m an egomaniac, so I’m holding out for the memyselfandiPhone.
The iPhone isn’t all that and the chips until it integrates the Super-Bass-O-Matic into the system. No phone is worth $500 unless it can blend a bass just the way I like it.
In seriousness, how will this phone be affected by the water or how will the phone withstand a drop or two against the ground? Also, as is the case with cars, never purchase until at least the second year a product is available so the kinks and bugs are out of the way.
I am so retro I don’t know what an IPhone is, or translating for the Maid (Virgo Cantiensis): Eo temporum regressus sum ut nesciam
quid sit iPhone.
Paul, I got nothing against black turtlenecks unless you’re wearing them to extoll Steve Jobs.
I’m the first one to admit that the Cult of Mac can get a little creepy sometimes, but it’s much easier to understand once you own one. I shunned Macs for years until my 10-pound Dell laptop died several years ago. Apple was offering a pretty sweet deal at the time, so I took the plunge, and I’ve never looked back. I’ve used lots of computers over the years–Dell, Gateway, IBM, generic white-box systems–but none compares to the PowerBook I bought four years ago. It’s the easiest-to-use, best-running system I’ve ever owned. You may find those Mac-worshippers a little too cool for school, but you can’t deny the fact that Macs simply work better.
Well of course Macs are more Catholics than PCs: they are good, true — and beautiful.
Although I must say that perhaps as Catholics perhaps there should not be so much emphasis on “i.” Perhaps we should hold out for the wePhone.
From the Umbero Eco piece:
“The fact is that the world is divided between users of the Macintosh computer and users of MS-DOS compatible computers. I am firmly of the opinion that the Macintosh is Catholic and that DOS is Protestant. Indeed, the Macintosh is counterreformist and has been influenced by the “ratio studiorum” of the Jesuits. It is cheerful, friendly, conciliatory, it tells the faithful how they must proceed step by step to reach – if not the Kingdom of Heaven – the moment in which their document is printed. It is catechistic: the essence of revelation is dealt with via simple formulae and sumptuous icons. Everyone has a right to salvation.”
The remainder of the piece can be found at:
http://www.simongrant.org/web/eco.html
I hate to disagree with Peter, .the most charming member of the Commonweal group, but I think the hardware for your computer should last as long as a Kenmore appliance, and that as technology improves, you should be able to buy patches and other gizmos to keep it working.
If that isn’t possible, then the way computers are sold should be as painless as possible, without the 15-year-old boy clerks hectoring you about bandwidth, memory storage, the fact that I live in an area where dial-up is my only connection option.
Clearly, most of you people are men and have never been a woman alone in a computer or hardware store, where, when you ask for an item, the clerk says, “What do you want if for?”
And you have to tell them before they’ll sell it to you.
Recently, I went into our hardware store to send a fax (I could send one from the library but the hardware store is cheaper), fellows in there not only READ IT, but gave me a lecture about how to set up my cover page.
It’s enough to make you weep with rage, except I won’t give them the satisfaction.
P.S., Beware students text messaging during tests; they text each other the answers. They can also take funny pictures of you during class when you’re not looking and post them on their myspace pages. Technology has reduced all of us to funny TV characters, apparently. One has to question how real the world is to students like this.