What entity is the cause of all that is wrong with the modern world? Satan? Possibly. President Trump? You can be forgiven if he is high on your list of wrongs that need to be made right.
No, the problem with the world as we know it can be placed squarely at the feet of Apple; preferably on CEO Tim Cook’s toes. Yes, Apple’s iPhone is to blame for the world’s ills; from disease to increasingly lawless human behavior, we can trace it all back to iPhone.
So, you want to be a writer? Who doesn’t, right? I mean, there’s fame and riches and… bwahahaha! J.K, Rowling notwithstanding, not. Far too many writers in the 21st century have hopped on the Business Insider bandwagon and traveling circus of blindfolded monkeys who are tortured incessantly unless they meet their daily quota of anti-Apple diatribes.
Here’s one of the best I’ve seen in months. The headline?
Air travel has become worse than ever — and the iPhone is to blame
Nobody will disagree that air travel has not become disagreeable, but how exactly is iPhone to blame? Is it because we spent so much money on iPhone X that we cannot afford to travel in first class and are forced to consort with the heathens in economy?
Maybe. But not in this case. Mark Matousek sums up the problem with a diatribe against iPhone because camera.
Smartphones and social media make it easier for stories of disruptive airline passengers to spread.
Those videos of authorities dragging passengers off an airplane are exactly what makes YouTube’s owners rich (hint: Google).
While it might seem like air travelers have become more volatile, much of that perception may result from how easy it is to film and share videos of extreme incidents on social media.
Film? How quaint. I’ve been in and around the tech scene for more than my share of decades and I do not recall one smartphone that uses film.
Social media makes it easier to record disruptive behavior
Yes, I like that. And who is to blame? Apple and iPhone. Hey, it’s in the title– “the iPhone is to blame.” Not Kodak. Not Google’s Android phone population of 2-billion or so smartphone with built-in camera users.
Apple. iPhone.
More on that in a moment.
First, notice the publication. Business Insider. It used to be about business, and, presumably all the things that make business an attractive subject to follow. Look at this list of recent BI headlines:
- Here’s what the trailer for ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ would be like if it were brutally honest.
- A bald head is not your mom’s fault– these are the other factors than can cause you to lose your hair.
- Delta’s credit cards are excellent values right now
- People are downloading their Facebook data and posting it to Twitter, and the results will terrify you.
- A restaurant in Toronto serves tacos inside a Doritos chip bag
- Gal Gadot called out Ryan Reynolds for copying her ‘Wonder Woman’ pose
Second, notice that about half of Business Insider content has nothing to do with business and everything to do with link bait– headlines designed to get you to click so they can serve more ads to your face.
What does that have to do with air travel? How is the iPhone to blame? Why not Android phones? Because iPhone is link bait. Nowhere else in Matousek’s article is the word iPhone or Apple mentioned. Nowhere. But it’s in the headline because anything negative about Apple gets more clicks.
If you’ve ever wanted to join the circus, write something and get it published in Business Insider.
Originally published by Wil Gomez in Mac360.