starseerdrgn | Blame where blame is due

So, I'm an avid listener of Accidental Tech Podcast, and when a bit about the Apple Watch and LTE fees popped up, I was kinda irked, and for good reason.

See, as Casey Liss mentions in his blog post, "The Apple Watch with LTE Bait and Switch", he was rather quick to blame Apple for something that was actually the fault of AT&T. In fact, he even acknolwedges this in his post:

These unspoken-for fees really piss me off, and though I understand that these are AT&T’s fault, it’s hard not to feel like Apple sold me a bill of goods but didn’t end up really delivering. Having re-watched the keynote, Apple was smart enough not to say anything specific about pricing during the event, but the dim-witted consumer in me didn’t remember it that way.

This reminded me of several instances in which people have outright blamed the wrong company for fuck-ups, and ignored the fact that the company that did fuck up was effectively getting a pass on the whole thing.

In one instance, a family member blamed BestBuy for losing my laptop for 6 months during a covered repair, despite it being the fault of UPS for losing the package. I even pointed this out to him, and he blamed BestBuy anyway because "they handled the repair", despite the fact that they didn't.

Likewise, I've seen people blame Microsoft, Apple, thier ISPs, and so forth over software issues that that they had absolutely no input over. Blaming Apple for problems with Microsoft Office. Blamining Microsoft for problems with Steam. Blaming their ISP for not helping them with tech support. Blaming Microsoft for not being able to install OS X on their PC. The list just goes on and on.

I've never understood this kneejerk reaction of "blame the person/company who can't help you". I mean... It's not Apple's job to help you with Microsoft Office. It's not Microsoft's job to help you with Steam. It's not your ISP's job to help you install a video card.

Do people seriously lack even basic levels of logic? Is it really that hard to put the blame on companies that deserve it? I don't know. But for someone like me who studies concepts like User Experience, it's utterly baffling.