High School Student Interviewed Apple CEO Tim Cook

[Altis]

Whatever your political leaning, there’s something weird about middle class white men feeling they’re oppressed in America.

It isn't quite as comical as women in the West thinking they're "oppressed". Nobody is "oppressed" here.

Interesting how it's extremely common to openly discriminate against men, even when they are worse off to begin with (which as a demographic they are in very serious ways).
[doublepost=1516165972][/doublepost]

Yes, because being a man in the U.S. is terrible.

Privileged? I think you are confusing that with being treated equal to men.

It isn't equal though -- discrimination against men is commonplace all over, and men lack rights women have.

If women lacked rights men have, then people could actually name one. But they can't.

 

[DeepIn2U]

EDIT: I was going to quote SirithX and try to clarify an off-topic post yet I don't wish for such argumentative content to derail such a good thread. Not the time nor place. Cheers.

Good for her!

The girl will be always remembered being the one that interviewed Cook. I hope she'll take advantage about that - for what it's worth - and wish her all the best in her future career!

Yes it's good PR for Apple but hey, this student got the time of her life and nobody can take that away, never.

Indeed I think it's great to have a student do an interview with Apple CEO. Honestly I think an interview by a K12 student, one from each state per year should be done with all Apple Executives (Snr or VPs). Sharing the interview via video and audio and posted in iTunes U as well as other media would be awesome for the student's experience and future goals.

PS: I'd love to see follow-up interview by the same student a year from now - and unfiltered about what she could ask, appropriate (non personal life) questions.

 

[Altis]

The most privileged group of people in American society are white, male, own 99% of the wealth and don't pay taxes (& probably most think sexual assault is their birth right).

White men aren't a group, but a demographic.

You're describing the absolute top 1% and falsely attributing it to the demographic. They aren't the best educated or highest median income, for example, and discrimination against people based on ethnicity and gender is wrong -- is it not?

 

[H2SO4]

He does have a point. Right now women are pretty well off. Vote like a man, get any job like a man, etc etc. But they kept all the things woman had over men. Paid maternity leave, getting custody of children, easier time than men in rape cases where they're the victims, etc etc. Equality is a myth. No one is equal. But laws that are for one sex should apply to the other. No picking and choosing.

Not sure I'd agree with all of it but the emboldened portion is spot on. Absolutely spot on.

 

[z970]

WOW. What an incredibly backward, stereotypical divisive rant. Amazing how much self-entitlement and boldness the "alt right" feels they have these days to challenge everything as though everyone has always been equal... when in fact the Right were the same ones making sure things weren't equal all these years. Now women try to get a better foothold in society, and the Right calls it ultra liberal babble...

WOW.

WOW. Someone actually still believes conservatives are problematic, privileged, oppressive, conflict-mongers! WOW.

There's a .2% chance you're going to take this seriously, but I'll leave this here, for whatever it's worth.

 

[SirithX]

Did you not get the Google memo? Nailed it 100%. But then, outrage and misrepresentation. For stating scientific facts. If this is not ********, I don't know what is.

I read it. I appreciated that he attempted to be thoughtful with the opinions he projected, however you're misguided and only listening to what you want to hear if you take it all at face value. If you do care about actual science and numbers, I encourage you to read deeper into the points and "facts" he presented.

The Actual Science of James Damore’s Google Memo
The truth has got its boots on: what the evidence says about Mr. Damore’s Google memo

 

[pika2000]

I'm sure the push for coding from Silicon Valley means they want a ton of cheap programmers. It's all about business. It would be unwise to "force" children to core just because.

On the other hand, imo knowing about coding a bit is probably a good idea, especially when technology is an integral part of life today. At least to understand how the tech works.

 

[miniyou64]

What services did you use to write this letter and mail it to someone to transcribe and post at MR? Very impressive feat for someone who has never purchased a tech product!

I cant tell if you missed my sarcasm or Im missing yours haha
[doublepost=1516184338][/doublepost]

The most privileged group of people in American society are white, male, own 99% of the wealth and don't pay taxes (& probably most think sexual assault is their birth right).

Your hatred/bias/bigotry (racism?) is showing.

 

[otternonsense]

And clearly she asked all the hard questions, like why isn't Apple innovating anymore.

 

[Boatboy24]

On another note, wow, we came from Tim Cook's interview to privilege, fascism, and gender "equality".

I am impressed.

Yes, and in under 20 posts too. Amazing how that happened.

