There are virtually no acts which are not political. Certainly, every act which affects another is a political act. Looking the other way is a political act. Not acting is a political act.
Every corporation is a political animal. They are politically created -- they don't exist except by the political act of passing a law which allows their creation.
I clearly believe being L, G, B, or T is not by choice, based on the acquaintances and friendships I've made over the years (all, interestingly, are related to the music business). I have no scientific proof of this; just my observation.
I'll say this about Tim Cook's participation in the parade: I view his participation as a human rights issue, not a political agenda. Yes, Apple is a supporter of LGBT rights, so that makes it cross into political territory for some people, but I don't see it that way.
So you champion 5 people telling the nation what they should do.
You're forgetting that a portion (loud, and more sizeable than you'd think) of your population is socially backward, some of whom are horrifically bigoted to boot and have no concept of even the most basic notion of social justice. It's a humanitarian issue just as much as a social issue.
It's about time that a very sensible few (at least who seem capable of it) drag them – kicking and screaming – into the 21st century. A lot of other modern democratic countries have already been there for years now, not even counting the folks north of your border.
As a factual matter, this is not true anymore, unfortunately. Witness what happened in Sri Lanka (but that mutated into something far worse on both sides), and what's happening now in Myanmar.
"David Knowles reports at Bloomberg that former Hewlett-Packard CEO and potential 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina called out Apple CEO Tim Cook as a hypocrite for criticizing Indiana and Arkansas over their Religious Freedom Restoration Acts while at the same time doing business in countries where gay rights are non-existent. "When Tim Cook is upset about all the places that he does business because of the way they treat gays and women, he needs to withdraw from 90% of the markets that he's in, including China and Saudi Arabia," Fiorina said. "But I don't hear him being upset about that."
As a factual matter, this is not true anymore, unfortunately. Witness what happened in Sri Lanka (but that mutated into something far worse on both sides), and what's happening now in Myanmar.
"David Knowles reports at Bloomberg that former Hewlett-Packard CEO and potential 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina called out Apple CEO Tim Cook as a hypocrite for criticizing Indiana and Arkansas over their Religious Freedom Restoration Acts while at the same time doing business in countries where gay rights are non-existent. "When Tim Cook is upset about all the places that he does business because of the way they treat gays and women, he needs to withdraw from 90% of the markets that he's in, including China and Saudi Arabia," Fiorina said. "But I don't hear him being upset about that."
East is East and West is West, and the twain shall never meet.
Except to allow everyone, straight or otherwise, access to Apple gear.
Cook showing his support for LGBT rights doesn't mean that straight folk in countries that persecute their LGBT community shouldn't have access to Apple products.
Carly sorta missed that point in her haste to tear down her competitor, posting from her iPhone, no doubt.
Excellent point. Cook's double-standard on this issue is astounding. He makes a personal fortune from a company while using it at every opportunity to spout human rights for his own progressive cause (albeit one which relates to him directly), yet his personal profit is off the sweat of the lowest possible factory wage he can get away with paying (directly or indirectly) to overseas to factory workers he will never meet. LGBT is somehow something Apple should have 'pride' in, but sending jobs offshore to third world sweatshops/factories doesn't seem to get these same 'activists' hopping on trains and marching. Typical Me-Generation type activism.
I don't have a problem with people being gay - each to their own - but this fact together with Apple's willingness to make enormous profits from doing business/exploiting labour in countries with abysmal human rights records and deplorable labor standards—and to remain conveniently quiet about this—reeks of extreme hypocrisy. Where's your voice on these far more important issues, Tim? Where are the slick videos and Apple parades and public statements and marches?
"David Knowles reports at Bloomberg that former Hewlett-Packard CEO and potential 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina called out Apple CEO Tim Cook as a hypocrite for criticizing Indiana and Arkansas over their Religious Freedom Restoration Acts while at the same time doing business in countries where gay rights are non-existent. "When Tim Cook is upset about all the places that he does business because of the way they treat gays and women, he needs to withdraw from 90% of the markets that he's in, including China and Saudi Arabia," Fiorina said. "But I don't hear him being upset about that."
She's so shallow, isn't she (in fact, shallowness was the hallmark of her leadership at HP). Last I looked, Cook was not running for anything, so it's a bit bizarre for her to be going after him. And, afaik, he's not a citizen of any country other than the U.S., where he grew up, runs a business, and votes.
