You may have the money to buy whatever you want, be it iPads or Starbucks, but I have to count my pennies very carefully, and even then, I often come up short before the next payday.
If I choose not to buy something that is twice as expensive as something that will work (or taste) as well, then that is what I will do, and politics has nothing to do with my choice.
I understand your viewpoint, and “defend to the death” your right to have it. ;o]
Let me explain a couple of things to show I’m not that different than you. I don’t go into Starbucks for fancy drinks, bit just for plain ordinary coffee, and that’s fairly cheap as compared to my other favorite place, which is QuikTrip (I get coffee there too, at other times). I really do go there for their super-high speed WiFi (and all other WiFi around is slow as molasses, usually!). So the coffee, I would get at QuikTrip if I wasn’t there ... I’m actually there for the WiFi and also for the ease of sitting down with my iPad for a while without anyone giving me a hassle (they don’t hassle me).
I might mention that QuikTrip is the BEST convenience store/gas station I’ve seen anywhere in this country! [ ... just a side note ... ]
THEN about the Apple iPad ... I found out a long time ago that if you HATE your product you buy, when using it, you just won’t use it unless you have to. My iPad is a JOY to actually USE and it gets HEAVY USE, very heavy use, and it holds up well! And the service at Apple is terrific. I had something happen to my last iPad (a few weeks ago) and it was replaced by Apple in a mere ten minutes of me being there. That was on a Saturday morning, when the problem showed up, and they had it taken care of immediately! I’ve never seen such consistent and good customer support as shown by this example, but for me it’s been like this over a long period of time!
You get EXTREME VALUE ... constantly and repeatedly ... with Apple products. That serves me very well!
Your money goes FURTHER with an excellent product and you get PAID BACK over the life of the unit, with the use you put it to!