It's so easy to hate on Apple, but Apple Japan really came through the past few days...

[Dappleganger]

http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2011/3/14/apples-role-in-japan-during-the-tohoku-earthquake.html

7 hours and 118 aftershocks later, the store was still open. Why? Because with the phone and train lines down, taxis stopped, and millions of people stuck in the Tokyo shopping district scared, with no access to television, hundreds of people were swarming into Apple stores to watch the news on USTREAM and contact their families via Twitter, Facebook, and email. The young did it on their mobile devices, while the old clustered around the macs. There were even some Android users there. (There are almost no free wifi spots in Japan besides Apple stores, so even Android users often come to the stores.)
You know how in disaster movies, people on the street gather around electronic shops that have TVs in the display windows so they can stay informed with what is going on? In this digital age, that's what the Tokyo Apple stores became. Staff brought out surge protectors and extension cords with 10s of iOS device adapters so people could charge their phones & pads and contact their loved ones. Even after we finally had to close 10pm, crowds of people huddled in front of our stores to use the wifi into the night, as it was still the only way to get access to the outside world.

****************


Keep reading, it gets better.

[Toucano]

1. For the love of...

Never underestimate the people's love for their things and the warped relationship they develop with the producers of those things.

[Dappleganger]

2. Did you read the article?

If so, you completely missed it.

[Toucano]

5. Yes, and the trademarked corporate name appears 23 times in the article, written by a "fanboy".

Read it again and replace every instance of "Apple" with "BP".

It's corporate fellatio.

[Dappleganger]

7. Well I suppose that there will always be haters for no reason.

[Toucano]

11. I showed you the reason and it has nothing to do with hate.

The affinity people develop with corporate manufactures of the products they use is absurd.

From the yokel and his John Deere ball cap to the princess in her Fendi handbag, it's all a warped and distorted sense of "community" that anchors around the sickness of consumerism.

[Dappleganger]

13. Once again...

did you even read the article? I don't think that you did.

[Toucano]

15. Of course I read it and then I wretched.

You seriously think it's appropriate to write about the features of the products in an article about an enormous natural disaster?

You seriously think it's relevant how superior Facetime™ is to Skype™? How comfortable the store's theatre room is? How Apple, Inc.(AAPL) has the only free wifi in Tokyo?

You can't recognize corporate propaganda?

[cliffordu]

3. You got THAT out of what the OP said???

:hurts:

[Maru Kitteh]

4. Those "things" helped humans contact other humans that love them.

It's not a story about "things" at all - it's a story about people reaching out and trying to find something normal in hell.

[Toucano]

6. Quote: "...there is a tech story that I'd really like to tell: the story of Apple Inc in Japan."

That's not a "human interest" piece.

[NYC Liberal]

12. So, what, all references to "Apple" and "Apple Store"

should have been scrubbed and replaced with "an unnamed technology company" and "an unnamed retail store"?

[Toucano]

16. God no! That wouldn't generate any SEO cred!

Are you nuts?

[NYC Liberal]

17. You're getting quite angry over a story about people helping people,

and I am sorry that you are.

[Toucano]

18. Really?

You're so sweet!

It's not a story about people helping people. It's corporate propaganda.

And I'm really sorry you can't tell the difference.

I'm really sorry that you think Apple, Inc. (AAPL) is "people". I think it's a corporation.

I'm really sorry you can't see that a genuine human interest story would never need to mention the trade names of dozens of products and explain how superior Facetime is to Skype, let alone repeat the name of the corporation 23 times.

I'm sorry your love of the things you've bought makes it so hard for you to see. Maybe there's an app for that.

Read the article, replacing the word "Apple" with "BP".

Just because you like the company doesn't mean it's not propaganda.

[NYC Liberal]

21. Well thank you!

You do realize that BP actually CAUSED a disaster, while the employees of this store did not cause the earthquake or tsunami, right?

Tell me: is your problem with the fact that the events in the story took place at all or that they are being reported? Or is your problem with the fact that the name of the store in question is being reported?

[Toucano]

22. It's irrelevant the cause of the disaster. It's not about that.

Substitute "Mike's Puppy Burgers" for Apple and see if you can spot the propaganda. The point of using BP is that it's less popular than Congress, so it might become more obvious to you that you're reading propaganda if you remove a possible bias you have in favor of Apple, Inc.

Better yet, substitute Scientology for Apple and give it a go.

The "name of the store in question" is being reported? The name of the store is repeated 23 times! Products and features of those products are being listed and touted and compared to competing products. It's not the way anyone would recall a story unless they're promoting a product, a company, and an consumer-based identity.

You might mention it at the beginning and again at the end...maybe 5 times total. 23 times is excessive.

It's cult-like, this consumerism identity.

[NYC Liberal]

25. "Mike's Puppy Burgers"...um, sure, I'd have no problem

with that either.

BP, Apple, Scientology, Mike's Puppy Burgers...if the employees of whatever company ACTUALLY DID those things and ACTUALLY DID help people, then I don't care what company it is. I care that people were helped. You choose to focus not on that for whatever bizarre reason.

[Toucano]

26. .

[hlthe2b]

8. That is a level of cynicism...

that I hope I NEVER achieve. Geebus.. They went above and beyond to help people. Rare in the corporate world nowadays, no matter what you say.

[Toucano]

14. I hope I never suffer the blindness that afflicts you.

The story should be about PEOPLE (remember those?) helping PEOPLE.

Instead, it becomes a consumerism-validating story about Apple, Inc., complete with multiple product placement opportunities and plugs about product features.

It's disgusting that people can't distinguish human interest from corporate propaganda.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

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[shireen]

9. read the article

:wtf:

[Beam Me Up]

10. what would you suggest... smoke signals?? n/t

[Name removed]

20. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

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[Kablooie]

27. You don't seem to realize that people work for corporations.

And at times those people may help other people.
Heck, there are even some CEOs that are human, though that may not be the norm.

[IcyPeas]

28. Apple -- Good for Apple -- it was nice of Apple to do this...

in this catastrophe. I suppose Apple didn't have to. If it happens to be good advertising for Apple as well, then so be it. They helped people graciously.

Apple, Apple, Apple, Apple, Apple, Apple, Apple

(p.s. for the record I do not even own any Apple things)

Have I mentioned Apple?

[Kablooie]

29. You don't have to bring the Beatles into the argument.