What is this, 1984? Attacking Steve Jobs and Apple for yanking the anti-gay Manhattan Declaration app from the iTunes store last month, the National Organization for Marriage releases this spot because hey, it doesn’t like censorship. Which would be a reasonable argument for NOM to make, if it didn’t regularly delete critical comments from its blog and Facebook page.
i do declare
Daez
Freedom of speech is just that…
Its not like the ap will be protesting at funerals any time soon.
Also, this ap seemed to do nothing more than ask people their honest opinion on controversial issues. If you aren’t willing to ask those questions, how the hell do you propose we ever begin dialogue. Who really cares if you lose points for the wrong answer.
It is interesting how they lump all “Christians” together into one category and assume they are all hate mongering homophobic jerks.
Tim W
@Daez: Daez again you need to be schooled. Freedom of speech does not mean that companies like Apple need to allow any content it wants. Freedom of speech only refers to the restriction by the government. Honestly what are they teaching in the schools nowadays?
Daez
You are the one that needs to be schooled. Freedom of speech is a CONCEPT. The way I used it is as a concept. I was not referring to the law. I was referring to the ideals behind the law. The ideals behind the law are something that every bleeding heart liberal espouses daily until it comes to a point that doing so doesn’t benefit them.
Apple blocking an ap because it finds it objectionable is violating the ideal of freedom of speech even if its not violating the law itself.
Rick Gold
@Daez: It’s Apple’s forum to do with what they choose.
If NOM and Hate, Inc. feel like it, there are two other outlets: Blackberry AppWorld or the Android App marketplace.
Perhaps they will have better luck plying their derisive, un-American viewpoints there.
Hate is ceasing to be a marketable commodity.
Cry me a river, asshole.
Daez
@Rick Gold: I hate to break it to you, but UNFORTUNATELY hate is as American as apple pie. The group that has been hated has changed, but hate has always been a good ole’ fashioned American value.
If Steve Jobs had blocked an ap that did exactly what this ap did but was made by a gay author and had a different points system, everyone of you would be up in arms screaming that it was censorship, and how dare a company censor ideas and beliefs.
You don’t get to have it both ways. If you are willing to bitch at a company for not showing something you do like than you need to bitch at them for not showing something you don’t like.
That is the true value system behind freedom of speech. As Americans, we should always support freedom of speech even if we don’t agree with the speech.
TJ Luoma
Apple has banned porn, and even “racy” apps, not to mention an app called “baby shaker”. Daez, are you lobbying for their inclusion as well?
As I outlined here:
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/12/02/on-the-manhattan-declaration-and-apples-curation-of-the-app-sto/
Apple’s restrictions go out of their way to protect religious folks from attack. They’ve applied those same rules to the Manhattan Declaration app.
Free speech is a concept, but free speech doesn’t mean that you get to say anything to anyone at anytime. (no “fire” in a crowded theater, etc). If Apple prevented people visiting the Manhattan Declaration in Mobile Safari, I’d consider it censorship. The app store has always been a walled garden, and the rules protect religious folks from attack by others using their “freedom of speech” to attack Christianity.
Jeffree
It’s useless to argue with Daez: he doesn’t have facts — all he has is “concepts”. He doesn’t believe in the Constitution or hasn’t studied it. He believes stem cells are only sourced from aborted babies, that the UK should follow US law and that school boards should have no say in the curriculum of a public school. Read his posts and see the effects of a poor education combined with a tenuous grasp on reality.
Can you say “troll”?
John
@Daez: Apparently your grasp of the concept then is tenuous at best. If you are claiming that a private business MUST carry a product or provide a platform for speech it opposes, you are violating the very heart of free speech. You cannot force someone to listen to or give a forum to others in the private sector because that violates THEIR rights. When rightwing websites belonging to OneNewsNow, FRC, NOM, etc. edit or delete comments left by those who disagree with them, they too are not violating free speech. To simplfy it: If you enter someone else’s house, you either play by their rules or you leave.
