One is a cult-like organization which bilks its (often celebrity) followers out of huge amounts of money, while intimidating people who dare to speak out against its dangers. The other is Scientology.
Or at least that’s the parallel drawn by Oscar-winning documentary director Alex Gibney, who claimed to see similarities between Apple and the L. Ron Hubbard-founded religion during a recent screening of his Steve Jobs documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine.
Gibney was participating in a Q&A following a press screening of his documentary, which debuted earlier this year at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin. Having also made a documentary called Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Gibney was asked if he saw any parallels between the two subjects.
“I do, I do!” he answered. Gibney also likened Jobs to another figure he has directed a film about: the singer James Brown.
“They were both awesome performers; they were brilliant in terms of understanding how important the band was to their success,” he said. “Steve Jobs surrounded himself with really talented people. But they were also ruthless, hugely ambitious, and took full credit for the work that others did.”
Finally, Gibney suggested that Jobs had an almost Ayn Randian view of the world when it came to philanthropy. “Jobs’ view, I think, was that you should do one thing and one thing well, and that’s all you should do. Anything else is bullshit,” Gibney said.
Early reviews of The Man in the Machine called Gibney’s Jobs documentary, “a coolly absorbing, deeply unflattering portrait of the late Silicon Valley entrepreneur.”
Although Apple normally doesn’t publicly comment on third-party criticism, the film seemed to raise the ire of Eddy Cue who took to Twitter to blast it as an, “inaccurate and mean-spirited view of my friend. It’s not a reflection of the Steve I knew.”
Gibney, however, doesn’t think Cue even watched the documentary before criticizing it. “I’m not sure Eddy Cue actually saw the film,” he said at the recent screening. “There is definitely a cult of Apple that doesn’t want to hear anything bad about Steve Jobs.”
All of which raises the question, what is the thetan count of the next-generation iPhone going to be?
Source: International Business Times
Luke Dormehl is a U.K.-based journalist and author, with a background working in documentary film for Channel 4 and the BBC. He is the author of The Apple Revolution and The Formula: How Algorithms Solve All Our Problems … and Create More, both published by Penguin/Random House. His tech writing has also appeared in Wired, Fast Company, Techmeme and other publications.
11 responses to “Steve Jobs documentary director says Apple is a Scientology-like cult”
I was an Apple user who became an Apple employee for 18 years. While there are many things I could say about the company (good and bad), the company is not a cult, and this headline is ridiculous. While agree some of the fans of the company act cultish, I can say that it is not pervasive throughout the company.
I agree because I don’t see any connections to the Church of Scientology and Apple definitely is not a cult, it’s a company that tries to innovate and create amazing products, its not tim cook’s or anyone at apple’s fault that leaks have been getting out, this fact is due to companies like Samsung paying hackers to hack into Apple and leak this stuff out to the public to the public, Giving the android market one step ahead with android ware. we wouldn’t have known about the Apple watch if it hadn’t been for companies doing an legal act by paying hackers to leak this information.
Alex Gibney has mental distortions in my opinion. How did he ever get an Oscar for being a critical prick by making comparisons that don’t exist in reality with his weird perceptions just to get notoriety?
How long have you been in Scientology and what OT Level are you?
@Terry Fabio-eo
You are another accusatory idiot. Your mind is warped. It jumps to conclusions that do not exist.
Oh, the irony. “Cult of Mac” website posts article about Apple being a Cult.
There is a cult. It is an anti-Macintosh cult. It began when Apple released the Mac. Remember how the computer pundits told us the Mac was just a toy, that it was no efficient, that it made students (and others using them); stupid, etc., etc., etc. At the same time, these pundits were heaping praise on Windows 3.1!
Now that’s a cult.
The big difference is that the underage slave workers for Apple are from other countries like China and Malaysia. Scientology makes them do slave work local to the USA.
Same for most electronics. The same company building Apple’s products build most of the other big companies products.
LOL! I buy and use Apple products because they are the ones that make my life better.
This guy is a maroon, as Bugs would say.
The point is so perifial to what Apple is. People like to join teams. Sports TV is mostly funded due to that fact. Apple products are opinionated, so they speak to our instinct to form groups in support of those opinions.
A cult would be actively exploiting that instinct and use it as the primary motivation to buy the products. It would seek to remove the importance of all other aspects of life from its followers.
There has been a bit of that with stuff like the staff cheering on customers entering the store to buy the new phone, I really really hated that experience and would have left if I didn’t think the product was extraordinary, but I put it down to Californian culture and not a cult.
It’s sad that so much junk like this documentary gets attention, and so people with real wisdom get heard