Apple's Tim Cook profiled as "most powerful gay man in Silicon Valley"

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  • Reply 181 of 335
    I don't know if this is an aberration, but 7 of the first 10 articles on AI's home page are written by DED.



    I hope AI has a more varied persecutive -- and doesn't become a mouthpiece/alterblog for DED.
  • Reply 182 of 335
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Djd13 View Post


    Who cares if he's Gay!! Can he do the job? Yes. I'm not Gay but I think this whole artical

    is BS. When Steve put him in charge I'm sure he didn't care if he's Gay. He just cared if

    he could do his job.



    I agree but had to laugh - the word is spelled "article" - were you maybe thing of where (Cal) Apple corporate/main campus is located?
  • Reply 183 of 335
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by KiltedGreen View Post


    In some way I agree … but you see we are for the most part invisible. Let's say that you are gay and want to be a top footballer. You look to see what other footballers there are who you know are gay. How many do you find. 0. In the world. What is the conclusion? There are NO gay footballers. One, Justin Fashanu is still, 13 years on, the only professional footballer ever to have come out whilst he was still playing. He later committed suicide. Almost every single sports person we know to be gay came out after they left the sport with Gareth Jones as one of the very few exceptions.Why is this? Although being gay has no effect on whether you are or aren't able to play it could crush your spirit. Sitting in the changing rooms listening to homophobic abuse, hearing it shouted from the terraces at football matches and providing no role models. Imagine how it would feel if you were a straight sportsperson and every single footballer you knew of was gay? How would you feel?



    I wasn't going to post in this thread because it is really difficult for a straight guy to have opinions about gay guys without being misunderstood, but after reading your post I'm going to offer an opinion nevertheless.



    Your description above about the gay football player committing suicide and the feelings of being in a locker room of all straight guys actually reinforces my opinion. I have known several gay guys, worked with a few, and was even business partners with one for a time, until he was arrested for embezzling (not from me but from a non-profit he also work for). He is currently serving time for that. Anyway I have nothing against gay people. They tend to be funny and polite and fun to be around in both a business and social settings, but in my observation they also tend to be overly emotional and somewhat depressed. This I attribute to the rather stressful childhood that is all to common for gay people in today's society.



    So if Tim Cook is not an overly emotional or depressed kind of gay guy then I suppose he would be fine for the CEO position considering his other qualifications, but if he is one of the slightly unbalanced types that I am more familiar with, then I would be a little concerned.



    BTW I did not know he was gay until this thread.
  • Reply 184 of 335
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,495moderator
    People seem to have protested this isn't news quite a lot and yet we are at page 5 in 24 hours. People obviously just want to know the backstory behind the person who may end up running the company we all take an interest in. As to it being offensive to bring up sexual orientation, perhaps but not any more so than talking about Steve's wife who is obviously a cover for his secret gay relationship with Tim Cook.



    The harm is done by taking issue with it, not in knowing it. He has to be one way or the other or both. Knowing if he is in a stable, healthy relationship is good for people to know.



    Quote:

    Randy Ubillos, one of Apple's most well known engineers as the creator of Final Cut, the man who redesigned iMovie for Mac, and who was introduced last year by Jobs to demonstrate his new iMovie app for iPhone, is openly gay.



    I'd like to be more openly heterosexual but I'm not quite sure how I go about it. \
  • Reply 185 of 335
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    So if Tim Cook is not an overly emotional or depressed kind of gay guy then I suppose he would be fine for the CEO position considering his other qualifications, but if he is one of the slightly unbalanced types that I am more familiar with, then I would be a little concerned.



    There are also many emotional, depressed, slightly unbalanced straight people.
  • Reply 186 of 335
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacRulez View Post


    So how will long-time Mac fan Rush Limbaugh respond to this?



    Will he and Sarah Palin mount an Apple boycott?



    I would hope that he can hold his tongue. Even if he doesn't agree with the lifestyle, its hard to argue the mans abilities and track record. Another big thing he has going is that Steve picked him AND the board has given its blessing. The other thing is its hard to throw stones if you live in a house that had more Vicodin and Oxycontin pass through it than your local Walgreens.
  • Reply 187 of 335
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by xamian View Post


    There are also many emotional, depressed, slightly unbalanced straight people.



    Sure, but it was my hypothesis that growing up gay in this society is a challenging thing to overcome much like growing up in a single parent family or a mixed ethnicity family or any other unusual circumstance that could affect a child's mental development adversely due to social stigma.
  • Reply 188 of 335
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ramkoff View Post


    AI isn't speculating that Tim Cook is gay, they are just reporting that Valleywag is profiling him as such.



