Apple and Tim Cook Commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

[macdos]

America… it is amazing how quickly a country can lose its appeal and status in the world, and how fast it can deteriorate into a banana republic. But that is what the USA has always been, a nation that just cant fix its problems with guns, violence and racism. Not after a civil war 160 years ago. Not after a civil rights movement 60 years ago. And not now after a devastating war against corona and a tumultuous period of trumpism, division, fractionalism, and a coup d'état on top of that.

It's deplorable. It's despicable. It's disgusting. YOU are not a "beacon" for the rest of the world, but a warning sign. A plague. A disease.

 

[Unsupported]

Today we honor Civil Rights Movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK). We are forever grateful that as he fought racism, and as Jews stood with him to fight for civil rights, MLK was also a Zionist who strongly supported the State of Israel and stood with his Jewish brothers and sisters to fight antisemitism. May his memory be a blessing.

Photo: street sign honoring MLK in Jerusalem, Israel.

 

[swingerofbirch]

MLK Jr:

“Call it democracy, or call it democratic socialism, but there must be a better distribution of wealth within this country for all God’s children.”

“We must recognize that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power… this means a revolution of values and other things. We must see now that the evils of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are all tied together… you can’t really get rid of one without getting rid of the others… the whole structure of American life must be changed. America is a hypocritical nation and [we] must put [our] own house in order.”

“The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and evils of racism.”

“I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective – the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed matter: the guaranteed income… The curse of poverty has no justification in our age. It is socially as cruel and blind as the practice of cannibalism at the dawn of civilization, when men ate each other because they had not yet learned to take food from the soil or to consume the abundant animal life around them. The time has come for us to civilize ourselves by the total, direct and immediate abolition of poverty.”

Tim Cook:

"We Pay All Of The Taxes We Owe, Every Single Dollar”

(He said this of course in response to accusations of tax evasion.)

Edit: Imagine putting one of the above MLK quotes on Apple's homepage!

 

[litmag01]

Really getting tired of Tim Cook’s hypocrisy!! Hey Tim tell everyone Apple condones China’s slave labor of
Uighurs!!!

Did you really just hijack MLK so you could point out an entirely different agenda?

 

[svanstrom]

Did you really just hijack MLK so you could point out an entirely different agenda?

No, he continued a discussion about how Apple/Tim Cook was using MLK in a supporting way; even though they at the same time support something that MLK would have been very much against.

 

[dannyyankou]

MLK promulgated the belief that bigotry and racism are learned. He would blanch at the newfangled concepts of "structural racism" and "white privilege". RIP MLK.

He actually did touch on wealth inequality a lot and how it hurt black Americans the most.

 

[applicious84]

Today we honor Civil Rights Movement leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK). We are forever grateful that as he fought racism, and as Jews stood with him to fight for civil rights, MLK was also a Zionist who strongly supported the State of Israel and stood with his Jewish brothers and sisters to fight antisemitism. May his memory be a blessing.

Photo: street sign honoring MLK in Jerusalem, Israel.

Well, he evolved on this point; many people know that King was assassinated too early. He was learning about the hate and violence that was at the core of Zionism and anti-Palestinian racism. Unfortunately, Israelis embrace so much of that hate. There are also streets named after terrorists like Jabotinsky in Israel. They are named after supremecists like Hertzl and violent leaders like Ben Gurion. They are named after people who were genocidal in belief and action against indigenous Palestinians, but go ahead and celebrate the views that he was learning to reject. He is better than all those people. Like Einstein as well. Unfortunately Israelis often co-opt the worst messages and overlook peoples evolutions agains supremacy:

Opinion | Time to Break the Silence on Palestine (Published 2019)

Martin Luther King Jr. courageously spoke out about the Vietnam War. We must do the same when it comes to this grave injustice of our time.

www.nytimes.com

During more than 20 visits to the West Bank and Gaza, he saw horrific human rights abuses, including Palestinian homes being bulldozed while people cried — children's toys strewn over one demolished site — and saw Palestinian lands being confiscated to make way for new illegal settlements subsidized by the Israeli government. He was forced to reckon with the reality that these demolitions, settlements and acts of violent dispossession were not rogue moves, but fully supported and enabled by the Israeli military. For him, the turning point was witnessing legalized discrimination against Palestinians — including streets for Jews only — which, he said, was worse in some ways than what he had witnessed as a boy in South Africa.