John
@Daez: Of course we’d be criticizing Jobs for such a hypothetical move, just like the folks in this ad are doing. Yet in neither case would Jobs be violating my or this group’s free speech. It’s his business and his product. You can protest and boycott to try and change his mind or make a product of your own for this app.
Mikey Rox
So happy to see all of our anti-bullying rhetoric has paid off for most of you…
Tallskin
Seems to me that followers of the filthy homophobic christian hate cult can always exercise their god given right to buy elsewhere
Windows is far more their sort of thing
Yeah christians go, go, go, boycott Apple.
Then at least when I am out, drinking tea and I see some cute man using an Apple device I’ll be certain he isn’t a creepy christian
Hey, in Europe it would even boost sales as the rational rushed to support Apple
JusticeontheRocks
This just in: Steve Jobs is REAL worried about what Daez thinks.
Alex James
Me spent over $2k on Apple stuff this year. No complaints!
Aaron in Honolulu
Steve Jobs is a bad guy because his company won’t accept NOM’s shitty app. BOO HOO…
MickeyKidd
Its sad to hear people use the word christian like its bad, I’m Christian and I’m pretty cool, not all christians are bigots, however there are more than I would like to admit 😉
Viral
@MickeyKidd: amen! my sentiment exactly
Tallskin
@MickeyKidd – dunno why you christians, members of the Irrational community, are always so desperate for approval from us atheists.
If you’re a gay christian then, as far as I’m concerned, you are freely participating in an evil homophobic racket that helps in the persecution of your fellow gays.
Brutus
@Tallskin: Dunno why you homosexuals, members of an immoral community, are always so desperate for approval from us normals.
See how offensive that is? Get a grip, man. Faith has value when it’s not abused.
Philip
As offensive as the Manhattan Declaration app is apple shouldn’t take it down but it really should stop taking down pro-gay apps. Apple needs to get out of its head that they can make society all pleasant and nice by removing “offensive/controversial” apps from its products. All that does is hurt free expression and innovation, something they something they espoused as a major characteristic of their company.
Just grow a pair Steve Jobs, I already have a big brother (well 2 if you count the govt)!
Daez
@JusticeontheRocks: I never claimed that he should be worried about what I think. He isn’t worried what any of us think.
I vote on Steve Jobs when I don’t buy his fad products that already have better competition on the market.
JusticeontheRocks
@Daez – He has the third largest company in the world by market cap, so he’s ignoring your vote too.
Part two of my comment: no one with a brain is worried about what you think. Go troll on TMZ – at least there no one will care about your stupidity.
wiredpup
This whole thing screams “teabagger political advertisement”.
Eric
PLEASE!! Keep your religion in your church wall and stop complaining. You have freedom of religion on your property. Look how much corruption is within religion specially with money
George
@Daez: Please show us, the world that you are not homophobic, support FULL EQUALITY ….then you don’t have to be worried about being percieved as something you are not !!!
MM
Steve Job dit a good job!
Melissa
How about…. you ALL are sad! It makes me sick that you are all worried about this when there are many other things that should be at the top of your lists. I won’t go on a 5 page rant about any of it because it won’t get in anybodys thick skull. I hope NONE of you are parents because then our future is screwed!!! I am no better than you and you are NOT better than me. Who cares about a phone app??? Who ever is that worried about it should jump off a bridge because once you all see a REAL problem you all are Fu*ked!
darkyn
@Melissa: Newsflash: it is possible to be concerned about more than one thing at a time.
Melissa
@darkyn lol. ummmm….DUH! you care about a stupid app and my comment…good job for solving 2 major problems in the world. ha. your sad!
darkyn
@Melissa: I care not a whit about you. I do care about correcting comments that shriek ignorance such as yours. And it is “you’re sad” by the way.
Melissa
@darkyn Oh and where in my comment did I say that was the ONLY thing you were worried about? If you really know how to read then you should have understood that I was saying that if you are sooo upset about this then the rest of your life decisions must be really challenging! Now I feel bad for you. 🙁
Tiaja
Why do they insist on calling it “pro-abortion?” No one is PRO killing babies. Pro-choice is NOT pro-abortion. It is pro-civil liberties.