Uh, Apple employees and their families can march in whatever damn parade that they want, they don't need your permission. Also, no one is putting a gun to their heads to do so, including Cook. More like, it's none of your business what they do. Employees of a shitload of other tech companies, including all the major ones, no doubt also marched. I'm assuming they "shouldn't" do so either, right? Wouldn't want to offend your sensibilities now. And even if you're cynical enough to look at EVERYTHING from a business standpoint, all evidence points to the fact that this helps their business, and not harms it. So you lose on pretty much all fronts.
Exactly. Employees and their families. Privet lives. But they put the logo of the company. Whether this is the right strategic decision - difficult to tell. I don't know which 'all evidence' you are talking about. Care to elaborate?
Moreover:
Your ridiculous claim the the person who you replied to with words 'you lose on pretty much all fronts' is groundless.
What are the fronts he/she is losing on? How do you define winning and losing on those illusory 'fronts'?
They put the logo of the company with the word 'Pride'.
Hm. I don't see it as very suiting.
Pride:
1) feeling of pleasure[uncountable] a feeling that you are proud of something that you or someone connected with you has achieved
2) respect [uncountable] a feeling that you like and respect yourself and that you deserve to be respected by other people
3) too much pride [uncountable] a belief that you are better than other people and do not need their help or support
And there are some other meanings.
Considering those 3:
1) they didn't achieved their homosexuality, did they?
2) respecting some one for being homosexual? respect needs to be earned. You do something to get respected. Again, they didn't do anything to become gay.
3) are homosexuals better than heterosexuals?
It's ok to be homosexual. But it's a wrong message when you connect homosexuality and pride together.
Tim Cook hasn't remained quiet on working conditions in China. Quite the opposite. There's even a slick part of Apple's website dedicated to the subject.
You're going to have to find another stick to beat him with
Yet we don't see him divesting from China as did some multinationals during the Apartheid era. In fact, Tim's investing more heavily in China. Money talks, bullshit (in this case his, and yours), walks.
You got one thing right, his strategy is quite 'slick'.
They put the logo of the company with the word 'Pride'.
Hm. I don't see it as very suiting.
Pride:
1) feeling of pleasure[uncountable] a feeling that you are proud of something that you or someone connected with you has achieved
2) respect [uncountable] a feeling that you like and respect yourself and that you deserve to be respected by other people
3) too much pride [uncountable] a belief that you are better than other people and do not need their help or support
And there are some other meanings.
Considering those 3:
1) they didn't achieved their homosexuality, did they?
2) respecting some one for being homosexual? respect needs to be earned. You do something to get respected. Again, they didn't do anything to become gay.
3) are homosexuals better than heterosexuals?
It's ok to be homosexual. But it's a wrong message when you connect homosexuality and pride together.
I think your post parses the everyday meanings of "pride" too finely. I believe that language is a living breathing thing, and that context can alter a word's meaning.
I guess you find it difficult to understand why gay people might feel the need to make a declaration of pride with regard to their sexual identity, partly because you have never experienced this sort of discrimination. This fact serves as evidence that LGBT people still have much ground to cover in order to maintain the basic level of self-esteem that all people are entitled to by simply being themselves.
For those who are able to accept themselves for who they are, and have risked the consequences of being "out", there is deserved PRIDE in acknowledging the truth.
Having "pride" is shorthand for *actively* cultivating a positive self-image. This works to counteract the myriad ways we're taught we're not worthy: not worthy of happiness, not worthy of employment, not worthy of security from violence, not worthy to marry, not worthy to adopt children... in some extreme cases, not worthy to continue living. By "taking pride", we are holding up an aspect of ourselves -- something which we have been told makes us shameful -- and reclaiming it as part of who we are. Reclaiming it for good.
Pride is a humanizing celebration.
I am PROUD that I knew intrinsically, in spite of being surrounded by all the negative messages, that I was not bad.
I am PROUD that although it took a lot of years to come to terms with my sexuality, I finally arrived and accepted myself for who I am. Until that time, there was a HOLE in me and now, in its place, there is a WHOLE me.
I am PROUD that there are thousands of famous gays and lesbians who have made a positive impact on every aspect of society and our culture.
I am PROUD of the millions of others who fight quietly to hold on to their dignity in spite of the persecution of those who claim to love them, but would reject them if they only knew.
