Common $ense
In a mix-up of priorities, yesterday’s Daily Pennsylvanian featured Friday’s concert by “lesser-known” Carrot Top look-alike Ben Kweller as its front page story while Whoopi Goldberg’s visit to Penn was awarded only a page five picture and a measly two sentence caption.
On second thought, the absence of a news article covering Whoopi’s speech is totally justifiable. I mean, clearly when you have a Grammy, Emmy, Tony, and Oscar award-winning television host come to campus, it’s not like she’ll have anything good to say.
In a hilarious yet insightful speech, Goldberg shared her views on everything from politics, to pop culture, to the BlackBerry…correction, African-American Berry, as the actress put it. She expressed her desire for people to just slow down and stop all the excessive emailing.
Now I’m a long-time fan of Whoopi but she lost me when she talked smack about my beloved smart-phone. Sadly she’s not alone in her sentiment. Hating on the BlackBerry is the new “cool” thing to do on Penn’s campus. Like the infamous Ugg boots of yesteryear, you can’t take five steps on campus without someone giving their thoughts on how the email device is destroying the fabric of society.
I can only hope Goldberg’s financial advisor isn’t as negative as she, because Research in Motion (Ticker: RIMM), the maker of the BlackBerry, is one hell of a company to overlook. Up over 46 percent this month and over 176 percent this year, this stock is single-handedly going to pay for my Fall Break train ticket out of this dump. Toolish or not, these devices have a lock on the industry and don’t look to be letting up anytime soon.
So people, let’s put an end to all the BlackBerry hate. I want to live in a world where my children will not be judged by the color of their email device but by the content of their text messages. Help me realize my dream.
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October 10th, 2007 at 9:19 am
you have a treo..but i see your point
November 1st, 2007 at 6:38 am
You have to be kidding me.
Let me clue you and hopefully your readers in on a little known secret:
1. Some people HATE their blackberries.
2. Precious few articles are written about how blackberries are used by technology companies to squeeze time from their employees.
My blackberry is affectionately referred to as “the family destroyer”. Blackberries are very popular with the under 30, dating with papers (married, no kids) crowd. But for those of us who do have a family, they are pure hell. My employer (Satan INC) requires all of us to have the blackberry on and available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. So I am having to answer emails in the middle of dinner.
“Why don’t you just quit if they are doing that to you?”
I am in the process of it. But it’s hard to find a job where employers aren’t expecting you to have the bb on 24/7.
I absolutely hate my blackberry. But then, my boss threw a fit because I had to stop working on a server when my wife went into labor and when I had to run home because my daughter had a dangerously high fever.
We have traded freedom from the government for the tyranny of the corporation in the United States, compliments of the Mayflower.