Twitter is pretty much like a mini-world. It has its “countries”, “citizens”, “rules”, and occasionally, it has its own “wars”. Just like in real world, Twitter wars (or “twitwar”) for short can arise over important issues (political differences, human rights, etc.) to the ridiculous ones (hairstyle, fake academic degree, etc.) One of the ridiculous cause of twitwar, to me, is over the Apple brand and anything about it (from iOS to iPhone to Steve Jobs). Apple devouts get angry over criticism towards their brand or its founder – as if their Prophet has just been insulted.

My personal policy is fanaticism, over anything, is just plain stupid – (and I am not fanatic about this policy either :D). To those who are fanatic over Apple to the point of religiosity: seriously, grow up. It’s just a gadget, for God’s sake. Yes, they make good products – I have an iPad and iPod, and am happy about them, but that’s about it. No need to become overtly angry when being provoked and criticized. There is much more to life than computers and smartphones.

But the same goes to the other side – the hater. Obsessive hatred towards something, anything, is also a waste of time and energy. I am not going Paulo Coelho or Mario Teguh on how hatred consumes your soul. Just from practical perspective – there is so much other more interesting things to do than hating other people, religion, or gadget brand. Ever heard of “sex”? (Although a counter argument could be people hate because they don’t have enough sex). I am not saying that we should not criticize (God knows I have problem with DPR blunder. Or Syahrini’s hair), but to let it escalate into fanatical hatred is too far.

This is why I can never understand religious fanaticism/hatred. Why can’t one be a devout to his/her own belief without wasting energy and time overtly defending his own religion or hating others’? Religion/belief that needs to hate other beliefs to exist shows its insecurity. If I were God, I’d probably be embarassed by the behavior of some of my “followers”.

We have things that we like, and things that we don’t like. Just a fact of life. But surely we can still get along?

(But don’t get me started over Star Trek. Those tricorder Trekkie wimps are good for nothing… :p)