I’m PROUD because I live in a world that constantly tells me that I shouldn’t be. Fighting that narrative—and its frequently ugly and violent manifestations—takes constant work. It is hard to have self-esteem when external forces bombard us with subliminal and overt messages that we are "evil" and "immoral". So I am PROUD that many of us are able to dismiss that negativity, knowing that it's a lie.
Believe it or not, being gay has very little to do with Gay Pride parades. But Gay Pride parades have everything to do with why someday people won't throw rocks at two men who walk down the street as a couple. It's about being respected as a human being. Not feeling superior, just equal.
Someday Gay Pride will be obsolete. But we aren't there yet.
"Possibly you've heard the Jewish in-joke that sums up the meaning of all Jewish holidays? 'They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat.' My Pride version? They wish we were invisible. We're not. Let's dance." - Joe.My.God
Who gives a shit? Transparency is to divestment what commissions are to action.
Lies? Really? So Apple are in fact not invested up to their asses in China?
Have trouble accepting basic facts, do you?
I feel bad for you, and your non-sensical, slobbering posts of gibberish. I truly, sincerely feel bad, because your hatred is clouding all reason and logic. Apple manufactures in China? What a stunning revelation. They're also doing more for improving Chinese manufacturing conditions than any other company (or country) on the planet. Your solution is to.."divest" from China? How would that help? The Chinese workers who now are unemployed will be praising Apple's to the heavens, right? What a lazy and cowardly solution. And even if that was a solution, divest and go where? Easy for you to spout this trash while having no real solution.
Meanwhile, Apple is working in something called the real world, and actively making practical steps to improve things, in a global economy with dynamics that it does not control. Cook gives more of a **** about Chinese workers than you can ever will- not that you do at all, because your entire reason for bringing them up is so you can shit on Cook for his social activism in other areas. No doubt when that isn't your agenda, you don't give Chinese workers a second of thought. Cook has spoken about China- and taken actionable steps regarding China- countless times. Wages for Chinese manufacturing have gone up significantly, as well as conditions, and most reports attribute that to Apple. That's why manufacturing now is increasingly moving to other countries, like Vietnam, as China is getting more expensive. He's not the hypocrite- you are, for pretending to care, but instead using Chinese workers as a convenient club in order to bash Cook.
As for Cook's "personal fortune" that you're so offended by, he pretty much makes the minimum possible as the CEO of the most successful company on earth. CEOs that run companies that don't even make FRACTION of the profit that Apple does have salaries that eclipse Cook's by a massive amount- not to mention CEOs who are running their companies into the ground.
Stop accusing others of not accepting "basic facts" when your posts are nothing but cesspools of lies, distortions, bigotry, false arguments, and fake self-righteousness and concern, without a shred of objectivity, humanity, or reason.
Yet we don't see him divesting from China as did some multinationals during the Apartheid era. In fact, Tim's investing more heavily in China. Money talks, bullshit (in this case his, and yours), walks.
You got one thing right, his strategy is quite 'slick'.
Who gives a shit? Transparency is to divestment what commissions are to action.
Lies? Really? So Apple are in fact not invested up to their asses in China?
Have trouble accepting basic facts, do you?
Advise entity Radar stop clowning around. There is no other place on earth with electronic assembly as developed as it is in China. Note that it is the Taiwanese who have set up the factories in mainland China, based on their own experience going back decades in electronics manufacturing.
Pegatron has 16 times its Taiwanese workforce working in the PRC. Foxconn has about half a million workers in China contract assembling for most major electronics companies, including Apple.
You haven't addressed the points raised by RichL and Suddenly Newton. Here's another: better Apple should continue pressuring the contract companies to improve conditions, because there's no way they could switch to other contractors. There aren't any. Conjuring some up would take many years, if not decades.
I think your post parses the everyday meanings of "pride" too finely. I believe that language is a living breathing thing, and that context can alter a word's meaning.
I guess you find it difficult to understand why gay people might feel the need to make a declaration of pride with regard to their sexual identity, partly because you have never experienced this sort of discrimination. This fact serves as evidence that LGBT people still have much ground to cover in order to maintain the basic level of self-esteem that all people are entitled to by simply being themselves.
For those who are able to accept themselves for who they are, and have risked the consequences of being "out", there is deserved PRIDE in acknowledging the truth.
