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Friday, July 23, 2004
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FROM THE MOUTHS OF THE POD PEOPLE
Not even Janice Sidley [UD 4/29/04] saw mandatory freshman iPods coming. Elements of the entitlement class, however, are in revolt. Some merely whine that as upperclassmen at Duke they're not entitled to iPods; but others see what's what. One Duke student calls them "trendy door prizes." Another: "Ridiculous...a waste of money...toys for freshmen." Even as Duke spokespeople press the appropriate linguistic levers (iPods are "certainly not an entitlement." They are about "creativity," "effectiveness," "experimentation," and "boldness"), some of the pod people are pissed: "Completely extravagant," says a very steamed student, who points out that since most Duke freshmen are rich and already own iPods, "a lot of students will just be selling them on eBay to make money." Another notes the obvious: The giveaway is a "way for Apple to capture customers." Yet another points to the cute Segways all over campus, on which university police lean this way and that: "They zoom around on campus. There seems to be a trend of unnecessary, expensive toys." UD hopes her readers catch the inverted family dynamic here. For years, self-absorbed parents have been issuing the latest calming technology to restive little peas. Now beginning to crawl out of their shell, the pod people are becoming America's censorious elders. |