Ultimately, King canceled a pilgrimage to Israel in 1967 after Israel captured the West Bank. During a phone call about the visit with his advisers, he said, “I just think that if I go, the Arab world, and of course Africa and Asia for that matter, would interpret this as endorsing everything that Israel has done, and I do have questions of doubt.”

 

[citysnaps]

Really getting tired of Tim Cook’s hypocrisy!! Hey Tim tell everyone Apple condones China’s slave labor of
Uighurs!!!

A real shame on MLK's birthday you couldn't take a break from your TC/Apple hate.

 

[makr]

America… it is amazing how quickly a country can lose its appeal and status in the world, and how fast it can deteriorate into a banana republic. But that is what the USA has always been, a nation that just cant fix its problems with guns, violence and racism. Not after a civil war 160 years ago. Not after a civil rights movement 60 years ago. And not now after a devastating war against corona and a tumultuous period of trumpism, division, fractionalism, and a coup d'état on top of that.

It's deplorable. It's despicable. It's disgusting. YOU are not a "beacon" for the rest of the world, but a warning sign. A plague. A disease.

China... beacon of human rights and justice. A perfect society...

Oh wait!

 

[mactactic]

A real shame on MLK's birthday you couldn't take a break from your hate.

Real shame you ignore the hypocrisy of a CEO who’s company is profiting from slavery!! If that makes me a hater so be it!!

 

[kahkityoong]

America… it is amazing how quickly a country can lose its appeal and status in the world, and how fast it can deteriorate into a banana republic. But that is what the USA has always been, a nation that just cant fix its problems with guns, violence and racism. Not after a civil war 160 years ago. Not after a civil rights movement 60 years ago. And not now after a devastating war against corona and a tumultuous period of trumpism, division, fractionalism, and a coup d'état on top of that.

It's deplorable. It's despicable. It's disgusting. YOU are not a "beacon" for the rest of the world, but a warning sign. A plague. A disease.

I like that description. A warning sign indeed for others not to go down that same road. Ironically covid could end up being the vaccine to this plague.

 

[DeepIn2U]

"Some things in life they just don't wanna see (Ah)
But if Martin Luther was livin'
He wouldn't let this be,"

With one song ... so eloquently put to this topic. one of MJ's best work really moved me as quite a few of this songs did.

Too bad judging people not by the color of their skin, but by their character never worked out.

Surprised mlk hasn’t been cancelled with such white supremacist rhetoric. 😜

ahem 'by the content of their character' ... this is the quote of his million man march speech. I state it because 'character' is like history, whomever has power and control gets to write the perception as a fact. 'content of character' is in the actions of what a person does - something the public can verify.

Example: A politician in power can make statements as if fact, repeated enough that's all most of a populace will believe. What they do and caught by free press or by the public shows the content of their character. In other words a man's words and actions must agree (Dune, Frank Herbert).

My favorite MJ record.

I like to think of MJ's work by his songs vs the albums because in the old industry the labels had the final say of what songs went on which albums for marketing and sales purposes, artists didn't have much of the final say, even MJ or Prince or Tom Petty or Springstein etc etc.

Still glad to see a few kindred music lovers here.

 

[macdos]

China... beacon of human rights and justice. A perfect society...

Oh wait!

Hello from Europe!

That said, I'll take China before America any day of the week. Food is superior, girls are prettier, chances of staying alive so much greater…

 

[Poncho]

For the third year running...

Headline should read:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Commemorated by Apple and Tim Cook​

and not the other way around. Order of importance, please.

 

[svanstrom]

For the third year running...

Headline should read:

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Commemorated by Apple and Tim Cook​

and not the other way around. Order of importance, please.

It's a Mac-site, though; making the focus be on Apple, soooooo… one could argue that that makes Apple/Tim Cook the main importance… no? 😉

 

[tennisproha]

MLK promulgated the belief that bigotry and racism are learned. He would blanch at the newfangled concepts of "structural racism" and "white privilege". RIP MLK.