Having "pride" is shorthand for *actively* cultivating a positive self-image. This works to counteract the myriad ways we're taught we're not worthy: not worthy of happiness, not worthy of employment, not worthy of security from violence, not worthy to marry, not worthy to adopt children... in some extreme cases, not worthy to continue living. By "taking pride", we are holding up an aspect of ourselves -- something which we have been told makes us shameful -- and reclaiming it as part of who we are. Reclaiming it for good.
Pride is a humanizing celebration.
I am PROUD that I knew intrinsically, in spite of being surrounded by all the negative messages, that I was not bad.
I am PROUD that although it took a lot of years to come to terms with my sexuality, I finally arrived and accepted myself for who I am. Until that time, there was a HOLE in me and now, in its place, there is a WHOLE me.
I am PROUD that there are thousands of famous gays and lesbians who have made a positive impact on every aspect of society and our culture.
I am PROUD of the millions of others who fight quietly to hold on to their dignity in spite of the persecution of those who claim to love them, but would reject them if they only knew.
I’m PROUD because I live in a world that constantly tells me that I shouldn’t be. Fighting that narrative—and its frequently ugly and violent manifestations—takes constant work. It is hard to have self-esteem when external forces bombard us with subliminal and overt messages that we are "evil" and "immoral". So I am PROUD that many of us are able to dismiss that negativity, knowing that it's a lie.
Believe it or not, being gay has very little to do with Gay Pride parades. But Gay Pride parades have everything to do with why someday people won't throw rocks at two men who walk down the street as a couple. It's about being respected as a human being. Not feeling superior, just equal.
Someday Gay Pride will be obsolete. But we aren't there yet.
"Possibly you've heard the Jewish in-joke that sums up the meaning of all Jewish holidays? 'They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat.' My Pride version? They wish we were invisible. We're not. Let's dance." - Joe.My.God
Best statement ever on this subject, which is apparently so difficult for some to work out, since they seem to lack the necessary empathy neurons.
I feel bad for you, and your non-sensical, slobbering posts of gibberish. I truly, sincerely feel bad, because your hatred is clouding all reason and logic. Apple manufactures in China? What a stunning revelation. They're also doing more for improving Chinese manufacturing conditions than any other company (or country) on the planet. Your solution is to.."divest" from China? How would that help? The Chinese workers who now are unemployed will be praising Apple's to the heavens, right? What a lazy and cowardly solution. And even if that was a solution, divest and go where? Easy for you to spout this trash while having no real solution.
Meanwhile, Apple is working in something called the real world, and actively making practical steps to improve things, in a global economy with dynamics that it does not control. Cook gives more of a **** about Chinese workers than you can ever will- not that you do at all, because your entire reason for bringing them up is so you can shit on Cook for his social activism in other areas. No doubt when that isn't your agenda, you don't give Chinese workers a second of thought. Cook has spoken about China- and taken actionable steps regarding China- countless times. Wages for Chinese manufacturing have gone up significantly, as well as conditions, and most reports attribute that to Apple. That's why manufacturing now is increasingly moving to other countries, like Vietnam, as China is getting more expensive. He's not the hypocrite- you are, for pretending to care, but instead using Chinese workers as a convenient club in order to bash Cook.
As for Cook's "personal fortune" that you're so offended by, he pretty much makes the minimum possible as the CEO of the most successful company on earth. CEOs that run companies that don't even make FRACTION of the profit that Apple does have salaries that eclipse Cook's by a massive amount- not to mention CEOs who are running their companies into the ground.
Stop accusing others of not accepting "basic facts" when your posts are nothing but cesspools of lies, distortions, bigotry, false arguments, and fake self-righteousness and concern, without a shred of objectivity, humanity, or reason.
Laughable; now you're really grasping. Let's look at some of those basic facts you're so in denial of. Cook is taking the "minimum possible as a CEO"? Really? Where does it say in American labor law that the "minimum" a CEO can make is $ 9.2 million basic salary (not including his vested stock last year which brought that to over $100 million; and not his total profit from Apple which is over $700 million. Read that again: Seven hundred million dollars. Regardless of how he spends it, it is he, not those workers, who will ultimately decide what he does with that money. Now, let's compare that fortune with the average Apple subcontractor factory worker wage in China under Foxconn which is..... $1.78 an hour, often for 12 hours a day with few if any days off. I'm sure you can do the math as to who's really benefitting from whom in that relationship.