 

[unibility]

Glad someone finally said it.

I'm unimaginably drained of this propaganda as well... It's not 1880, or even 1960.

Damn leftists and their identity politics.

if I said that I would have gotten a warning from the moderators. lol

 

[826317]

Yes, because being a man in the U.S. is terrible.

Privileged? I think you are confusing that with being treated equal to men.

WOW. What an incredibly backward, stereotypical divisive rant. Amazing how much self-entitlement and boldness the "alt right" feels they have these days to challenge everything as though everyone has always been equal... when in fact the Right were the same ones making sure things weren't equal all these years. Now women try to get a better foothold in society, and the Right calls it ultra liberal babble...

WOW.

How dare you call me alt-right. I don't adhere to any political stance. I'm an individualist.

"Now women try to get a better foothold in society"

Are you serious? The mere fact that there is so much damn outrage over the smallest things affecting women these days shows that they are the most privileged class in society. Switch the sexes for any of the recent controversies and no-one would give a single F.

1. Men and women are paid equally for the same job.
2. The best person should be chosen for the job, no preferential treatment for women or minorities simply because they have a certain skin-colour or body part in between their legs.
3. Women get lesser sentences for committing the same crime as a man.
4. Women win the majority of custody battles despite fathers oftentimes proving themselves to be the better caregivers.
5. As a software development undergraduate I have received 3 emails regarding scholarships/internships and special programmes. All 3 have been exclusively for women. Do you know how many women there are in my class? 2, do you know how many men? about 46. Women like different subjects. So essentially what these companies are doing is making it ten times easier for the women who ALREADY CHOSE THEMSELVES to enter this field of study to get a job.

I cannot believe James Damore got fired for writing the truth about this. It's disgusting.

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

I'm tired of seeing this liberal/far-left BS. Women specific organisation for what? Women are the most privileged group of people in American society..

YIKES
[doublepost=1516197156][/doublepost]

On another note, wow, we came from Tim Cook's interview to privilege, fascism, and gender "equality".

I am impressed.

I mean second poster got things off to a bad start

 

[826317]

Tell that to the women who were passed up for roles in LOTR because they didn't let Harvey Weinstein into their pants.

Tell that to the women who clutch cans of mace on their way back from work or school at night because they're afraid of someone forcing their way into their pants.

Tell that to the woman who was dragged behind a dumpster and raped by Brock Turner, had to repeat the story to police, lawyers, and a judge, and now might have to go back and do it all over again because his family thinks the sentencing was too harsh. Don't forget his dad said this could ruin his son's future.

Ask her how much privilege she thinks women have.

You managed to list TWO INDIVIDUAL cases of wrongdoing against women. I can do the same. Duke lacrosse team? Thomas Kennedy? Brian Banks? All these men have been falsely accused of rape and have had their lives turned upside down. This is an issue which can be stopped by passing legislation to make it a felony to file false rape charges. What you're talking about is individual cases of harm which is already illegal.

As for clinching onto mace? Do you think women are the only ones scared to walk home alone at night in a dodgy neighbourhood??
[doublepost=1516198203][/doublepost]

I'm tired of this right wing, fascist, resurgence being allowed to grow without fear now that we're almost 2 generations away from the war that was supposed to have put an end to their inhumanity. Their soulless hatred of anything good in the world.
To those who stand in-between and don't want to get involved. That's what happened in the 1930's, too many said nothing and did nothing.
If you want to "honour the memories" who those who gave up their life for their country then stop either a) doing nothing or b) supporting them.

The most privileged group of people in American society are white, male, own 99% of the wealth and don't pay taxes (& probably most think sexual assault is their birth right).

Do you even know what fascism is??? You remind of of those antifa morons who attempt to shutdown any event which they don't agree with and scream that they're against fascism even though they are using fascist ideals to convey their own message. Which I think is hilarious. Also, I'm not right-wing, I am an individualist. I don't adhere to one side of the political compass.

"The most privileged group of people in American society are white, male"

https://www.statista.com/statistics/555855/number-of-homeless-people-in-the-us-by-race/
I bet these 265,660 white men beg to differ.

I'd love for you guys to get educated and give yourselves a reality check. Remember when 4chan told its users to post A4 sheets of paper with the words "It's okay to be white" around college campuses and then predicted the media would go berserk? Yeah that goes to show how unbelievably ridiculous feministic/far-left claims are.
[doublepost=1516199133][/doublepost]

Wrong, especially in Silicon Valley – there's still rampant sexism and female under-representation in the tech industry particularly. This is recognized by several civic and non-partisan organizations, and isn't some "leftist conspiracy".