Melissa
@darkyn lol. well if you do not care a “whit” (hahah) about me, then why do you keep responding. I enjoy getting a rise out of you! Oh and im sorry I didnt spell YOUR right…but you were sure on top of it wernt you. that must have been problem # 3 on your list. Wow you were right…you can think about more than one problem at once…YAY!
Taylor Siluwé
@Tiaja: It’s always bugged me how being “pro choice” is always dementedly twisted into “salivating to kill babies” by folks in these recently, though aptly RE-named, Hate Groups.
As to this [HATE GROUP] NOM whine-fest … how terrible of Steve Jobs to censor a group who’s sole reason for existence is to: oppress, malign and subjugate gay people and actively work to see that their gay kids get bullied to death ’til the Rapture.
What a MONSTER. How about we all smash our iPads in protest?
Lyza
Go Steve Jobs!!! I’m going to buy a new iPod in the new year just for that! I also need one, but that just re-enforced my willingness to support Apple! Big brother is the guy who’s silencing all the oppressed people so Jobs has pretty much taken on big brother once again by creating a space for those who are discriminated against to have a voice. I’m all for this kind of irony! XD
MickeyKidd
@Tallskin: I dont push my relgion on anyone, i think people can believe anything they want, and as far as christions are concerned, they are ‘sposed to follow christ right? i can remember reading about jesus saying anything negative, hurtfull, or discriminitory about anyone for any reason, doesnt he only preach about love and faith?
kokobean
@MickeyKidd. Actually Christianity teaches that what they are doing is right. Hello Bible and condemns homosexuality. Im gonna have to agree with the anti gays on this one. That app is under free speech. I support free speech for everyone as that is a human right. It doesnt matter what is being said so far as you have your rights and are not inciting violence. Of course im sure some of you will disagree but if the Klan put an app targeting blacks…i wouldnt be supportive either. But thats the bummer of so called free speech..you gotta take the good with the bad.
wiredpup
gee kokobean, so it’s free speech to allow a homophobic, hateful, app that calls the user to end the pursuit of gay marriage “by any means possible”? wow.
Cassandra
KokoBean
“Actually Christianity teaches that what they are doing is right.”
No, it does not. Though many Christians fail to follow through, Christianity itself explicitly condemns any form of oppression or prejudice. NOM’s positions and behaviors are condemned by Christ’s teachings.
“Hello Bible and condemns homosexuality. ”
No, it does not. It contains a handful of passages that people twist to defend their prejudice, but the Bible consistently condemned prejudice and injustice.
None of the verses used to fabricate a condemnation of homosexuality, actually do so. Amazingly, though ancient greek of the first century had two words for “men who have sex with men” – Paul, the attributed author of the NT texts used to bash GLBTQ people, never used either word.
Mull that over. He had two words that his readers would have immediately understood as our equivalent of homosexual, and Paul did not use either one in any of his letters in the Bible.
Jesus never condemned homosexuality, and there is better case that his response to the Centurion with the dying pais indicates acceptance of homosexuality, than for the anit-gay case for any of the “gotcha” passages.
“Im gonna have to agree with the anti gays on this one.”
Which tells the rest of us the validity of your prior remarks.
“That app is under free speech.”
No, it is not. In the U.S., the constitutional guarantee of free speech applies the powers of the government, not to private parties or businesses or corporations. Just as Apple is not required to allow verbal sexual harassment of employees under ‘free speech’, it is not required to release any product, any app, as ‘free speech’. Instead, if Apple chooses to release something inflammatory, the Government is limited in its ability to hinder that expression. Apple is certain free to self censor or to refuse to carry any product it determines is inappropriate.
So you won’t get upset when I tell you that you are completely ignorant about the subjects in your post, after all, that is my free speech.
boom
What poor failed media arts student cuts NOM’s ads anyway? It looks like someone who couldn’t even get a job cutting trailers for straight to video D-horror flicks. Are they TRYING to undermine their own credibility and appeal?
