Apple CEO Tim Cook Accepts 2017 Free Expression Award in Washington, D.C.

[MacRumors]

Apple CEO Tim Cook attended the Newseum's Free Expression Awards in Washington, D.C., last night to accept the institution's 2017 Free Expression Award.

Cook was named in February as the recipient of the award in the Free Speech category, which recognized the Apple CEO for having a "profound impact" on communication and for using his position to "take a public stand" on issues like racial equality, privacy, the environment, LGBT rights, and more.

According to AppleInsider, Cook used his acceptance speech to highlight the challenges involved in ensuring First Amendment rights remain a fundamental cornerstone in an increasingly technology-driven world.

Image via Religious Freedom Center​

"We know that these freedoms require protection," Cook said of First Amendment rights. "Not just the forms of speech that entertain us, but the ones that challenge us. The ones that unnerve and even displease us. They're the ones that need protection the most. It's no accident that these freedoms are enshrined and protected in the First Amendment. They are the foundation to so many of our rights."

"This is a responsibility that Apple takes very seriously," Cook said. "First we defend, we work to defend these freedoms by enabling people around the world to speak up. And second, we do it by speaking up ourselves. Because companies can, and should have values."

Other winners on the night included U.S. Rep. John Lewis, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award, and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who received an Arts and Entertainment Award shared with Hatch Beauty chairman Christie Hefner.

The Newseum aims to explain and defend free expression and the five freedoms of the First Amendment through a range of interactive museum exhibits. Its annual awards ceremony is used to celebrate positive work achieved by individuals across the occupational spectrum, including government, civil rights, and journalism.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: Apple CEO Tim Cook Accepts 2017 Free Expression Award in Washington, D.C.

 

[opeter]

Congratulations, Mr. Cook. Now it is the right time, to update the Mac mini.

 

[HappyDude20]

Considering Tim Cook's focus the past 6 years has been solely on profits for Apple, I genuinely believe he will simply steal what other visionaries such as Mark Zuckerberg unveil in the coming years. Especially when it comes to AI and Augmented Reality.

Good for Tim Cook for slightly chiming in on LGBT issues but I HATE how he is slowly destroying the wonderful Apple company that Jobs & Wozniak created.

 

[itsmilo]

Profound impact tho? Does he ever say anything without being asked first?

 

[modemthug]

Profound impact tho? Does he ever say anything without being asked first?

I'm sure he does literally every day

 

[sza]

Steve Jobs: Apple is changing the world...
Tim Cook: LGBT is changing the world...

 

[farewelwilliams]

Considering Tim Cook's focus the past 6 years has been solely on profits for Apple, I genuinely believe he will simply steal what other visionaries such as Mark Zuckerberg unveil in the coming years. Especially when it comes to AI and Augmented Reality.

Good for Tim Cook for slightly chiming in on LGBT issues but I HATE how he is slowly destroying the wonderful Apple company that Jobs & Wozniak created.

Mark Zuckerberg? Really? 360 video is not the future. Their video streaming platform is a piece of junk. None of the new bot features revealed today were compelling at all.

 

[jayducharme]

Now that it appears corporations will be given free rein in this country, we need more CEOs with a conscience like Tim Cook. That would be the only thing to shield us from the fallout of unbridled greed.

 

[Cineplex]

Oh please. Tim Cook hasn't done squat for anyone. What freedoms has he protected? He sends out a few emails a year, quotes MLK, and tells everyone he's gay and that earns a freedom award. There are many people out there more deserving of all these "honors" than Cook. He made a rainbow watch band...wow. Can we get a CEO for Apple that will focus on products instead of LGBTQ issues and world politics?

 

[simonmet]

Oh please. Tim Cook hasn't done squat for anyone. What freedoms has he protected? He sends out a few emails a year, quotes MLK, and tells everyone he's gay and that earns a freedom award. There are many people out there more deserving of all these "honors" than Cook. He made a rainbow watch band...wow. Can we get a CEO for Apple that will focus on products instead of LGBTQ issues and world politics?

+ 1 million!

Tim Cook is in a bubble and all this self-congratulation is nonsense. He's a privileged white American male corporate leader that just happens to be gay. Nothing more, nothing less.

He accepts this freedom of expression award but guess what, Apple is a company that censors heavily. Apple disallows and bans apps from the App Store for having the slightest political message or content. Remember when Papers Please got banned for having some heavily pixelated funny bits? It was only a backlash that reversed their decision and they claim it was a mistake. It's censorship pure and simple and Tim Cook is a hypocrite. There was also that time when Apple staff told some African students to leave one of their stores in Australia because they "might steal something". Don't tell me Apple as a company isn't racist sometimes. Look at their executive: 90% white men of which Tim Cook is one.

