The Washington Post and other sources report that ZEFS, a Russian business association that built a memorial to Steve Jobs, has now dismantled it following the announcement by Apple CEO Tim Cook that he's gay. The interactive memorial, shaped like a 2-meter tall iPhone, was unveiled on Jan. 9, 2013 in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad).
It was removed on Friday, and ZEFS announced in a public statement:
After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was dismantled pursuant to Russian federal law on the protection of children from information that promotes the denial of traditional family values.
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Russian Memorial to Steve Jobs Torn Down Because Tim Cook 'Called for Sodomy'
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by Jeremiah Cornelius on Wednesday November 05 2014, @12:03AM
Propaganda at the worst.
For instance, New York Magazine wrote: “Did you know that you can catch the gay from a monument to a company founder whose successor happens to be gay? Neither did we.”
But additional reports from Russian outlets started to make the story a little less cut and dry. RT called it a hoax.
Another state-run outlet quoted a university official as saying the school was told the monument would be removed well before Cook’s article was published.
And a St. Petersburg site quoted students saying the monument had been malfunctioning and was in need of repair.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/newsyvideos/russia-destroy-steve-jobs-monument-cook-gay/ [digitaltrends.com]
http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/20725/20141104/russia-removes-giant-iphone-monument-at-st-petersburg-after-tim-cook-admits-he-is-gay.htm [chinatopix.com]
You're betting on the pantomime horse...
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Wednesday November 05 2014, @12:20AM
And it only makes the Russians look bad, not only because they tore down the monument, but that they allowed its construction in the first place.
Seriously, being surprised that people associated with Apple are homosexual sodomites? That's like being surprised to find out that Freddy Mercury or Ricky Martin are gay -- you're gotta be pretty damn oblivious not to notice something like that right off the bat. It's like being surprised that Hollywood is run by Jews.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Grishnakh on Wednesday November 05 2014, @01:05AM
That's like being surprised to find out that Freddy Mercury or Ricky Martin are gay
What's worse is that the homophobic conservatives actually think that somehow men who are so obviously gay should somehow try to be hetero.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @03:39AM
Well, you can't really fault them there because thats how they live their lives - publicly condemning homosexuality while secretly fucking white house page boys and getting blowjobs from men in airport bathrooms [wikipedia.org]. Since thats how they live their life, they figure everyone else should too.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Leebert on Wednesday November 05 2014, @05:15PM
I have no doubt that people are going to gloss over my more subtle point here and yell and foam at the mouth. But please avoid the urge and read what I say, not what you think I'm saying.
Regardless of your opinion of homosexuality, hypocrisy alone isn't a reason to reject a person's belief. By way of analogy, one could publicly condemn alcoholism while being a closet alcoholic. Just because someone struggles with something that they consider wrong does not itself invalidate their point; if you ask me it only strengthens it because they have first-hand perspective.
You can certainly argue that homosexuality isn't wrong for other reasons. But that's not one of them.
Now, for the part that you're free to foam at the mouth over: I believe homosexuality is wrong. But frankly I don't give a flying crap what you do with your own time as long as it doesn't infringe on my own rights.
(Score: 1) by dpp on Wednesday November 05 2014, @08:52PM
"I believe homosexuality is wrong."
Firstly, I'd like to know why you believe this. Realizing you might just be trolling here but genuinely curious.
I find it odd that many people who claim "don't give a damn" are often the first ones who want to prompt some "mouth foaming" and telling everyone their opinion...you know, even though they really don't give a damn.
Secondly, following the previous part of your post, I'm wondering if you're a performing gay acts "on the side", you know... as it makes your argument stronger:
>>
Lastly, as opposed to people who truly don't care about the sexuality of others, people like the Senator Larry Craig make a big deal about being anti-gay (seem to "need" to speak about it) whilst secretly engaging in gay sex, well:
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks"
(Score: 2) by Leebert on Wednesday November 05 2014, @09:47PM
First, thanks for constructively engaging conversation instead of doing the cowardly (-1, Disagree) that someone else did. It's how we all learn.