    Right. AI isn't reporting this, they're reporting that someone else is reporting it. But the entire article is of the form Valleywag said.... They also said.... And then they said...

    It's a plagiarism/summary of the Valleywag article.



    Is Valleywag's article of interest to AppleInsider? Yes. It's about a high-ranking executive at the company, that makes it relevant. But did it warrant this much "ink"? I don't think so.



    And I didn't get the impression that Cook's orientation is finalized. Maybe he's one of those asexual people - so wrapped up in work and other personal activities he doesn't see the need for sex?



    - Jasen.
  • Reply 189 of 335
    mrstepmrstep Posts: 524member
    Wow. Cook is gay, which is so... not relevant. Good for him / bad for him... whatever. The iMovie guy is also gay! Whoa! I'd never have run that app if I knew that!



    Equally fascinating: "Apple has also recognized the achievements of its third party developers who happened to be gay, including Steve Demeter". Uh, let me get this straight (pun intended...)... Apple hasn't actively discriminated against third party developers who happen to be gay - so what's the news here? It doesn't sound like they have a 'gayest/straightest apps in the app store' category to promote them, right?



    To re-write the above more clearly: "Apple has recognized the achievements of its third party developers. Steve Detmer is gay." Nice, AI/DED.



    Why not just try to come up with a full list of employees and third parties and their orientations, publish it, and then say the news is that Apple doesn't care.



    Hopefully there isn't a call to take this out on AI/DED either since I think that side of the PC movement is totally overboard too, but seriously... can you maybe just not write total crap like this and post it? It's a story if Apple is doing something wrong, but them NOT discriminating and then AI posting orientations of specific people seems pretty slimy.
  • Reply 190 of 335
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Archos View Post


    So if this was addressing a different minority, and said the "most powerful woman," the "most powerful black man," or any other category of people who are less likely to be promoted in society because of prejudice, would you also be feigning outrage?



    There is nothing offensive about noting that Cook is gay. Being gay is not taboo nor weak. Being homophobic is weak, because it ignores facts to prefer fear. There is nothing demeaning about gays in the article. Quite the opposite, Cook is competent, strong, decisive, has his personal shit together, rather than being a comically effete stereotype preferred in the mainstream media when depicting gays.



    That should attract the anger of the same groups who hate Obama for being a competent, powerful, intellectual, and level headed black man. It absolutely destroys the notion of stereotypes.



    It is offensive that you would try to censor such a message. Do you prefer gays begin depicted as a class of people who have to hide their identity lest anyone finding out they are "defective" or something? THAT'S offensive.



    It reminds me of that one episode of The Office when they're trying to be culturally sensitive. (Not word for word)...Michael asks Oscar, "is there anything else you like to be called other than "Mexican"? Something less offensive?"



    To which Oscar of course replies, "Why is being called Mexican offensive?". Yes, we ought to judge people solely on their merit and not their biology. But it's also offensive to simply wipe away our differences and pretend that they don't exist. To not acknowledge, for example, Barack Obama being our first African-American president is a disservice to the hardwork, blood and tears of past generations. Should we dwell on the color of his skin, or the sexual orientation of Tim Cook? No. But there's nothing wrong with acknowledging it as a sign of progress...
  • Reply 191 of 335
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mstone View Post


    Sure, but it was my hypothesis that growing up gay in this society is a challenging thing to overcome much like growing up in a single parent family or a mixed ethnicity family or any other unusual circumstance that could affect a child's mental development adversely due to social stigma.



    This is true. The repeated harassment that we face because we may not fall into line with what society has dictated (thanks mostly to religion) does add a great amount of unnecessary stress and pressure that does frequently lead to depression, and sometimes suicide.



    My point, though, is that it's not really fair to just point to the statistics and say "many gays are unbalanced and depressed." But then again, I suppose that's partially your point too - it's a vicious cycle, but many will ignore the fact that they're bigoted jerkwads who are influencing the pressures that lead to these individuals becoming depressed, and potentially committing suicide.



    I don't know for sure if Tim Cook is gay or not, nor does it matter. There are countless reports of Anderson Cooper being gay - he doesn't talk about it, but he also doesn't deny it either...essentially it's an open secret. In any case, it is inspiring to see successful individuals who also happen to belong to the LGBT community.



    As I previously posted a link to an It Gets Better vid from Microsoft's GLEAM, I've also found some very touching vids from EA Games, Pixar Studios, Google, Facebook and others.