Your 'justification' of "it's so much better" if companies/corporations invest in places with horrible labor and human rights records than don't has been used for the last few hundred years, usually to justify exactly the same type of profit/wage disparity as we see above and more importantly, to allow such entities to bypass labor laws in their own home countries and to avoid paying hard-fought minimum wages there. They did it during the apartheid era too, and initially fought tooth and nail to avoid divesting in South Africa (I remember this well as I was actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement for years). The real world? You're naive to believe that the largest company on the planet doesn't have far more say in defining that world that any of its factory workers can ever dream of. This is about greed, a reality you to seem to want to avoid. Divest and go where you say? How about the United States? It is after all an American corporation and we seem to still have at least some basic labour laws here. Or if Tim is truly concerned about labor conditions, as you insist he is, I'd suggest they set up in Norway, Finland, Canada, or Denmark, their laws are even better than ours. Oh right, but that would mean fewer billions of dollars profit for Cook and the other major stockholders; I forgot.
As to how this supposed 'commitment to labor' often ends, I think you've unwittingly provided your own answer. When wages and conditions do rise to certain levels, these multinationals tend to follow the newest lowest wage to yet another third world country where conditions are even worse, thereby proving that their talk of "concern for" (in this case, Chinese) factory workers, like their talk of concern for American factory workers before was nothing more than a ruse all along.
As I said, I don't give a damn if Cook is gay. I do give a damn that he uses Apple to promote one issue (albeit a far safer one which contributes not only to the 'image' of a progressive corporation, but benefits Cook himself, once again), while beyond that image continuing to profit greatly from the global wage disparities of working people. That's at very best a double standard.
Comments
Every corporation is a political animal. They are politically created -- they don't exist except by the political act of passing a law which allows their creation.
Quote:
So cook is gay. That's his personal choice.
I clearly believe being L, G, B, or T is not by choice, based on the acquaintances and friendships I've made over the years (all, interestingly, are related to the music business). I have no scientific proof of this; just my observation.
I'll say this about Tim Cook's participation in the parade: I view his participation as a human rights issue, not a political agenda. Yes, Apple is a supporter of LGBT rights, so that makes it cross into political territory for some people, but I don't see it that way.
So you champion 5 people telling the nation what they should do.
You're forgetting that a portion (loud, and more sizeable than you'd think) of your population is socially backward, some of whom are horrifically bigoted to boot and have no concept of even the most basic notion of social justice. It's a humanitarian issue just as much as a social issue.
It's about time that a very sensible few (at least who seem capable of it) drag them – kicking and screaming – into the 21st century. A lot of other modern democratic countries have already been there for years now, not even counting the folks north of your border.
So cook is gay. That's his personal choice.
I actually read it like that for a split second because I received an item called the fun undies as a gag gift. LOL
As a factual matter, this is not true anymore, unfortunately. Witness what happened in Sri Lanka (but that mutated into something far worse on both sides), and what's happening now in Myanmar.
As a factual matter, this is not true anymore, unfortunately. Witness what happened in Sri Lanka (but that mutated into something far worse on both sides), and what's happening now in Myanmar.
I'll settle for the exception proving the rule.
"David Knowles reports at Bloomberg that former Hewlett-Packard CEO and potential 2016 presidential candidate Carly Fiorina called out Apple CEO Tim Cook as a hypocrite for criticizing Indiana and Arkansas over their Religious Freedom Restoration Acts while at the same time doing business in countries where gay rights are non-existent. "When Tim Cook is upset about all the places that he does business because of the way they treat gays and women, he needs to withdraw from 90% of the markets that he's in, including China and Saudi Arabia," Fiorina said. "But I don't hear him being upset about that."
East is East and West is West, and the twain shall never meet.
Except to allow everyone, straight or otherwise, access to Apple gear.
Cook showing his support for LGBT rights doesn't mean that straight folk in countries that persecute their LGBT community shouldn't have access to Apple products.
Carly sorta missed that point in her haste to tear down her competitor, posting from her iPhone, no doubt.
Excellent point. Cook's double-standard on this issue is astounding. He makes a personal fortune from a company while using it at every opportunity to spout human rights for his own progressive cause (albeit one which relates to him directly), yet his personal profit is off the sweat of the lowest possible factory wage he can get away with paying (directly or indirectly) to overseas to factory workers he will never meet. LGBT is somehow something Apple should have 'pride' in, but sending jobs offshore to third world sweatshops/factories doesn't seem to get these same 'activists' hopping on trains and marching. Typical Me-Generation type activism.
