Krebs vs Snopes

recent news indicates Apple are now the leading portable PC manufacturers. what does this mean for consumers, for those hardcore apple fanatics of which i am a part-time member? Apple has always been the epitome of the Rebel, with their counter-mainstream, open-sourced, Suck-Me-Bill attitude and a promise to sell some street cred for each of its buyers. people who used to buy Apple were artists, writers, and other celebrities the Appletons consider to be innovators. they were Douglas Adams, Stephen Fry, Richard Dawkins, the current Dalai Lama, and of course, every TV show's character was seen toting a silver  Macbook Pro. but Apple computers have also been used by the less imaginative including George Lucas, Russian dictator Boris Yeltsin, and ugh, Mel Gibson.

The ego of the Macphile has depended on a certain superiority complex that they choose to be different, to somehow equate a product as a reflection of their idealised selves. if Apple is now mainstream, and the number ONE mainstream leading the field, does that shatter their image? or does that simply confirm everyone now wants to be seen as 'different'? and of course, some will argue it could simply mean Apple makes better products, but we all know deep in the recesses of our minds that computers are inherently the same. saying Apple is better than a PC is a bit like bragging about whose car is the better. it's arbitrary.

at UNCA the poetry workshop professor had us read Richard Hugo's Triggering Town, and there's a line in it in which he states poets fit into two types: Krebs or Snopes. Hemingway's character Krebs is an outsider wanting to fit in and Faulkner's Snopes is someone on the inside trying to be different. sometimes i can't help but think that everybody BELIEVES they are Snopes ("i am unique and i make myself fit into society in order to belong") when in reality we are all Krebs, wanting very badly to stand out from the crowd through the products that we purchase, whether it be cars or computers. Is David Fincher right, do we need to set a bomb in our house, relinquish all possessions and create a Tyler Durden persona to take over our emaciated, co-dependent brains before we can truly become individuals?