Let's Calm Down About Steve Jobs

He was a terrific tech guy, but this public grief is out of whack: Hamilton Nolan
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 6, 2011 3:28 PM CDT
Let's Calm Down About Steve Jobs
Tributes to Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs are placed outside the Apple Store in Regent Street in London.   (AP Photo/Jonathan Short)

The tributes to Steve Jobs have taken on a "quasi-religious tone," writes Hamilton Nolan, who suggests it's time to dial things back a notch or two. Jobs' death is "certainly a devastating loss" to his family, his friends, and his company, writes Nolan at Gawker. As for everyone else, especially those posting on Facebook that they "can't stop crying," it's time to "calm down."

Jobs was terrific at making and selling tech products, but "there's no need to further fellate the man's memory," writes Nolan. Consider that a genuinely heroic civil rights activist also died yesterday, but the death of the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth barely registered in comparison. "When we start mourning technocrats as idols, we cheapen the lives of those who have sacrificed more for their fellow man," writes Nolan. The full post is here. (More Steve Jobs stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X