iCame, iSaw, iGotBlogged

OK, I take credit, or responsibility, or whatever. I am the author of "What's Next for the iPod Guy?" which has apparently taken the techno-blogs by storm. The reactions seem to range from the appreciative to the mystified to the ... well, you can see for yourself:

1. It's an attempt to personally convert Steve Jobs from (Judaism / Lutheranism / Buddhism, depending on what blog you read)

At macenstein, the headline reads, "'Jews for Jesus' attempts to convert Steve Jobs."

"In what can only be described as the most bizarre marketing tactic we have ever seen, New York-based Jews for Jesus have created a pamphlet specifically designed to convert Steve Jobs (who is Jewish) to Christianity, and it even goes so far as to compare Steve Jobs to Jesus Christ."

(Actually, Steve Jobs is not Jewish, but that's a whole other discussion.)

The take over at Big Action! is likewise that "someone in Jews for Jesus is apparently concerned about Steve Jobs' immortal soul." And at qj.net, we learn that

"Here's an evangelist who's so hell-bent (pardon the pun) on getting Apple computer founder Steve Jobs to 'need' Jesus, and eventually accept him. How fixated is this man? Well, he even distributed this evangelical tract to help Jobs realize he should be humble enough to accept Jesus."

2. It's a blatant rip-off of Steve to sell salvation

BoingBoing's take is that Jews for Jesus is "using Steve Jobs' likeness and career timeline (presumably without permission) to peddle salvation."













3. It sucks

A reader at tuaw.com finds it "almost as ridiculous as those Chick pamphlets. I mean, does anyone read this stuff and immediately decide to change their life?" And geoduck comments on the iPod Observer: "Like so much home grown religious literature, it's unbelievably lame. I mean, do they honestly think free clip-art and 4th grade prose would convince anyone? And anyway 'Jews for Jesus', isn't that what Christians are? But, hey don't ask me, I'm an Atheist."




4. It doesn't suck

At unnamed blog with a picture of a big banana: "I actually really like the tract, itself. Not for an evangelism tool, but simply as a piece of literature. The pencil drawings are great." And quoth Shawn of Shawn's Weblog, "This is pretty funny and it’s a pretty good idea. I don’t know if it would get me saved but it might encourage me to buy an iPod."

What's an author to do? Actually, this particular pamphlet, complete with graphics, has been blogged on more than any other from Jews for Jesus. And understandably, mostly on the tech-oriented blogs. Which raises the question of whether spending too much time writing code and tech reviews correlates with a failure to recognize parody and tongue-in-cheek-ness when it appears. Could one be left-brained and the other right-brained? Would English lit majors have a different response?

Anyway, the message was serious (there is more to life than technology; we need something spiritual; Jesus factors into that bigtime). The approach was meant to be light (Steve Jobs "died" and "rose from the dead"...yeah right...hmmm).

So what's an author to do? Read these links, I guess:

Yes, there actually is another blog article called "Jesus and Steve Jobs: Bringing the Community Together" on a blog that includes links to theology and that kind of thing. In fact this Google link will take you to a whole bunch of sites mentioning Steve Jobs and Jesus in the same breath (including the above blogs but a lot more).

And check out Thunderstruck for connections between popular culture and God/Jesus (and Steve Jobs, besides being a husband, father, CEO, and human being, is certainly a part of pop culture)