Mac Users Enjoy The Suffering And Pain Of Others.

Have Mac users and readers of Mac web sites become journalistic voyeurs who love to read literary pain?

A case can be made that we’re trending toward deriving pleasure from the suffering and pain of others.

As it is with many Mac users, I have a list of web sites that I read regularly for reviews, hints, perspectives, news, commentary, opinions, and-- here it comes-- slice and dice.

Mac360’s founding female, Tera Patricks, was a master of the poking pen, and a primary reason I began reading the site’s regular reviews and commentary.

Among others, I read John Gruber’s Daring Fireball, the Macalope, and other perveyors of the fine wine of online perspectives, though I suspect that I’ve come to enjoy, as a Mac voyeur of sorts, the pain and suffering inflicted by their digital pens.

For example, who among us does not smile a little smile of pleasure whenever one of our Windows-using friends becomes infected by a virus, or experiences a frequent blue-screen-of-death, or any of the myriad of problems Mac users seldom feel?

Who among us does not take offense whenver techno pundits like Rob Enderle or Paul Thurrott, keepers of the Microsoft Status Quo Flame™ spew their silly thoughts and ill-conceived reasonings toward all things Mac and Apple?

Recently, The Macalope sliced and diced Cory Doctorow, relegating his latest journalistic view of Apple’s Steve Jobs to what Doctorow does best-- fiction. We’ve come to enjoy it when opinions are julienned by the pen of Mac pundits.

In fact, we engage in such literary Perry Masonism ourselves, from time to time, hence the Mac360 Dumbass Award, which we bestow upon the unwitting and unthinking.

Here’s a case in point. We love exposing FUD. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt, whether from Windows media pundits, company leaders, or even other Mac news sites, who seem to exploit and titillate our eyes with headlines of lies.

Is there really a “growing need” for Mac security software, as MacNewsWorld shamelessly attests? No, but that didn’t stop the ridiculous article, and didn’t stop others from attempts to deflate their FUD balloon, passing as news.

Gundeep Hora asks the hilarious not-ready-for-sci-fi question, is “Apple Ready To Kill OS X?” Why? It’s a headline to grab attention and readers, and the resulting turkey carve by John Gruber. Gundeep is the same Gundeep who said Microsoft Should Acquire Linux, as if the latter was available for sale.

Line by line, paragraphy by paragraph, using blockquotes and a poison pen, we dissect and dismember that which is in disagreement with our view of the world.

Do we love eating literary just desserts when available? Yes. Do we, as Mac users and readers of online sites, enjoy the pain and suffering of others, however momentary or deserved? Uh, yes. We used to call exposing the foibles of others a form of investigative journalism. Today we call it entertainment.

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