Before I begin, I would like to establish a few things:
- I happen to like Android AND iOS
- This article is reflecting a serious problem that’s exploded recently, and as such covers other people’s bias
Over the past few months, Google+ has had a serious problem. And it’s not the number of users, the interface, or anything that’s Google’s fault: It’s the haters. In this case, it’s a war between mobile operating systems, device manufacturers, and their respective multinational companies: Google, Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, et al.
It started with a hashtag after the release of Jelly Bean. Because of the new features and polish in Jelly bean, as well as the Apple vs. Samsung lawsuit, Anyone claiming to use a product manufactured by Apple received an ear-lashing of dissidence for being plebeians (or “iSheep), and for supporting a company with such a mephistophelian business plan. This company, you see, was (and is) in a thermonuclear war against anything or anyone they can sue patent infringement; Android OEMs in particular (The ironic part of this is that it’s the general game of most multinational electronics companies from Apple to ZTE, as of late). Also, preferring a phone with fewer features than Android and less configurability was sure to indicate you are a moron incapable of logical thought.
Regardless of the morality of patent trolling, which I will cover in a later post, I’d like to cover two major problems we’re seeing among a community of thinkers that used to be united: the superiority complex, and expression of one’s opinion as undeniable fact. One’s choice in technology was loudly stated as an intellectual or religious statement, and having a product they deemed “stupid” reveals a fundamental weakness that you must fix as soon as possible. People no longer respected that competition leads to improvement on all parts, and that one’s opinion is equal to all other opinions: supremely meaningless to anyone but you. And you’re not intellectually, “religiously”, or morally superior for preferring anything over anything else. You’re the same person you would be anyway, you just chose a different ratchet wrench or hammer over another. A mere tool for getting through your daily routine.
Finally, I’d like to offer advice to everyone in this argument: go outside. Read a nice book. Listen to a symphony. Enjoy whatever brand of mobile device you have. Just please, don’t think that your opinion is more valuable than another person’s, or that a sophist’s hatred somehow makes you a lesser person. This I say for two reasons: firstly because he who vaunts (the hater) stoops low to hate while you stand where you were originally, and second because when all is said and done, it doesn’t actually matter.
