The Reason I Don't Buy Apple Products

It isn't the products. The truth is, some day, I probably will buy an Apple product. In fact, I probably already have! (It's not the kind of thing I keep track of.)

But I don't actively buy Apple products--and it's nothing against Steve Jobs. I'm not sure I would have invited the guy over for dinner when he was alive, but I admire his achievements, and I'm sorry he's dead.

The reason: whenever I encounter Apple product users, they encourage me to buy Apple products, which is nice, except that within a very short period of time (i.e. about three minutes), their encouragement begins to remind me of missionaries trying to get me to join their religion.

I'm a religious person, but I figure I already have a church; I really don't want another one.

I felt the same way about Volvo commercials (excluding Jean-Claude Van Damme), back when I watched more TV (i.e., the 90s). I have nothing against Volvos, but it always seemed like I couldn't simply buy the car; I had to sign up for the lifestyle.

Any commercial that tries to persuade me to buy a product because it will make me a good person, give the finger to "the man," or save the world---?

Eh.

Tell me the product works. Tell me it's cheap (or worth the price). Tell me it fits my needs. Make me laugh.

Don't try to save my soul.

It isn't that I won't make decisions about where to shop or what to buy based on ethical considerations. It is that confusing sensible buying habits (compromise based on ethics and personal needs) with political goodness/utopia has never struck me as particularly moral. "Virtuous people buy these products" is a little too close to "Virtuous people vote this way" which is a little too close to "Let's kill the non-virtuous people."

In Leverage's "The Low Low Price Job," Hardison is allowed to defend the mega-store (Walmart):

And thanks to their low prices, my Nana was able to feed all us kids when money was tight, and money was always tight. So what are you saying about the people who shop there?

The team still takes the store down because, well, it's fun. But Hardison's point remains a touchstone of reality.

Because Hardison is all good.