Seconded. Except, have a mojito…much better than beer!

I think he got so much attention, so many strokes from his FSJ persona that he can’t let go of it. He may even think he is the equivalent of Jobs now. And now he’s mad because he may have given up his FSJ act prematurely because he thought Jobs was dying and he’s looking for someone to blame; it’s as if he feels Jobs tricked him into stopping his FSJ blog.

One of the potential negative side-effects of the cancer surgery Jobs underwent apparently is ALS (afferent limb syndrome). Symptoms of this include:

“The more common and chronic form is what can produce nutritional deficiencies over time. Usually, approximately 10-20 minutes to an hour after a meal, the patient will experience abdominal fullness and pain as the liver and pancreas pump bile and pancreatic juice into the partially obstructed afferent limb. These symptoms usually last from several minutes to an hour, although they occasionally last as long as several days. Pressure will build up and the obstruction will resolve by then, sometimes with vomiting. Prolonged ALS with stasis of digestive juices in the afferent limb can result in bacterial overgrowth of the digestive juices sitting there, fatty stools, diarrhea, and vitamin B-12 deficiency.” (Source of quote is listed in my previous post.)

Seriously, why should Jobs be obligated to instill the image of him experiencing frequent diarrhea, fatty stools and vomiting in the public consciousness – especially with the scum in the press who have been gratuitously speculating and badgering him and his company over it for almost two months.

Maybe his PR people were a little tentative at asking Jobs how many times a day he vomits so the can put it in the press release.

If he is not dying and his condition is merely chronic but manageable (certainly Apple has been doing well during this time) and if a future surgery could abate most of his present symptoms (which has been suggested), why should he not have a right to his own privacy?

We currently live under a White House administration that feels no obligation to account for this war, no-bid contracts for Cheney’s Halliburton, corruption, disappearance of billions of reconstruction dollars, torture of prisoners, disclosure of a CIA agent’s identity, illegal wire-tapping of citizens, what goes on when it meets with oil CEO’s behind closed doors and Dan is outraged that Jobs does not want to disclose in a press release how many times he experiences diarrhea a day.

Sad.

I don’t know if you feel what I wrote before (I have included below again as a reference) falls into the category of me being a Apple fan trying to give them a free pass to do anything they want. If you think that, I believe then you have missed my point and the point of some others who have criticized your recent posts. I do think that if a company (be it Apple or anyone else) acts immorally or unethically, that the public has an obligation to call for change. The thing is, does this situation really fall under this category? Please read again what I wrote below to realize that I was simply calling for us to put our humanity over business and money (I would feel the same way if this was a Microsoft, Yahoo or another CEO). My comment was not informed by a desire to allow Apple to do whatever they want because I think they are some God-Like company as you seem to suggest in this post. Rather it was informed by my desire to be a human being first and a business person second.

The Original Post I wrote:

“Dear Real Dan,

I’m not a good writer like you so I hope you can overlook my simpleness and still see what I am trying to get at in this comment below.

I don’t really know you at all—we are not friends. What I know of you really comes down to what you are willing to share on your blog so I hope you don’t take what I wrote below as a commentary on your character as a whole. Yet, when I read things like what you have written here and on the past 3 or so posts on the matter of Steve Job’s health, it really makes me feel hopeless about humanity. Why are you so angry? Are you a bit fearful about your investment in Apple (I assume you own their stock)? I understand that people who have money tied up with Apple would like to feel all cozy knowing that their investment is in good hands but seriously, is our own financial gain so important that we are willing to reduce a man’s life to a mere product for which we need constant measurements to make sure all is well in our world?

Since Steve is in the position he is in (as a CEO of a publicly traded company which nobody forced him into) I suppose he is obligated in part to disclose to the proper persons issues that would prevent him from being a good steward to the investors of his company. However, do you think it is too much to extend a bit of compassion and grace and allow him to be like one of us for a moment—a human being with feelings, emotions and problems? Or is your investment in Apple more important to you?

Frankly, I think its kind of creepy that you keep writing about this thing. I think you are a pretty eloquent guy who is humorous and smart, but I wish you would show a bit more humanity now.”

What if the truth of the matter is simply that Steve Jobs has experienced some really, really unpleasant (and known) side-effects from his Whipple procedure and does not want to discuss the non-life-threatening unpleasantry in a public forum?

A doctor speculates here on what is wrong with Jobs at the bottom of his blog entery:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/07/whats_wrong_with_steve_jobs.php

I was cringing just reading it. I think telling the reporter off the record was the right thing to do. It enabled the report to confirm that his situation it is not life threatening, but it does not put a lot of embarrassing and unpleasant info out there which would only be endlessly belabored in a gratuitous manner on the Internet and on the cable news programs. Give the guy his privacy, for God’s sake.