Suppose a distant relative sends you a sweater. It’s a perfectly good sweater but not a style you like or would ever wear. Instead of rolling your eyes and sending a pro forma thank you note, you take to twitter and your blog to complain bitterly that you were given a sweater you didn’t like. What would your mother say?
I don’t know about you but if I did that my mom would deliver me a scolding and a lecture about manners. But that’s just me. The Internet appears to be ablaze with weeping and gnashing of teeth over Apple’s adding the latest U2 album to everyone’s iTunes collection. Here’s TechCrunch waxing apoplectic about the gift. And I can’t tell you how many Twitter posts I’ve seen complaining about it. Even people who aren’t Apple users and don’t have an iPhone or iPad are complaining. It’s apparently difficult to delete music from your iTunes account (although it can be hidden) so these folks are feeling especially aggrieved.
Talk about a first-world problem. It’s not as if there aren’t serious things to complain about. How about NSA snooping, for example? Seriously, people, put the damn sweater in a drawer and get on with your lives. And anyone from Apple reading this can take it as my thank you note.
Update: Here’s a selection of Tweets bemoaning the U2 download. I know I must be old because I do know who U2 is. So old, I actually have several of their albums.