I don't have a problem with people being gay - each to their own - but this fact together with Apple's willingness to make enormous profits from doing business/exploiting labour in countries with abysmal human rights records and deplorable labor standards—and to remain conveniently quiet about this—reeks of extreme hypocrisy. Where's your voice on these far more important issues, Tim? Where are the slick videos and Apple parades and public statements and marches?
Nice use of false equivalence. And outright lies.
Hypocrisy? Name one Silicon Valley hardware company who has been more public and transparent about the issues facing their supply chain than Apple.
She's so shallow, isn't she (in fact, shallowness was the hallmark of her leadership at HP). Last I looked, Cook was not running for anything, so it's a bit bizarre for her to be going after him. And, afaik, he's not a citizen of any country other than the U.S., where he grew up, runs a business, and votes.
Uh, Apple employees and their families can march in whatever damn parade that they want, they don't need your permission. Also, no one is putting a gun to their heads to do so, including Cook. More like, it's none of your business what they do. Employees of a shitload of other tech companies, including all the major ones, no doubt also marched. I'm assuming they "shouldn't" do so either, right? Wouldn't want to offend your sensibilities now. And even if you're cynical enough to look at EVERYTHING from a business standpoint, all evidence points to the fact that this helps their business, and not harms it. So you lose on pretty much all fronts.
Exactly. Employees and their families. Privet lives. But they put the logo of the company. Whether this is the right strategic decision - difficult to tell. I don't know which 'all evidence' you are talking about. Care to elaborate?
Moreover:
Your ridiculous claim the the person who you replied to with words 'you lose on pretty much all fronts' is groundless.
What are the fronts he/she is losing on? How do you define winning and losing on those illusory 'fronts'?
They put the logo of the company with the word 'Pride'.
Hm. I don't see it as very suiting.
Pride:
1) feeling of pleasure [uncountable] a feeling that you are proud of something that you or someone connected with you has achieved
2) respect [uncountable] a feeling that you like and respect yourself and that you deserve to be respected by other people
3) too much pride [uncountable] a belief that you are better than other people and do not need their help or support
And there are some other meanings.
Considering those 3:
1) they didn't achieved their homosexuality, did they?
2) respecting some one for being homosexual? respect needs to be earned. You do something to get respected. Again, they didn't do anything to become gay.
3) are homosexuals better than heterosexuals?
It's ok to be homosexual. But it's a wrong message when you connect homosexuality and pride together.
Tim Cook hasn't remained quiet on working conditions in China. Quite the opposite. There's even a slick part of Apple's website dedicated to the subject.
You're going to have to find another stick to beat him with
Yet we don't see him divesting from China as did some multinationals during the Apartheid era. In fact, Tim's investing more heavily in China. Money talks, bullshit (in this case his, and yours), walks.
You got one thing right, his strategy is quite 'slick'.
Tranparancy
Nice use of false equivalence. And outright lies.
Hypocrisy? Name one Silicon Valley hardware company who has been more public and transparent about the issues facing their supply chain than Apple.
Who gives a shit? Transparency is to divestment what commissions are to action.
Lies? Really? So Apple are in fact not invested up to their asses in China?
Have trouble accepting basic facts, do you?
They put the logo of the company with the word 'Pride'.
Hm. I don't see it as very suiting.
Pride:
1) feeling of pleasure [uncountable] a feeling that you are proud of something that you or someone connected with you has achieved
2) respect [uncountable] a feeling that you like and respect yourself and that you deserve to be respected by other people
3) too much pride [uncountable] a belief that you are better than other people and do not need their help or support
And there are some other meanings.
Considering those 3:
1) they didn't achieved their homosexuality, did they?
2) respecting some one for being homosexual? respect needs to be earned. You do something to get respected. Again, they didn't do anything to become gay.
3) are homosexuals better than heterosexuals?
It's ok to be homosexual. But it's a wrong message when you connect homosexuality and pride together.
I think your post parses the everyday meanings of "pride" too finely. I believe that language is a living breathing thing, and that context can alter a word's meaning.
I guess you find it difficult to understand why gay people might feel the need to make a declaration of pride with regard to their sexual identity, partly because you have never experienced this sort of discrimination. This fact serves as evidence that LGBT people still have much ground to cover in order to maintain the basic level of self-esteem that all people are entitled to by simply being themselves.