I'll go ahead and assume you aren't a woman. I don't know any woman who would say what you posted.

"Rampant sexism"

What a load of BS. Why don't you go ahead and substantiate that claim for me please?

"and female under-representation in the tech industry particularly"

How can a sex be under represented in a certain field? Like what is the default supposed to be? Are women and men supposed to be the exact same in what they like and/or enjoy? Or maybe they're different and choose to do different jobs like nursing for example. Nursing is female dominated, do men make a fuss about that? No, because we as a gender have less of an interest in that field. Same goes for women in tech.

You should look up Jordan Peterson talk about Norway, where the freedom to choose your own degrees is so large that every person chooses what they really like or enjoy to do. Turns out that women and men choose differently and this just goes to show that.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Coding sucks. On your deathbed you are never gonna regret that you didn't spend more time coding.

I do it 60+ hours a week and if I was dying before 2030, I'm quite certain I'd regret that I didn't have more time to code.

Beyond that... well, I expect the singularity is going to take over any need to do what we call "coding" today.

Is it better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all? Everyone who's going to regret that they didn't code more will be the people who had coded at all. Everyone else will have their own regrets that could have been solved if only they knew how to code (but they fail to recognize coding as a potential solution to their problem, so they won't know to regret that they didn't code more.)

 

[DoctorDoctor]

I'm tired of this right wing, fascist, resurgence being allowed to grow without fear now that we're almost 2 generations away from the war that was supposed to have put an end to their inhumanity. Their soulless hatred of anything good in the world.
To those who stand in-between and don't want to get involved. That's what happened in the 1930's, too many said nothing and did nothing.
If you want to "honour the memories" who those who gave up their life for their country then stop either a) doing nothing or b) supporting them.

The most privileged group of people in American society are white, male, own 99% of the wealth and don't pay taxes (& probably most think sexual assault is their birth right).

Don't pay taxes ?? You couldn't me more wrong. The rich pay the majority of taxes in this country. Also, white male privilege is a made up concept. Do some research and quit believing everything you read on the internet. Open your mind and think about it for a minute. Example...There are so many programs that seek to put people of color (I hate that because to me white is a color) or women above white men it is not even funny. This is biased discrimination and privilege at its finest.

 

[z970]

if I said that I would have gotten a warning from the moderators. lol

To be fair, this is in the P,R,SI section, so it should be fine.
[doublepost=1516212481][/doublepost]@CerebralX

You sir, get my fully-plated stamp of approval. Bravo.

 

[123]

I read it. I appreciated that he attempted to be thoughtful with the opinions he projected, however you're misguided and only listening to what you want to hear if you take it all at face value. If you do care about actual science and numbers, I encourage you to read deeper into the points and "facts" he presented.

The Actual Science of James Damore’s Google Memo
The truth has got its boots on: what the evidence says about Mr. Damore’s Google memo

I'd rather read what actual scientists have to say about it. Or some meta analysis (https://heterodoxacademy.org/2017/0...es-the-research-say-about-gender-differences/).

On the other hand, studies can apparently easily be dismissed with "I don’t generally have a particularly high opinion of X", followed by diffuse arguments. So, let's instead focus on simple logic, such as the one presented here: http://slatestarcodex.com/2017/08/07/contra-grant-on-exaggerated-differences

In the year 1850, women were locked out of almost every major field, with a few exceptions like nursing and teaching. The average man of the day would have been equally confident that women were unfit for law, unfit for medicine, unfit for mathematics, unfit for linguistics, unfit for engineering, unfit for journalism, unfit for psychology, and unfit for biology. He would have had various sexist justifications – women shouldn’t be in law because it’s too competitive and high-pressure; women shouldn’t be in medicine because they’re fragile and will faint at the sight of blood; et cetera.

As the feminist movement gradually took hold, women conquered one of these fields after another. 51% of law students are now female. So are 49.8% of medical students, 45% of math majors, 60% of linguistics majors, 60% of journalism majors, 75% of psychology majors, and 60% of biology postdocs. Yet for some reason, engineering remains only about 20% female.

And everyone says “Aha! I bet it’s because of negative stereotypes!”

