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Apple Removes Civil War Games From App Store Over Confederate Flag Usage [Updated]
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So Apple makes a big deal about integrating the "Ken Burns" effect into iMovie, extolling the virtues of a documentary producer using technology to bring the civil war to life, and then bans historically set games referencing the civil war?
It seems they took exception to the flag being used in a violent setting. Does this mean they would be happy for it to be used on candy wrappers?
It seems they took exception to the flag being used in a violent setting. Does this mean they would be happy for it to be used on candy wrappers?
It's amazing how to conservatives it's suddenly government intervention, censorship, first amendment violations, McCarthyism when private people simply stand up together and say "this is hateful, unacceptable, embarrassing behavior and we are going to call you out for it". I hear the same reaction from the anti gay marriage crowd. "Everyone is against us...waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, IT'S NOT FAIR! We have opinions too! Everyone is so MEAN to us."
It's like you need it to be a conspiracy against you by the government because you just can't accept the fact that society has moved on from this hateful, useless AND historically inaccurate crap, and people aren't willing to politely stand by and let you continue it.
Your argument is incoherent. This is about games. You cannot have games featuring the Confederacy without using its symbols.
Thousands of Civil War games have been sold for decades featuring this symbol. Then some psycho murders people and all of a sudden people are coming out of the woodwork saying it has always been wrong to sell these games. Where were you and your cause before last week?
Outrage fetish bandwagoning is what this is.
That's right. Liberal types love states rights when it allows their state to enact local laws regarding environment, marriage or drug consumption years ahead of the rest of the country no longer considering those laws depraved.
You can read papers by the (some Northern) authors of the U.S. Constitution on the importance of state's rights
You'd think they would simply restrict the images on icons and in the app store. Otherwise, why remove any historical games unless the devs added something offensive in them? The Civil War happened. Just like WW2. If historical games from either war depicted cruelty to black people or Jews WITHIN the gameplay, fine. Reject those games.
But, just refusing all of them outright has got to be a statement from Apple regarding the flag. Plain and simple. They're free to do it, though. It's their company.
But, just refusing all of them outright has got to be a statement from Apple regarding the flag. Plain and simple. They're free to do it, though. It's their company.
Instead of worrying about the thousands of apps that didn't get removed, can anyone make a case for any of the dozen that did? Most of the other commenters seem worried about this being a precedent for a bunch of other games... and I'd agree if I knew the games that were removed and I personally deemed them unoffensive. But I don't know the games that were removed, so who am I to say they shouldn't be.
If I own a storefront, I don't have to carry products with a confederate or Nazi flag on them. Why does Apple?
If I own a storefront, I don't have to carry products with a confederate or Nazi flag on them. Why does Apple?
I'm thinking that if you can play a game as a historical group of people who actually wanted to maintain slavery and your objective in the game is to win then the game is, again to put it mildly, in poor taste. If you can't wrap you're head around why then my writing a comment in a forum isn't going to help enlighten you. So peace out.
No one is saying that Apple has to sell anything they don't want to. They have every right to determine what is sold in their app store.
The argument, is that the apps that Apple pulled were not glorifying slavery, racism, etc. They were games that used those symbols to represent the Confederacy.
It's surprising Tim Cook would do this, considering where he's from.
He's lost sight of the true, multifaceted nature of the Civil War.
We can't let people's crimes today affect our view of history. Or abandon historical accuracy, as if we're "Disneyizing" classic books (e.g. Alice in Wonderland).
He's lost sight of the true, multifaceted nature of the Civil War.
We can't let people's crimes today affect our view of history. Or abandon historical accuracy, as if we're "Disneyizing" classic books (e.g. Alice in Wonderland).
For what it's worth, I have ALWAYS had a problem with the fetish-ization of the Dixie Cross. It never occurred to me that the symbol was an inaccurate generic symbol and the larger ramifications of using it as a generic symbol until recently. NOW I understand and stand with those who feel it needs to be removed or constrained to a proper historic context.
As to your "lot's of games" point - Just because you have always done something wrong in the past does not make it right now, or mean that you can't fix it now.
If there's one fly in the ointment of this argument, besides the fact that a physical storefront isn't quite analogous to a digital one, it's that people have various choices on where to get their hate paraphernalia. You don't have to carry it, and they don't have to shop at your store. On the other hand, iDevices are multiuse machines bought by tens of millions of people. It's an economy in and of itselves. One with a single store dictated to by one company.
There are plenty of arguments pro and con to Apple's method. Personally, I don't care that they're the only game in town on my iPad, but I would like to choose for myself what's worth buying.
I know Apple would never reveal it to the public, but I wonder how many complaints they received before last week about Confederate flags appearing in apps and them being offensive? I know this is now the "in" thing to debate over, but did anyone care before last week?
You can. There are lot's of tablets and smart phones outside Apple's ecosystem, you just don't want to, and thus you're gonna see what they care to sell you.
Nobody freed me. I was born free. There's no weight on my shoulders, but I recognize the history of all our countries. And I personally don't feel the need to whine about symbols older than my grand grand grand parents - which I had nothing to do with. Yes, it's a silly move on Apples side. *yawn* Not the first time and nothing I would get my panties wet about. It's a company and they can do as they please in their store. And they will, even if it doesn't always make sense.
I understand that people - especially in the U.S. - might only see and celebrate the good part of such symbols. If there is any. And that's fine, I don't care, because it's not something I have to deal with here. Free speech is well and alive in Germany and those few exceptions are not enough to get my blood boiling. Most of those exceptions are in place because it might otherwise hurt some people. That's where free speech ends, or should end. And in this time and age there's no country on earth where I'd rather live than Germany. As a kid, it was always the U.S. I wanted to live in. But times change I guess.
By the way - please don't forget (like a lot of people love to!) - Russia did a ****-ton of the "freeing" part. The US part was more like a sweep up.
History can't be erased so easily.
This confederate flag was chosen by hate groups as their symbol. It didn't start with Dylann Roof, but his actions helped more people associate the flag with those hate groups, and with his terrorism.
Those who wanted to keep the Confederate flag as merely an historical relic (or a symbol of southern pride) didn't do enough to protect its image from violent and hateful misuse. It was negligence on their part that has allowed this backlash to happen. If they had stood up earlier and defended the flag against use as a symbol of hate, maybe it wouldn't have come to this.
Black people have long said that they see the Confederate flag as a warning to them to stay "in their place", or as an outright threat to their safety. Practically nothing has been done to make black southerners see the flag as a symbol of pride rather than oppression.
Dylann Roof murder spree isn't an isolated incident, and the flag didn't just now become controversial because of him. The morning after his attack that took the lives of 9 people, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling which said that Texas has the right to deny groups that want specialty license plates with a Confederate flag symbol.
The US flag doesn't reach the same level of controversy. It's possible that it could someday be coopted by hate groups, and become so toxic that most people want to distance themselves from it. Perhaps your statement, you want to help that happen.
Blame the Confederate Flag for this shooting instead of the medication this guy was on. Poor move guys.
Others: "Let's not sell the Confederate Flag because it's the symbol of rebellion or pro-slavery America."
Apple: "Let's pretend that the Civil War never happened and that the Confederate flag never existed."
I'd be furious if I were one of these game devs.
Apple: "Let's pretend that the Civil War never happened and that the Confederate flag never existed."
I'd be furious if I were one of these game devs.
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Your "fix" is to not have games about the Civil War, and here is where I kindly show you the door.