For those who are able to accept themselves for who they are, and have risked the consequences of being "out", there is deserved PRIDE in acknowledging the truth.
Having "pride" is shorthand for *actively* cultivating a positive self-image. This works to counteract the myriad ways we're taught we're not worthy: not worthy of happiness, not worthy of employment, not worthy of security from violence, not worthy to marry, not worthy to adopt children... in some extreme cases, not worthy to continue living. By "taking pride", we are holding up an aspect of ourselves -- something which we have been told makes us shameful -- and reclaiming it as part of who we are. Reclaiming it for good.
Pride is a humanizing celebration.
I am PROUD that I knew intrinsically, in spite of being surrounded by all the negative messages, that I was not bad.
I am PROUD that although it took a lot of years to come to terms with my sexuality, I finally arrived and accepted myself for who I am. Until that time, there was a HOLE in me and now, in its place, there is a WHOLE me.
I am PROUD that there are thousands of famous gays and lesbians who have made a positive impact on every aspect of society and our culture.
I am PROUD of the millions of others who fight quietly to hold on to their dignity in spite of the persecution of those who claim to love them, but would reject them if they only knew.
I’m PROUD because I live in a world that constantly tells me that I shouldn’t be. Fighting that narrative—and its frequently ugly and violent manifestations—takes constant work. It is hard to have self-esteem when external forces bombard us with subliminal and overt messages that we are "evil" and "immoral". So I am PROUD that many of us are able to dismiss that negativity, knowing that it's a lie.
Believe it or not, being gay has very little to do with Gay Pride parades. But Gay Pride parades have everything to do with why someday people won't throw rocks at two men who walk down the street as a couple. It's about being respected as a human being. Not feeling superior, just equal.
Someday Gay Pride will be obsolete. But we aren't there yet.
"Possibly you've heard the Jewish in-joke that sums up the meaning of all Jewish holidays? 'They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat.' My Pride version? They wish we were invisible. We're not. Let's dance." - Joe.My.God
Tranparancy
Who gives a shit? Transparency is to divestment what commissions are to action.
Lies? Really? So Apple are in fact not invested up to their asses in China?
Have trouble accepting basic facts, do you?
I feel bad for you, and your non-sensical, slobbering posts of gibberish. I truly, sincerely feel bad, because your hatred is clouding all reason and logic. Apple manufactures in China? What a stunning revelation. They're also doing more for improving Chinese manufacturing conditions than any other company (or country) on the planet. Your solution is to.."divest" from China? How would that help? The Chinese workers who now are unemployed will be praising Apple's to the heavens, right? What a lazy and cowardly solution. And even if that was a solution, divest and go where? Easy for you to spout this trash while having no real solution.
Meanwhile, Apple is working in something called the real world, and actively making practical steps to improve things, in a global economy with dynamics that it does not control. Cook gives more of a **** about Chinese workers than you can ever will- not that you do at all, because your entire reason for bringing them up is so you can shit on Cook for his social activism in other areas. No doubt when that isn't your agenda, you don't give Chinese workers a second of thought. Cook has spoken about China- and taken actionable steps regarding China- countless times. Wages for Chinese manufacturing have gone up significantly, as well as conditions, and most reports attribute that to Apple. That's why manufacturing now is increasingly moving to other countries, like Vietnam, as China is getting more expensive. He's not the hypocrite- you are, for pretending to care, but instead using Chinese workers as a convenient club in order to bash Cook.
As for Cook's "personal fortune" that you're so offended by, he pretty much makes the minimum possible as the CEO of the most successful company on earth. CEOs that run companies that don't even make FRACTION of the profit that Apple does have salaries that eclipse Cook's by a massive amount- not to mention CEOs who are running their companies into the ground.
Stop accusing others of not accepting "basic facts" when your posts are nothing but cesspools of lies, distortions, bigotry, false arguments, and fake self-righteousness and concern, without a shred of objectivity, humanity, or reason.
Advise entity Radar stop clowning around. There is no other place on earth with electronic assembly as developed as it is in China. Note that it is the Taiwanese who have set up the factories in mainland China, based on their own experience going back decades in electronics manufacturing.
Pegatron has 16 times its Taiwanese workforce working in the PRC. Foxconn has about half a million workers in China contract assembling for most major electronics companies, including Apple.