And if your answer is just going to be that apparently the negative stereotypes in engineering were stronger than the negative stereotypes about everything else, why would that be? Put yourself in the shoes of our Victorian sexist, trying to maintain his male privilege. He thinks to himself “Well, I suppose I could tolerate women doctors saving my life. And if I had to, I would accept women going into law and determining who goes free and who goes to jail. I’m even sort of okay with women going into journalism and crafting the narratives that shape our world. But women building bridges? NO MERE FEMALE COULD EVER DO SUCH A THING!” Really? This is the best explanation the world can come up with? Doesn’t anyone have at least a little bit of curiousity about this?

And that's exactly the issue here. No curiosity, and no discussion in general. Instead, despite strong scientific evidence of differing interests (and equal abilities), the less interested group is constantly pushed and promoted at the expense of the other. Meaning that with less effort or talent the same can be achieved. At this point, this is systematic discrimination. And it cannot even be discussed without losing your job.

 

[Eorlas]

You managed to list TWO INDIVIDUAL cases of wrongdoing against women. I can do the same. Duke lacrosse team? Thomas Kennedy? Brian Banks? All these men have been falsely accused of rape and have had their lives turned upside down. This is an issue which can be stopped by passing legislation to make it a felony to file false rape charges. What you're talking about is individual cases of harm which is already illegal.

As for clinching onto mace? Do you think women are the only ones scared to walk home alone at night in a dodgy neighbourhood??

False reports of rape is a different issue that I'm sure absolutely no one thinks should be met with anything other than brutal justice. Let's leave irrelevant things out of here, shall we? And perhaps focus on the topic issue.

There are enough cases of wrongdoing against women that are well-known that I need not list them all to drive a point.

Women are scared to walk home alone at night even in neighborhoods that aren't dodgy. The university I went to was one of them, and it was not part of a city, the campus was effectively its own space.

 

[5105973]

He does have a point. Right now women are pretty well off. Vote like a man, get any job like a man, etc etc. But they kept all the things woman had over men. Paid maternity leave, getting custody of children, easier time than men in rape cases where they're the victims, etc etc. Equality is a myth. No one is equal. But laws that are for one sex should apply to the other. No picking and choosing.

More and more companies are offering paid parental leave. It’s not just for moms anymore, and that’s definitely a positive trend. If that interests you, you should contact HR and inquire about having such a policy set up if your company doesn’t already offer it. I do know it would have come in handy for our family when I was recovering from a childbirth that turned into a medical emergency and needed my husband’s help with the baby. I think he would have enjoyed those days more, too. Unfortunately his company at the time didn’t offer leave to new fathers, but the company he works for now recently implemented it. It’s a positive change getting more momentum. And fathers are starting to be recognized in courts. I can’t quote statistics but anecdotally, I’ve seen fathers increasingly gain full custody.

I think it’s a bit misguided to say woman have an easier time than men in rape cases. For one thing, a lot of rapes and attempted rapes go unreported. For those that are, really it can go either way, but for a woman who is actually a victim and not making it up, the gathering of evidence is a harrowing process they are reluctant to initiate at all. It is for men who are rape victims, too. And our criminal justice system is far from perfect and rolls over men and women alike, and it’s often down to luck and lawyers, rather than who really is right or wrong.

We do have a long way to go to break down barriers that ensure humane and fair treatment for both genders. But we can start by being kinder and thoughtful to each other, genuinely respectful, caring and grateful for each other’s existence. We are not each other’s enemy. Injustices and embedded prejudices in the system that run roughshod over both genders are.

For my part, when October rolls around I put out the word that men can also get breast cancer and should also do self exams and be aware of their risk. Small efforts like that may not seem to mean anything but if we all try to really care about each other’s progress and well being, it can add up to positive change.

 

[lunarworks]

Whatever your political leaning, there’s something weird about middle class white men feeling they’re oppressed in America.

"When You’re Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression"

 

[5105973]

"When You’re Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression"

I think, what’s getting to so many men in general and white men in particular is that the rhetoric targets them with very negative imagery and language.

There is an entire generation of young white men who never saw the civil rights struggle. Who were born well after a time women were actively discouraged from pursuing careers at all and shuttled into certain limited fields when they persevered in seeking work anyway. They see the vestiges of the course corrections earlier generations put in place and depended on to get out of segregation induced poverty or out of a life of dependence on a husband’s income, and they have questions and doubts about the need for these protections and advantages to be extended today. And when they ask these questions or express these doubts, they are labeled racist or sexist and shut down. Of course they are going to be negative and angry. Well, some of them, anyway. Most seem reasonable and understanding, in my experience.

