PeaceBang
The manic mind of the minister -- Auntie Mame Meets Cotton Mather. Blogging about Unitarian Universalism, UU Christian spiritual practice, occasional cultural and political ravings, and the inner life of ministry. PeaceBang is the alter ego of a small town pastor serving an historic New England Unitarian Universalist congregation.
Fake Steve Jobs, I Love You
November 12, 2007 on 5:57 pm | In Shout-Outs |A few weeks ago I wrote this post about an offensive MasterCard commercial featuring a young white woman engaged in a series of activities that only very privileged people generally get to do: stuff like diving into a pristine blue ocean, taking singing lessons and (and this was where I snorted and threw my root beer at the TV) FENCING.
To add insult to injury, the soundtrack to the ad is a vapid female voice singing “These Are a Few Of My Favorite Things” in just the same tone one might imagine Marie Antoinette ordering another elaborate gown from her marchand de mode. La-di-da. What do the simple folk do? The whole thing made me gag and was doubly disappointing because of my fondness for the old “priceless” MasterCard ad campaign (which I have actually referenced in more than one stewardship campaign at church).
Much to my surprise, a group of commenters descended upon my post to criticize my commercial-bashing, led by someone calling himself “Fake Steve Jobs.” Fake Steve had a lot of interesting points but went on way beyond my capacity to respond, and the rest just sounded like cranky trolls so I mostly ignored them (plus, they were totally unpersuasive). While I’m happy to respond at great length to theological comments in religion-related posts, I just don’t keep at it con brio about much else, and especially not when I suspect I’m being trolled.
Imagine my surprise, then, when I picked up the Boston Globe today and read this article about Fake Steve Jobs, who turns out to be Dan Lyons, a senior editor at Forbes magazine. Check out the Fake Steve Jobs blog, but don’t do it while drinking unless you want a caffeine-enhanced nasal flushing (I’m glad I was having organic white peach tea, which didn’t hurt too badly).
Fake Steve Jobs, I bow to your snark genius and your ability to be Fake Steve Jobs while holding down a serious day job (which you should definitely not quit for a post on the debate team, now that I know what you do). I salute you across the wide chasm separating our lives — you, a high-powered finance dude and I, a small village pastor. I will always treasure that brief exchange we shared with fond, bittersweet tenderness, remembering it in my old age as an unrequited romance that I badly muffed. I want to verbally spar with you until we both keel over at our keyboards for lack of fluids. I want to go see movies with you and eviscerate them afterward over tapas and rioja.
I want you to be the one to whom I sarcastically quote passages from hideously self-indulgent spiritual memoirs I’m reading in bed. I want you to explain why my Fidelity retirement investments are doing so incredibly well even though I picked them through the time-honored “eenie-meenie-minie-moe” method. I want you to come to my Thanksgiving dinner and carve the turkey because I know you’re man enough to wield that knife and to cut deep.
Fake Steve Jobs, you make me swoon. Please give Dan Lyons a big kiss from me.
(look how cute he is!!! But married to a beautiful blonde! Curses! )
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somewhat off topic and slightly irrelivant, but I’ve got a friend who is trying to start a non-profit organization in boston to bring fencing to to people who would normally not be able to afford it. keep a lookout for it, she’s incredible!
Comment by Flo — November 13, 2007 #
I have to say, I don’t understand this post and I really didn’t understand the previous one on this topic.
Fake Steve Jobs (and this is assuming that was the REAL fake Steve Jobs) didn’t sound like a troll to me, just someone who had a different perspective.
And yes, the Mastercard ad is certainly designed to give the impression “wealthy people who do exciting things use our card,” implying by extension that if you use MasterCard, some of that glamour will rub off on you. But I don’t understand how this is different from “popular people drink our beer” or “beautiful women wear our makeup,” or lots of other advertisements.
I certainly agree that it’s not as good as the “Priceless” ad. But even that was showing a different sort of very desirable life, one of warm family connections. (Which I envy a great deal more than I envy the fencing lessons.)
CC
[CC, what made it “trollish” for me was that a little posse obviously came over from Fake Steve Jobsland to do a little pile on. They don’t know the blog at all, they’re not in conversation with anything, it was just a drive-by. And that’s just not very interesting to me and not what PeaceBang Blog is about. - PB]
Comment by Chalicechick — November 13, 2007 #
Peacebang, I saw that ad last night and thought of you.