And Disney, of which Apple is in bed with, hardly has a positive record when it comes to freedom of expression, tolerance and diversity. It's promoted a pretty ugly stereotype of 50s values for much of its existence. Disneyland had anti-gay policies for a long time and possibly still does as far as I'm aware. Just look for the footage of people getting threatened, "arrested" and ejected for being openly gay in one of their parks. Disney has been hypocritical on copyright issues too.

Gloating and self-congratulation is never attractive unless it's intended in jest. Tim Cook seems to spend half his time campaigning for and accepting awards for nothing. All the while, the Mac environment is floundering.

I'll congratulate him if he gets a Nobel Peace Prize. But he won't. They have standards and you actually have to deserve it.

 

[Zombie Acorn]

Oh please. Tim Cook hasn't done squat for anyone. What freedoms has he protected? He sends out a few emails a year, quotes MLK, and tells everyone he's gay and that earns a freedom award. There are many people out there more deserving of all these "honors" than Cook. He made a rainbow watch band...wow. Can we get a CEO for Apple that will focus on products instead of LGBTQ issues and world politics?

It takes courage to sell a rainbow watch band at that cost!

 

[maflynn]

I would prefer a CEO to be less focused on social issues and more focused on what his company is producing. Taking 3 years to figure out that professionals don't want a non upgradeable mac pro is very sad.

 

[centauratlas]

His commitment to free speech is great - as long as you agree with him. If you don't, well then he isn't so supportive. (And I do agree with him on many things - slow Mac updates, no.)

 

[lunarworks]

I would prefer a CEO to be less focused on social issues and more focused on what his company is producing. Taking 3 years to figure out that professionals don't want a non upgradeable mac pro is very sad.

Ok. So we finally know MacRumors' official stance on all of this.

Anyway, he may be doing an abysmal job with professional line, but I wouldn't say he's any more focused on social issues than your typical tech CEO. He just gets more exposure because of media attention towards everything Apple does.

 

[maflynn]

Ok. So we finally know MacRumors' official stance on all of this.

No, you know the opinion of a member who volunteers his time at MacRumors.

 

[5105973]

Here is 7 years worth of Apple colluding with China on censorship of free speech:

2010
http://computerworld.com/article/24...e--still-kowtowing-to-chinese-censorship.html

2015
http://appleinsider.com/articles/15...os-news-app-in-china-amid-censorship-concerns

2017
http://www.digitaltrends.com/business/apple-china-ads-censorship/

I would never cite Google for heroics as they do plenty I do not like or agree with, but they did at least take a stand against China years ago that cost them business with China to this day, so by comparison Tim is always going to look like a hypocrite there.

My problem with Tim is not that he takes a stand for what he believes in. As an individual he has every right to do so. But when he does it with his Apple CEO hat on, he knows he can't get away with taking a consistent stand everywhere one needs to be taken, like in China. But he does it anyway, here in the west where our laws protect his freedom of speech and expression, and in the process, drags the company into hypocrisy.

When he so obviously and painfully kisses keister in China and then comes back to the embrace of our Bill of Rights and talks like this, he comes across as a poser. Which is a shame, as I think he's probably a decent guy who means well. I bet if I were to meet him I would enjoy talking to him. He does come across that way anyway. I think he just has his head up his bum.

Okay, after further reflection, I'm going to amend comparisons to Google. China has Apple by the coconuts in a way they don't with Google. Apple is really in deep with China. Tim doesn't have much wiggle room there. It's complicated. I think Tim dug himself a bit too deep there. It makes for very bad optics in the west, that's for sure.

 

[Smith288]

Tim has been in the news more about his social preferences/politics than he is about his successes as a technological leader.

If I was a shareholder, this dude would NOT be in my favor until he starts leading in innovations again.

 

[miniyou64]

Yes, Tim is all for freedom of speech. Unless it includes a Confederate flag, or an App that does actually promote free speech, in which case the App Store will not approve you, and so on...

 

[GoldenJoe]

Oh yeah, huge voice in free speech. Until someone tells him that they don't believe in gay marriage.

 

[nyctravis]

Oh please. Tim Cook hasn't done squat for anyone.

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it's more than you've done.

 

[Cineplex]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that it's more than you've done.

Oh good! The Tim Cook fan club has arrived to blindly defend him. I'm sure you've cured cancer as well as posted this reply.