We don’t make progress without meaningful dialogue. And we can’t have dialogue when we try to shut each other down with ugly labels and unfounded accusations. Or even deserved accusations. As a mixed race woman there are times I’ve had to look past genuine expressions of bigotry to make meaningful connection to the person behind them.

We could all see each other’s struggles better if we stopped attacking each other with pithy rhetoric and trendy labels like “white male privilege” and conversely “feminazi”.

All I can do is remind everyone we don’t raise historically oppressed people up by dragging historically advantaged people down. And you don’t regain lost ground by denying that historically disadvantaged people are still struggling, even if you can’t or won’t see it from your vantage point. That’s a way to create divisiveness that serves none of us well.

It’s fair to say that life craps on all of us, though often in different ways. We are best served putting our heads together and trying to mitigate all the ways in which we are crapped upon.

 

[lunarworks]

I think, what’s getting to so many men in general and white men in particular is that the rhetoric targets them with very negative imagery and language.

There is an entire generation of young white men who never saw the civil rights struggle. Who were born well after a time women were actively discouraged from pursuing careers at all and shuttled into certain limited fields when they persevered in seeking work anyway. They see the vestigates of the course corrections earlier generations put in place and depended on to get out of segregation induced poverty or out of a life of dependence on a husband’s income, and they have questions and doubts about the need for these protections and advantages to be extended today. And when they ask these questions or express these doubts, they are labeled racist or sexist and shut down. Of course they are going to be negative and angry. Well, some of them, anyway. Most seem reasonable and understanding, in my experience.

We don’t make progress without meaningful dialogue. And we can’t have dialogue when we try to shut each other down with ugly labels and unfounded accusations. Or even deserved accusations. As a mixed race woman there are times I’ve had to look past genuine expressions of bigotry to make meaningful connection to the person behind them.

We could all see each other’s struggles better if we stopped attacking each other with pithy rhetoric and trendy labels like “white male privilege” and conversely “feminazi”.

All I can do is remind everyone we don’t raise historically oppressed people up by dragging historically advantaged people down. And you don’t regain lost ground by denying that historically disadvantaged people are still struggling, even if you can’t or won’t see it from your vantage point. That’s a way to create divisiveness that serves none of us well.

It’s fair to say that life craps on all of us, though often in different ways. We are best served putting our heads together and trying to mitigate all the ways in which we are crapped upon.

The internet has completely destroyed civil discourse. Pre-internet, when people actually discussed issues with each other in person, everyone worked to be somewhat civil, because hurling insults would get you socially ostracized or simply punched in the face. Back then everyone got their news from generally the same small group of sources, too. Now you have social media and YouTube channels that latch people into echo chambers by giving them perpetual feedback that they are the victims.

 

[826317]

False reports of rape is a different issue that I'm sure absolutely no one thinks should be met with anything other than brutal justice. Let's leave irrelevant things out of here, shall we? And perhaps focus on the topic issue.

There are enough cases of wrongdoing against women that are well-known that I need not list them all to drive a point.

Women are scared to walk home alone at night even in neighborhoods that aren't dodgy. The university I went to was one of them, and it was not part of a city, the campus was effectively its own space.

I listed those individual cases just like you listed your individual cases. You say women have it worst than men or at least that is what you're implying considering your stance.

About your anecdotal story regarding girls feeling unsafe walking home at night, I have some things to say.

1. Why do you think that is? Because there is an epidemic of girls being kidnapped and raped on campus? or perhaps because mainstream media and universities are perpetuating this absolute nonsense of a 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 rape statistic? Which has been debunked about a trillion times by now.

2. Again, how does feeling unsafe walking home at night imply anything?

 

[alex2792]

Can't say that I completely disagree, but I do think Tim had one thing right, companies should treat everyone with dignity and respect. That means, employees, customers, male, female, white, black and quite literally everyone else. Do this would do a lot, but that would also mean that companies wouldn't do things like slow phones down without notifying the user, etc.

Does that include the Chinese slave labor?
[doublepost=1516219002][/doublepost]

Yes, because being a man in the U.S. is terrible.

Privileged? I think you are confusing that with being treated equal to men.

LMAO, try getting divorced without losing your pants or getting custody of your kids as a man then get back to me about privilege.