    So, basically, I'm glad to see the many voices that are coming out in support and saying it doesn't matter if Tim's gay or not. I think that it's clear to see that Tim has an excellent track record when it comes to the business world...otherwise he wouldn't still be in his position with Apple, and Steve wouldn't be leaving him in charge if there was any doubt of his ability to manage things.
  • Reply 192 of 335
    addaboxaddabox Posts: 12,665member
    What I've learned so far:



    It totally doesn't matter who is or isn't gay although mentioning it is sleazy gutter journalism along the lines of talking about someones drinking problem, not that it's wrong or anything, it's fine, I just don't want to have to think about those nasty gay bits when I think about Apple, even thought I'm perfectly fine with nasty gay bits I just don't want them shoved in my face, unless I do, but that's another story. That Apple Insider will no doubt run because they're sewer wallowing gossip mongers, which is not to say being gay has anything to do with sewers, although it does.



    So in short gay is fine just please don't ever talk about it again, because it's disgusting and shameful even though it's not. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
  • Reply 193 of 335
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post


    People seem to have protested this isn't news quite a lot and yet we are at page 5 in 24 hours. People obviously just want to know the backstory behind the person who may end up running the company we all take an interest in. As to it being offensive to bring up sexual orientation, perhaps but not any more so than talking about Steve's wife who is obviously a cover for his secret gay relationship with Tim Cook.



    The harm is done by taking issue with it, not in knowing it. He has to be one way or the other or both. Knowing if he is in a stable, healthy relationship is good for people to know.







    I'd like to be more openly heterosexual but I'm not quite sure how I go about it. \



    If the article itself wasn't sleazy enough as gratuitous click-whoring, a childish comment like that from a member of the staff here just puts it over the top.



    I thought MacRumors was the toilet bowl of the mac rumor sites? Looks like AI has decided to make a run for the title, and off to a demanding start no less.



    Fucking pathetic.
  • Reply 194 of 335
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    1) This thread has been an eye opener. I never remember such bizarre Syereotypes exist outside of fictional stories until topics like this come up in a public forum.



    2) Ever notce that the stories people ask "Why is this a story?" ars the ones that get the most replies, and therefore likely the most page hits? There's your answer.



    3) Is the word gay to mean something not related to homosexuality allowable again? E.g.: "This article is gay."



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Being gay isn't a health issue, nor some kind of tabloid shame. Cook isn't "out" in the sense that he declares his sexual orientation when he walks in the room, but it's not a big secret.



    I wonder what percentage of the US and world still think it is a health issue or choice?
  • Reply 195 of 335
    I don't care who this originally came from. You are just as bad as they are for reporting this article. What business of yours or anyone else's is it as to the sexuality of an individual, and what's it got to do with the him performing his role within Apple.. If I didn't know better someone is trying to stir the shit up for Tim Cook and put doubt in his ability to run Apple long term.



    Gutter press. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
  • Reply 196 of 335
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by antic4 View Post


    If I didn't know better someone is trying to stir the shit up for Tim Cook and put doubt in his ability to run Apple long term.



    If he is gay then it is better it be revealed now rather than later after becoming CEO and/or possibly being caught in some tryst which would create much more of a stir.
  • Reply 197 of 335
    HITS!





    That's what is has come to with this site with headlines like this. Next we'll see huge font like the sensationalist whores at the huffington post.



    Fucking shameful AI
  • Reply 198 of 335
    If anyone doubts this guy's ability to run a company because of the fact he might be gay, then something is seriously wrong with this world.
  • Reply 199 of 335
    iliveriliver Posts: 299member
    I still say Jonny Ive holds that title ever since the designing the iBook G3 aka "Barbie's toilet seat".



    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBook
  • Reply 200 of 335
    kerrybkerryb Posts: 270member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Jon T View Post


    I didn't know he was gay, and I did not need to know he was either. That is his PRIVATE business and Daniel, as a defender of your writings, I am disappointed.



    Would any other of his life choices be pertinent enough to make a headline? Does he prefer wine to beer? I doubt it, and neither should his being gay, if he is, because I wouldn't have a clue, and am not interested in having a clue either.



    It seems to me this feeds your personal troupe of troll-monkeys with plenty more fuel to put on the fire.



    A pity.



    Whenever a minority accomplishes something that was unthinkable not too ago it IS worth reporting. I don't think Mr Cook is being "outed" here but I doubt he feels obliged to wear is orientation on his sleeve.

    We have all heard "you can grow up to be president some day" now gay teenager can believe they can grow up to be the most powerful man or woman in business.
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