For me, the most interesting part of Steve Jobs' official biography is the part that he revealed where he discovered that the young people are globalized: In a Turkish bath!
Here is that part:
"An example of this magical thinking was (Steve Jobs') plan to build a luxurious yacht. Before his liver transplant, he and his family used to rent a boat for vacations, traveling to Mexico, the South Pacific, or the Mediterranean. On many of these cruises, Jobs got bored or began to hate the design of the boat, so they would cut the trip short and fly to Kona Village. But sometimes the cruise worked well.
'The best vacation I’ve ever been on was when we went down the coast of Italy, then to Athens—which is a pit, but the Parthenon is mind-blowing—and then to Ephesus in Turkey, where they have these ancient public lavatories in marble with a place in the middle for musicians to serenade.'
When they got to Istanbul, he hired a history professor to give his family a tour. At the end they went to a Turkish bath, where the professor’s lecture gave Jobs an insight about the globalization of youth:
'I had a real revelation. We were all in robes, and they made some Turkish coffee for us. The professor explained how the coffee was made very different from anywhere else, and I realized, “So fucking what?” Which kids even in Turkey give a shit about Turkish coffee? All day I had looked at young people in Istanbul. They were all drinking what every other kid in the world drinks, and they were wearing clothes that look like they were bought at the Gap, and they are all using cell phones. They were like kids everywhere else. It hit me that, for young people, this whole world is the same now. When we’re making products, there is no such thing as a Turkish phone, or a music player that young people in Turkey would want that’s different from one young people elsewhere would want. We’re just one world now'."
* * *
I can't disagree more.
When I disagree, I don't only mean the perplexed vision of Steve Jobs, who considers the catastrophic invasion of heterogeneous local cultures by the homogenous uniformity and standardization of a global deculturization machine.
I also mean the coffee, man.
Many young people "give a shit" about Turkish coffee. I was grown up so, demanding my daily dosage of two cups of Turkish coffee every single day, because it's for -especially, but not only- the Turkish palate, certified by a thousand-year-old history of our culture.
Just like there are millions of Italians who "give a shit" about espresso. I even had an Italian friend, Salvatore, carrying his espresso machine wherever he goes.
And you don't need to be a Turk to enjoy Turkish coffee or an Italian to be addicted to espresso, but not Nescafe. After all, aren't people out there who can't do without Cuban cigars or Kentucy Fried Chicken?
To conclude, I'll summarize my view about Steve Jobs:
Let's face it, Apple fanboys. Steve Jobs was not an inventor. He didn't invent anything. He was just a great businessman who was one of the best ever in creating demand by improving old products with innovative ways.
Jobs' damning verdict about Turkish coffee is predictable in this regard. He had recently become one of the leading figures of the super-national capital, so this is normal that he black-washes the local for the sake of the global. He was one of those fat cats who advocate for the free circulation of commodities, but not persons.
I wish that Jobs could be defending the young people in the White House, instead of lobbying for corporations against President Barack Obama or declaring thermonuclear war against Google, which pissed off Jobs with Android, an open system which may potentially make many young people more productive, comparing to the closed system of Apple which encourages even more consumerism that is the reason behind the 'shit' that we're in now. The shit that was mainly a by-product of the ways that we didn't give a shit...
May God forgive your sins, Mr. Jobs.
Rest in peace.
