There’s nothing more American than believing that anyone can achieve great success. There’s also nothing more American than hating people who have, in fact, achieved that success. We cheer when someone reaches a great height, then spend our time breathlessly waiting for the joy of watching them fall from that height.
Two entities that are evidence of this phenomenon are the Star Wars franchise and Apple.
The Cantina Banned!
As I pointed out in Solo Is Awesome, the Internet is Not, young Han’s first movie’s first weekend was seized upon by entertainment writers as a disappointment, all while audiences are loving it. Variety noted, “Solo Soft Box Office Shows Star Wars Risks Franchise Fatigue,” when it may well be that Solo suffered most from being released on a holiday weekend when people were busy. Why jump to the dire conclusion? It makes a good headline, just like…
Apple Loses Its A-peel!
As a fan of Apple products of all types, I’ve had the pleasure on multiple occasions to observe Those Who Say They Know declare that it is the beginning of the end for this technological behemoth. Now and again Apple will announce its earnings and have to admit that, instead of scoring a 3 ba-zillion dollar profit as projected, they only managed to squeak out a 2.98 ba-zillion dollar profit. Armchair observers exclaim, “Is Apple rotting to the core???”
My favorite was the release of the iPad. Dumb name. Slow start. Big disappointment. Steve Jobs has lost his touch…until everyone figured out that the iPad was the thing they didn’t know they needed that they now REALLY NEED.
Making the Jump to Hyperspace
Haters gonna hate. Apple gonna keep making awesome devices. Solo gonna fly high. Nay-saying is easy, but relaxing and enjoying good things, like maybe the Solo movie or the lovely laptop I’m writing these words with is even easier.
Punch it Chewie, my iPad is cheering you on.
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