And you’re right: It is a bit assuming and presumptuous. Funny, though, I had a different take on it than CC above. To me, the ad implies “use our credit card to charge up all those things you really want to do but cant afford and get in debt because, hey, we love you to charge up huge debts onto which we can stack our incredibly high interest rates. But, hey, you only live once, so charge up!”
But maybe I’m a little bitter about people’s inabilities to use credit cards “correctly.” I pay off my credit cards every month and never use them to buy things I dont have the money in the bank to back up. Okay, so, I’m a bit “holier than thou” with my spending habits, but happily, the only debt I have is my mortgage. I’m good at doing without when I dont have the money to afford those fun goodies I’d secretly like to have. I hate credit card companies because they try to entice people to spend beyond their means, promoting this unthinking attitude of consumerism. Drives me crazy.
Does the Bible say that money is the root of all evil?
Credit card companies, then, are Satan’s henchmen! =)
Comment by Mars Girl — November 13, 2007 #
I finally saw this commercial for the first time last week, and then for a second time this week. Both times I thought it was a dream sequence and kept waiting for the part where the girl wakes up, but she never did. Seemed very fantastical.
Comment by h sofia — November 13, 2007 #
Hey Mars Girl,
I don’t think our reactions are mutually exclusive. I do agree that some people abuse credit cards.
I love my Amex. It’s awesome being able to look at my spending on line and see it all at once, and the frequent flier miles have flown me to one GA and given me a place to stay at another. Oh, and if you rent a car with your American Express card and, oh, say, merge into somebody when driving near Pittsburgh, you don’t have to have gotten the insurance, Amex takes care of it.
Actually, the bible says LOVE of money is the root of all evil. It’s not the thing itself, it’s our attitude towards it.
CC
Who tends to go with George Bernard Shaw that LACK of money is the root of lots of evil.
Comment by Chalicechick — November 14, 2007 #
This guy lives in Medford, how can I get him to the church? OK now that’s an action plan.
Comment by Hank — November 15, 2007 #
I’m the guy who was posting as Fake Steve Jobs a few weeks (a month already?) ago. I just came back to check up on the MasterCard thread and I saw this entry. I’m definitely not the guy in the picture. I didn’t even realize that there was a real blogger using the pen name “Fake Steve Jobs”. I just wanted to post anonymously and used “Fake Steve Jobs” based on an email I received in June (reproduced in part below). Looking at it again, it’s pretty clear that they were trying to provide a smokescreen for Mr. Lyons, but at the time I just chalked it up to weird, weird spam. Now I wish I’d followed the instructions (rather than just stealing the clever name).
The email:
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:33:47 -0700
Subject: FSJ Lives - do NOT reply to this email
[Oh my heavens!! Well, things do get curiouser and curiouser. Thanks for the clarification, though! - PB]
FRIENDS OF FAKE STEVE JOBS: AN INVITATION
*** “Ignorance Is Strength” ***
A powerful web site is trying to expose our favorite blogger. Killjoys. As a result, it’s time to take the best media pranks of our time to the next level. We, the Friends of Fake Steve Jobs, will help.
***HOW TO JOIN***
1) Get a free email account with a fake name.
2) Send an email from that account to fakestevejobs@gmail.com, subject line: “Reporting For Duty.”
3) Include only one detail, either “I AM willing to leave clues about FSJ’s activities that will lead others to believe FSJ is me, in addition to clues pointing to others.” or “I am NOT willing to leave clues about FSJ’s activities that will lead others to believe FSJ is me, however I will help leave clues pointing to others.”
5) Email this message to three trusted friends from your new email account. Subject line “FSJ
Lives.” Do NOT reveal your identity to them.
6) Check your email once a week for instructions.
Comment by Fake Steve Jobs — November 29, 2007 #
I didn’t bring anyone else to your site, BTW. I stumbled upon it trying to figure out the name of the actress in the commercial (She looked familiar, but I was confusing her with someone else), and then I added PeaceBang to my RSS feeds.
Comment by Fake Steve Jobs — November 29, 2007 #
eh? I thought it was a great commercial. Not only the boys get to play.
Cheers,
Alan
Comment by Alan Browne — May 24, 2008 #