What? Structural racism and white privilege are the concepts MLK protested against. Just because we use more evolved terminology now does not mean these are “new” concepts. Thinking otherwise shows a dense and immature understanding of history and what MLK actually stood for.

 

[planteater]

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

My favorite MLK quote, holds true for all that is going on today.

Thanks for posting that here. I think it would do us all good to reflect upon that great statement by MLK.

 

[I7guy]

Really getting tired of Tim Cook’s hypocrisy!! Hey Tim tell everyone Apple condones China’s slave labor of
Uighurs!!!

There's an expression about glass houses that's appropriate here. Don't think Dr. King would have been calling out Tim Cook. To paraphrase...hypocrisy is as hypocrisy does.

 

[planteater]

Hello from Europe!

That said, I'll take China before America any day of the week. Food is superior, girls are prettier, chances of staying alive so much greater…

You haven't had some good gumbo from Louisiana, I see.

 

[daanodinot]

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

[Apple Freak]

"Some things in life they just don't wanna see (Ah)
But if Martin Luther was livin'
He wouldn't let this be,"

Had forgotten what an epic song this was and I don't think I ever saw the music video. Thanks!

 

[seek3r]

MLK promulgated the belief that bigotry and racism are learned. He would blanch at the newfangled concepts of "structural racism" and "white privilege". RIP MLK.

He didn’t use the exact words but a lot of what MLK talked about was what is now termed structural racism and white privilege. Like, basically textbook definition.

Our terminology has become better at formalizing the concepts, but he was very much about discussing the privilege inherent in being white or white passing, and how threatened white folks are by the thought of losing that.

Being white/white passing doesnt mean you don’t face hardship, it means you don’t face it because the color of your skin, at least not from general power structures. It means you benefit from assumptions of default whiteness, from presumptions of innocence not as often afforded people of color, etc - those are all concepts he discussed when talking about racism. He spoke about racism as generational and interwoven into the very fabric of the country, government and day to day life alike, especially in policing, and how it effects wealth disparity - ie structural racism.

I think you either dont understand the words you’re using or don’t want to, because they formalize concepts MLK was absolutely expressing

 

[citysnaps]

Real shame you ignore the hypocrisy of a CEO who’s company is profiting from slavery!! If that makes me a hater so be it!!

This story isn't about Tim Cook. It's about Martin Luther King Jr. From your postings it's easy to see you know little to nothing about the man and his legacy. And rather than stay quiet or perhaps learn a bit about the man, you launch into a juvenile tirade disrupting MR's post. That's the real shame. Grow up.

 

[Muzzakus]

MLK would be rolling in his grave....

Why Is Wokeness Winning?

The astonishing and continuing success of left illiberalism

andrewsullivan.substack.com

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

The problem I see is there is a toxic mix of racism and religion in this country. The Washington Post reports that religious funding groups are pouring money into the Proud Boys, and other neo-fascist groups.

I had a pretty awesome prof in the classes I took in college. Hitler referred to himself as being 'on a mission from God', and had the cooperation, and support, of religious people and corporate types and many of Germany's non-Jewish rich.

In can happen here, and it seems to be happening here. With many religious leaders throwing it all on the wall, and continuing to support the soon to be ex-president with statements like 'anointed by God', and other crazy statements that make me more certain that religion in this country is hopelessly broken.

The toxic brew of religion, money, greed, and power is running to critical mass now. People thought that the 'riot' last week was the Reichstag? I'm getting more and more concerned that it was just the start and Franklin Graham is getting wood thinking of the future, the toxic future.

They hate minorities, largely blacks but immigrants, and, well, how much time do you have. They hate gays, they hate 'Muslims', strong women, science, 'liberals', socialism, communism, science, thought, freedom, choice, shorts, g-strings, and yet have more weapons than I do, and that 'thou shall not kill' was morphed into 'thou shall kill the INFIDELS'.

Religion has always had an undercurrent of 'I'm special, and you're not', but today's 'God wants you to be rich' proponents are all about 'you deserve more', and 'they' deserve less. Ignoring the fact that the 'they' was actually themselves... But anyway...

But this could just be the anxiety and panic that I feel at the moment.