Fastest obit cartoon ever. Drawn a few weeks back.
Steve Jobs, RIP
Ted Rall
http://rall.comTed Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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Back in the 90’s, when I finshed Alvin Toffler’s book, “The Third Wave”and the Unabomber Manefesto, I realised that a large chunk of the population would have to be killed in order for an internet based economy to work.
Dorme bene.
As silly and repulsive as the sneak peek.
@Tyler Durden, but that doesn’t actually solve the problem, because with fewer customers demand shrinks and then you need to kill off even more people and so on and so forth until society has collapsed enough that the internet, that is indirectly fueling the impetus for the killing, can no longer be supported.
You’re spot on most of the time, Ted, but this one is definitely off the mark. Apple’s iPods and iTunes store might be the final nails in their collective coffin, but record stores were in their death throes years before the advent of iTunes. Big-box retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Wal-Mart were selling CDs as loss leaders in the 90s and standalone record stores could not compete. Once you could import your CDs into your PC, regardless of whether it was a Mac or a Windows machine, it became SO easy to make copies for people to make copies for their friends. And frankly, if Steve Jobs hadn’t done it, somebody eventually would have. I feel very fortunate to live in a community like Boise that has such a fine record store — The Record Exchange remains a vibrant cultural touchstone, although I know it’s not been easy going for a long time. On the flip side, online music retailers like iTunes and Amazon and eMusic have made it possible for bands everywhere to sell their music to anyone anywhere. And I’m sure my wife will agree it’s pretty nice I don’t drag her on CD and record hunts any more whenever we vacation in a big city. The incredible access to music that superfans like me have now is incredibly liberating.
No doubt, the record industry was suffering before Jobs came along, especially due to Napster. While iTunes destroyed Napster, it also abolished the album. Now people buy singles, which means artists are only making a small number of sales compared to before. And the death of record stores has made it hard to find out about new music or to promote it. Music just isn’t as exciting when it’s just a data-entry list on a scrolldown menu.
While I am not a fan of Jobs’s controlling ways, I am having a hard time reconciling your position in this one with your editorial in the aftermath of Bin Laden’s death. In that one you made a very valid point about the classlessness of the celebrations, how is this different?
The difference is that Jobs received universal praise. His legacy should be assessed without blinders. My cartoon was an exception to the rule. In the case of Osama, the big issue was the manner of his death, by illegal political assassination, which also deprived us of a trial to see whether he or not he was guilty of any crimes. The two just aren’t even close.
mocking and/or rejoicing is mocking and/or rejoicing. You are right about the different contexts and public reactions, of course, and you also have a point about the manner of Bin Laden’s death, but my comment addressed a very specific point in your own editorial.
If anything, my cartoon mocked the convention of the obituary cartoon, in which the dearly departed is at the Pearly Gates (never mind that Jobs was Buddhist).