Thursday, November 13, 2008

Thinking different

"Think different," the ads for a certain brand of computers say. They depict persons who thought differently and achieved a level of success in the process.

What the ads don't tell you is that it is very, very hard to be a different thinker when all your co-workers and friends are thinking the same old, same old. In such an environment, those who buck the thinking of the crowd tend to be ignored. Or written off as cranks or troublemakers. Or ridiculed. Or hated. Or fired.

It takes a brave person to point out that the emporer's new wardrobe looks remarkably like a birthday suit. Such people are polarizing figures. They force those around them to make a choice. To stay at the station or climb on board the new train of thought that the different thinker has proposed.

It's much easier to buy a certain brand of computer and just think you're thinking different.

A hundred thousand thanks: Jim Wheeler from England stopped by and became visitor number 100,000 at Points of Light. My thanks to each of you who consider this blog to be worth your while.

Photo: Combination of four exposures (glass tubing, plastic body, metal base, hand) combined in Photoshop. Image EXIF data (click the post's headline) is for the exposure of the glass tubing. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

5 comments:

keltic said...

Think different is certainly a different way of using grammar, that's for sure.

Love the photo. Very cool.

IlonaGarden said...

never mind the grammar. or the punctuation(mine), it is the thought here that I love. I'm blogging on this very topic and will incorporate a quote from you.

You are spot on.

IlonaGarden said...

... don't follow the profile, though- I'm posting at truegrit.weblogs.us and not my garden blog. (just thought I should clarify)

Wanda said...

Great picture, and I like your analogy of the Emporer's New Wardrobe....

You are a brave thinker!!

Max said...

I love your photos and I loved that Apple ad. I couldn't resist. Here's the text from the classic ad campaign.

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."