The outpouring of reactions to Steve’s death has been nothing less than astounding. If you were so disposed — and millions apparently were — you could have spent hours and hours reading the various takes on Steve’s life.

Some are reverential. Some go out of their way to be balanced. Unfortunately, a few live at the intersection of insensitive and clueless.

As someone who worked with Steve, I understand and respect those who point out the two sides of the man. He certainly wasn’t an angel. But one can debate forever whether an angel could ever have driven people to create the wonders they did.

What’s hard to accept are the opinions of those who so resent Steve that they can’t even accept the obvious — and will cheerfully insult those who were emotionally distraught over Steve’s death.

To me, people like this have about as much value as those who would picket the funeral of a soldier killed in service of his country.

Gawker reached a new low last week when it published an article by Hamilton Nolan entitled “Steve Jobs was not God.”

Nolan acknowledges Steve’s death as a devastating loss to friends and family, but “The rest of you? Calm down.” To those distraught over Steve’s death, he says, “this type of one-upmanship of public displays of grief is both unbecoming and undeserved.” More crudely, he says “Steve Jobs was great at what he did. There’s no need to further fellate the man’s memory.”

After displaying his heartlessness, Nolan goes on to display his lack of perception. “He made good computers… good phones… good music players… he sold them well… he got obscenely rich…. He did not meaningfully reduce poverty, or make life-saving discoveries, or end wars or heal the sick or befriend the friendless.”

Steve’s revolutions did all of the things Nolan denies, and more. Steve is the one who opened PC makers’ eyes to a better way. His devices are transforming medicine and education. His inventions — and the many that copied them — have helped people rise up against those who have long denied their freedom. They’ve enabled people to embark on careers that were never possible before.

I’ve seen the argument that if we give Steve that kind of credit, we should give the same credit to ExxonMobil. Hey, if it weren’t for their fuel, rescue vehicles could never reach disaster areas with help.

Not quite. The difference is that Steve saw the power of technology way back at the beginning. The lure of personal computers was that they allowed ordinary people to do amazing things. It’s true that no one, including Steve, could foretell exactly what people might accomplish or invent using computers. But he sure knew that this kind of technology had the power to change the world. Empowerment was his passion.

I’m not sure what Nolan’s problem is. Hatred, jealousy, you decide. Whatever it is, it’s made him certifiably blind. He concludes by pointing out that he’s never owned an Apple product, yet “here I am, talking on phones, typing on computers, and reading the Internet every day.” You know, I’ve never owned a Ford, but I still drive a car. Why all the fuss about Henry Ford?

There are a few lines in that old Think different commercial that sums the way the world responds to people like Steve:

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward.

Technology deniers like Nolan devote themselves to the vilifying. But even in his cluelessness, Nolan can’t ignore — because Steve Jobs changed his world as much as it did yours and mine.