You haven't addressed the points raised by RichL and Suddenly Newton. Here's another: better Apple should continue pressuring the contract companies to improve conditions, because there's no way they could switch to other contractors. There aren't any. Conjuring some up would take many years, if not decades.
Best statement ever on this subject, which is apparently so difficult for some to work out, since they seem to lack the necessary empathy neurons.
I feel bad for you, and your non-sensical, slobbering posts of gibberish. I truly, sincerely feel bad, because your hatred is clouding all reason and logic. Apple manufactures in China? What a stunning revelation. They're also doing more for improving Chinese manufacturing conditions than any other company (or country) on the planet. Your solution is to.."divest" from China? How would that help? The Chinese workers who now are unemployed will be praising Apple's to the heavens, right? What a lazy and cowardly solution. And even if that was a solution, divest and go where? Easy for you to spout this trash while having no real solution.
Meanwhile, Apple is working in something called the real world, and actively making practical steps to improve things, in a global economy with dynamics that it does not control. Cook gives more of a **** about Chinese workers than you can ever will- not that you do at all, because your entire reason for bringing them up is so you can shit on Cook for his social activism in other areas. No doubt when that isn't your agenda, you don't give Chinese workers a second of thought. Cook has spoken about China- and taken actionable steps regarding China- countless times. Wages for Chinese manufacturing have gone up significantly, as well as conditions, and most reports attribute that to Apple. That's why manufacturing now is increasingly moving to other countries, like Vietnam, as China is getting more expensive. He's not the hypocrite- you are, for pretending to care, but instead using Chinese workers as a convenient club in order to bash Cook.
As for Cook's "personal fortune" that you're so offended by, he pretty much makes the minimum possible as the CEO of the most successful company on earth. CEOs that run companies that don't even make FRACTION of the profit that Apple does have salaries that eclipse Cook's by a massive amount- not to mention CEOs who are running their companies into the ground.
Stop accusing others of not accepting "basic facts" when your posts are nothing but cesspools of lies, distortions, bigotry, false arguments, and fake self-righteousness and concern, without a shred of objectivity, humanity, or reason.
Laughable; now you're really grasping. Let's look at some of those basic facts you're so in denial of. Cook is taking the "minimum possible as a CEO"? Really? Where does it say in American labor law that the "minimum" a CEO can make is $ 9.2 million basic salary (not including his vested stock last year which brought that to over $100 million; and not his total profit from Apple which is over $700 million. Read that again: Seven hundred million dollars. Regardless of how he spends it, it is he, not those workers, who will ultimately decide what he does with that money. Now, let's compare that fortune with the average Apple subcontractor factory worker wage in China under Foxconn which is..... $1.78 an hour, often for 12 hours a day with few if any days off. I'm sure you can do the math as to who's really benefitting from whom in that relationship.
Your 'justification' of "it's so much better" if companies/corporations invest in places with horrible labor and human rights records than don't has been used for the last few hundred years, usually to justify exactly the same type of profit/wage disparity as we see above and more importantly, to allow such entities to bypass labor laws in their own home countries and to avoid paying hard-fought minimum wages there. They did it during the apartheid era too, and initially fought tooth and nail to avoid divesting in South Africa (I remember this well as I was actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement for years). The real world? You're naive to believe that the largest company on the planet doesn't have far more say in defining that world that any of its factory workers can ever dream of. This is about greed, a reality you to seem to want to avoid. Divest and go where you say? How about the United States? It is after all an American corporation and we seem to still have at least some basic labour laws here. Or if Tim is truly concerned about labor conditions, as you insist he is, I'd suggest they set up in Norway, Finland, Canada, or Denmark, their laws are even better than ours. Oh right, but that would mean fewer billions of dollars profit for Cook and the other major stockholders; I forgot.
As to how this supposed 'commitment to labor' often ends, I think you've unwittingly provided your own answer. When wages and conditions do rise to certain levels, these multinationals tend to follow the newest lowest wage to yet another third world country where conditions are even worse, thereby proving that their talk of "concern for" (in this case, Chinese) factory workers, like their talk of concern for American factory workers before was nothing more than a ruse all along.
As I said, I don't give a damn if Cook is gay. I do give a damn that he uses Apple to promote one issue (albeit a far safer one which contributes not only to the 'image' of a progressive corporation, but benefits Cook himself, once again), while beyond that image continuing to profit greatly from the global wage disparities of working people. That's at very best a double standard.
That real enough for you? Good.