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Penn State Beaver Roar
October 2013
Viewpoint
Is Apple out to get you? EDITOR EMERITUS Brandon Perino bjp5053@psu.edu
MANAGING EDITOR OF CONTENT Ben Keeler
bak5266@psu.edu
MANAGING EDITOR OF PRODUCTION Caitlin Vodenichar cav5119@psu.edu
PHOTO EDITOR Dante Massey
dwm5299@psu.edu
COPY EDITOR Mike Brayack mib5566@psu.edu
PAGE DESIGNERS Amanda Palombo amp5831@psu.edu
Lauren Reese
ler5210@psu.edu
Nancy Paoletti
nlp5099@psu.edu
Taylor Braxton
tmb5242@psu.edu
SENIOR STAFF WRITERS Ben Keeler
bak5266@psu.edu
Lindsay Bangor lmb5793@psu.edu
ADVISORS Terrie Baumgardner tbm2@psu.edu
Cathy Benscoter cub15@psu.edu
Daniel Pinchot djp114@psu.edu
Every time a new Apple product comes out, it is easy to see the power of branding, but the company takes things a step further. Customers are not simply purchasing shiny new toys to replace their slightly less new and shiny toys: They’re buying into a way of life. Smartphones may be what most people think today when they think Apple, but the lifestyle Apple is selling can best be described by thinking back to the company’s struggle with its old enemy Microsoft. Think back to those “I’m a Mac, I’m a PC” commercials Apple used to run. Buying Apple means you are creative. You are an artist. You listen to music before others have heard of it and define what it means to be cool. You are certainly not one of those
boring PC users, with their stuffy Excel spreadsheets and their accounting software. PC users are dull business types and corporate lackeys. They are “The Man” that strives to keep revolutionaries like you down. You don’t want to be a pawn of “The Man,” do you? Then do the obvious thing and support the underdog, the guy who is a true individual. The guy willing to make a stand for all the oppressed artists and visionaries. The guy who isn’t some massive multi-billion dollar company. A guy like Apple. Wait, what? And that’s the problem. Thanks to the proliferation of iThings everywhere, Apple is pretty much all of what its marketed way of life stands against. It is “The Man,” yet
thrives because people are willing to pay it money in order to not support “The Man.” It’s downright Orwellian. Literally. In his dystopian novel “1984” George Orwell coined the term “doublethink.” Wikipedia defines doublethink as “the act of ordinary people simultaneously accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct.” Seem familiar? Well, it may not if you’re a big Apple fan. Or maybe you noticed the hypocrisy of the message and just didn’t care. Apple might just have the perfect products to meet your needs and everything said here is just overly thought-out paranoia. But then again, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t (or it isn’t) out to get you.
Disabled people are still quite able As he has for years, Chancellor Gary Keefer addressed Penn State Beaver’s new freshmen on New Student Day, the Friday before classes began in August. Keefer shared with the nearly 250 students his wisdom about how to be a successful student in college: Go to class, study, be responsible, don’t work too much and so much more. But when Keefer would have normally been wrapping up his speech this year, he went “off script.” This time, the message was much more personal. Pointing to his wheelchair, something Keefer hadn’t needed just a year before, he gave the students a new message: perseverance. “I could have packed my bags and gave up, but I didn’t,” he said. Reflecting on his talk, the point Keefer was trying to make to the new students was that they had to work hard and persevere because college was hard. “Life can throw you curve balls,” Keefer said. “You just have to persevere and go on with life.” For most students, life’s little struggles may seem overwhelming and stressful. For others adversity is a dayto-day battle to live as normal a life as
Nancy Paoletti possible. Chancellor Keefer has to use a wheelchair or motorized scooter; he can’t enjoy the simple pleasure of walking anymore. The important thing is that he hadsn’t given up on life. He can often be seen zipping around campus on his scooter, attending faculty meetings in the Student Union Building and going about the normal business of running the campus. A few of us on campus struggle with disability. Some are obvious, others not so much. But each day we come to class and work hard toward that final goal, graduation. At first glance Taisha Webster, a senior, appears to be a typical, happy woman. After you meet her, you realize she’s a typical, happy woman who happens to be deaf. She works hard to get good grades. Sometimes this is complicated because she needs a sign language interpreter. If one isn’t available, she has to miss class. Webster tries to fit in with her peers. But sometimes it’s hard.
“They are unsure of how to talk to me; or I’m unsure if I’ll be able to understand them,” she wrote in an email. “I really try to make the best of the situation, and hopefully this opens people’s eyes to what I’m going through.” We struggle and persevere. Another senior, Brenton Rhone uses a wheelchair to be mobile. He suffers from a condition that has left him mostly paralyzed. He’s the type of student most professors would like to have, one with an enthusiasm for learning. Rhone keeps a positive outlook on life and that’s what helps him get through each day. We struggle and persevere. I have arthritis. I can’t do a lot of things I want to do or enjoyed just a few years ago. It’s painful to sit for long periods of time or walk long distances. I don’t complain. I don’t give up. We struggle and persevere. Sometimes, as Keefer said, life can throw you a curve ball. Perhaps it won’t be long term, permanent or even physical. Perhaps it’s just being stressed, or trying to manage classes and a job. No matter what life throws at you, persevere. The reward will be worth it. You will struggle and persevere.
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