Also, “the iconic Steve Jobs has become the ironic Steve Jobs”…seriously? Resorting to lame puns that don’t quite capture the correct definition of “irony”? Steve Jobs isn’t some sort of civil rights hero raging against Big Brother…he’s a private billionaire making executive decisions about his private corporation. Luckily for us, in this case his personal beliefs align with the gay rights movement. Do some research about where the coltan for his iPhones come from, and realise he’s not a hero at all. Just a businessman.
Cassandra
Tallskin
More bigotry and hate speech. Gee whiz. Your posts usually sound like Maggie Gallagher writings with a few word changes.
“dunno why you christians, members of the Irrational community, are always so desperate for approval from us atheists.”
You just seem to be completely oblivious to the obvious, Tallskin: you keep using exactly the same arguments that homophobes use, including the one above.
Over and over again, homophobes on line have accused GLBTQ of being desperate for their approval, when all we want is for them to stop telling vicious and sick lies about us.
All we Christians want of you athiests is for you to stop telling sick and vicious lies about us. But that seems too much to ask of any bigot. Without those lies, you’d have nothing to say.
Christians are not seeking your approval, tallskin, your approval is less than relevant, particularly to those who believe you have a lot of work to do to become a decent, much less honorable, human being. As I’ve told many a homophobe, I don’t care about your approval, I care about having a just and safe society, and your lies hinder that. You can disapprove as much as it takes for you to feel like your life has meaning, I don’t care. Tell lies about me, my family and friends and millions of other people, and that I care about.
Frankly, the constant barrage of hate speech from you and your peers, attempting to make GLBTQ Christians in particular, Christians, and people of faith, change our lives to suit you, means that you desperately need our approval, and because you don’t get it, you spew hate and malice all over our lives, just like dear old Maggie. You are her, without the veneer of a good marketing scheme.
Now, atheism is irrational: the idea that 1% of humanity is right about the experiences of the other 99%, who are wrong solely because the 1% says so, is irrational.
“If you’re a gay christian then, as far as I’m concerned, you are freely participating in an evil homophobic racket that helps in the persecution of your fellow gays.”
But the thing is, you are concerned with maligning the very people who are doing the most to liberate GLBTQ people. You are concerned with perpetuating and spreading a vicious and sickening prejudice in hopes of oppressing most of humanity. You are concerned with spreading the prejudice of homophobia so you can spread the prejudice of atheism.
The standard of what you are concerned about is a pretty poor one for me to apply to my life, and I would be as bad off trying to please you, as I would be trying to please Maggie and her peers.
The terrible thing is that you are doing the very thing you accuse others of, tallskin, because when you declare that Christianity is intrinsically anti-gay, when it is not, you are telling millions of people that something they value condemns GLBTQ people. The real evil is that you are promoting anti-gay theology, endangering 10% of humanity, so you can wage your verbal war against 99% of humanity.
wiredpup
@Cassandra
Stands up and applauds. Vigorously.
Tallskin
@Wiredpup
are you on drugs?
Or brain damaged?
wiredpup
@Tallskin oooo was that supposed to hurt me somehow? LOL get a life and off this board. what is wrong with you? did I attack you? no. did I comment to you. no. so you go run off now and do whatever it is you do. besides attack others.
Cassandra
Eric
‘PLEASE!! Keep your religion in your church wall and stop complaining. You have freedom of religion on your property. Look how much corruption is within religion specially with money”
You know, homophobes say “keep your sexuality at home and stop complaining, you have freedom to have sex at home, why do you need to talk about it in public, or have a picture of your “partner” on your desk at work, or hold hand in public – look at how much drug use and addiction is in the gay community”.
Eric, when you use the same arguments that homophobes use, even you should see that you are promoting bigotry.
Greg May
I am going to start a publicity campaign to replace “gay” with “same sex”. After all, “gay” has such a faggoty connotation whereas “same sex” is more dignified. I am going to ask my friend, GRACE JONES to help me out on this.