Not entirely surprising for me - as a I am not an Apple fan, I find the devotion of some Apple users somewhat amusing.
Source: http://www.zdnet.com/anthropologist-con ... s_cid=e589
There are a few old threads on this message board re Apple being "Anti Christian" by the way.
Think religion, think ritual: history, perhaps sacred writings, proscribed sets of moral laws, and potentially a sacrifice or two. There are plenty of organizations and cultures around the world that claim they adhere to a certain set of beliefs, but could adoration and a cult following for a technology firm be the next step?
The University of British Columbia's Dr. Kirsten Bell believes that much of the aforementioned applies to Apple. After observing launch videos, and recently attending the iPad mini launch for TechNewsDaily, the social anthropologist said that Mac fandom has some strikingly similar parallels between a religion or cult status:
A stranger observing one of the launches could probably be forgiven for thinking they had stumbled into a religious revival meeting.
Before specializing in the biomedical field, the research fellow conducted fieldwork on new religious movements in South Korea until 2005. Based on this experience, Bell believes that Apple is "littered with sacred symbols" -- most notably, the iconic Apple logo. (Ironically, some believe the bitten Apple is "anti-Christian").
1) A charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power;
2) A process which may include coercive persuasion or thought reform;
3) Economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group members by the leader and rulers.
So, what does Bell say? And are Apple fanboys really 'cultish'? etc etc etc[/b]
Source: http://www.zdnet.com/anthropologist-con ... s_cid=e589
There are a few old threads on this message board re Apple being "Anti Christian" by the way.