Jan 24 2008

FakeSteved!

I used to think it was the Big Time if I got a link from Daring Fireball, but now someone just pointed out to me that the Fake Steve Jobs has taken note of my post.

So … what does it mean for my post to be criticized by a fictional construct that embodies a parody of the CEO of the very same ex-employer my post criticizes? Especially when, more specifically, that fictional construct’s humor is largely based on an exaggerated inversion of Apple’s carefully-groomed non-blogging public image, and he calls out a quote of mine that decries exactly the situation that his (fictional) presence repudiates?

Someone call the Semiotic Crisis Hotline for me! This situation calls for the skills of a Jean Baudrillard — too many levels of irony for me to parse, man.


9 Responses to “FakeSteved!”

  • Faux J.B. Says:

    Jens —

    Sorry, don’t worry. I was a simulacrum to begin with. On the other hand, email the IFCU guys — they’re apparently holding a torch for universalization in the midst of globalization.

    F.J.B.

  • fluffy Says:

    The troublesome thing to me is that it’s very hard to tell whether the comments there are sarcastic or what. My irony meter only supports a signed char and doesn’t support saturated addition.

  • Jens Alfke Says:

    The first few I saw weren’t worthy of the epithet “sarcastic”.

    Ordinarily I get really bothered when someone says negative things about me, but this I’m just amused by. Maybe I’m getting used to being a “public figure” ;-p

  • Onyro Says:

    I would be worried Seems like FSJ has dispatched his imaginary head of Apple Secret Service/former Mossad agent Moshe to track you down ;-)

    http://www.technorati.com/search/moshe?from=http://fakesteve.blogspot.com&sub=searchlet

  • Jens Alfke Says:

    @Onryo — Don’t worry, I have more than enough enough imaginary crawling horrors in my Anxiety Closet to take care of any imaginary ex-Mossad agents.

  • Faux J.B. Says:

    Jens —

    Can I get you to drop me an email at roger.soffer@mac.com? I think a quick exchange about what we’re doing re IFCU and its concordant social network will at the very least be interesting to you.

    Either way, let us know!

    Best to you—

    Roger

  • Adam Nash Says:

    Hi Jens,

    Trying to ping you, but your email on LinkedIn is bouncing. Can you ping me with an updated email? Worked with you @ Apple in 1996-8.

    - Adam

  • rextanka Says:

    Howdy Jens,

    The FSJ article was as expected, the lame ass comments on the FSJ blog were not. But then I thought about it and realized that unless you’ve worked in engineering at Apple you’d have no real conception of the dysfunction that is rife there. What DID strike me was how many people responded to your original post, on your blog, who had worked there, these people were uniformly supportive. And there’s a reason for that.

    Anyway, good luck with your endeavors.

  • Florian Innocente Says:

    Hello, I’m a journalist for a french site, I had a few (really a few) questions following your previous entry. Would it be possible to send them to you ?

    Merci beaucoup!

Leave a Reply