All that you really need to know about why I believe it to be wrong is that I'm a Christian. There's some nuance there that I'm glossing over, but that's the gist of it.
That said, I believe that it's between you and God. While I believe that it is an affront to God (which makes it "wrong" in my belief), that's not directly my business nor the business of civil government. Civil government's proper role, IMO, is to keep us from violating the inherent rights of other people, and doing some other limited logistical things which are not practical for individuals.
As to your second statement, I *do* genuinely care when people are not in communion with God. My "I do not care" was more geared toward using the power of civil government to compel action which does not otherwise affect me. Perhaps "I do not care" is a bit too much hyperbole; my position is better phrased "It grieves me, but ultimately that's between you and God." Not quite as catchy, but more accurate. :)
The reason I mentioned my belief in the first place was that seemed to me that it would be somewhat dishonest to express the opinion that I did without also disclosing my position on homosexuality. I didn't want to be accused of hiding my position.
This is back to my original point: Gay people who believe that homosexuality is wrong can still speak out against homosexuality. Hypocritical as it may be, it's not an invalidation of their position, anymore than an alcoholic decrying alcoholism. You may disagree with the former (homosexuality is bad) and agree with the latter (alcoholism is bad), but in neither case do I suspect the reason you think that is due to the self-contradictory nature of the speaker.
(Score: 2) by naubol on Friday November 07 2014, @12:36PM
Homosexuality isn't wrong.
But, the stack seemed to go like this-> It is odd that conservatives ask such obviously gay fellows to live their lives as hetero. -> Not so much, look they are doing it by screwing dudes in secret. -> (You) This doesn't mean it is an argument for homosexuality being wrong.
Your point doesn't seem responsive to the chain.
First hand perspective might mean they're afraid of being seen as homosexual because such fears were inculcated in them from birth and their whole sense of livelihood rides on not being seen that way. This notion is supported by the fact that they're screwing in secret (can't even give up the sex) and then loudly disclaiming it in public.
They don't have a first hand perspective on a healthy life, they have a first hand perspective on struggling with the fear of condemnation by others and the lengths they'll go to hide it. Thinking of it that way, are such people really people whom you naturally want to take moral guidance from? I think, no that person is pretty damaged and doesn't maintain a high level of personal integrity.
I reject your "subtle argument" that personal perspective naturally makes any person's view a more forceful argument because I very much think that personal perspective can lie as it is often a reason for having a strong bias.
It is a large assumption to think that republican conservative congressmen who are publicly heterosexual and privately homosexual think they're hypocrites or that they think they're wrong to be homosexuals. They may believe that homosexuality is fine but that the pressures of society, their own party, and their voting base require them to publicly say otherwise. Again, what they struggle with might not be their own internal dilemma but rather the ones thrust on them by society. And, in light of that, they may feel perfectly justified to publicly state one thing but privately do another.
Who could blame them? So many of you people telling us we're wrong, it is a weary, weary thing.
I think publicly stating "homosexuality is wrong" is wrong. I don't mean in a political sense, but a moral one. It is an awful thing to say that erodes people's sense of value and emboldens righteousness addicts to bully others. It perpetrates the social order that causes this congressional duplicity and the odd notions that one is struggling with who they are (blame the victim) instead of struggling with who other people are (the oppressors -- the people who are publicly saying it is wrong).
(Score: 1) by dpp on Wednesday November 05 2014, @09:09PM
Great point.
What came to mind when you mentioned that was Bill Maher's movie "Religulous" when he confronts an "ex gay" who says people aren't gay "born gay".
Bill's response - "have you met Little Richard?"
Video clip here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjQlh52Em3o [youtube.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @12:35AM
On the other hand, Tim Cook has been out of the closet for practically forever. [gawker.com] He publicly strong-armed Arizona into not passing their gay-discrimination bill back in February and his gayness was all anyone could talk about wrt that, although the official news stories didn't usually go there. So it is conceivable that the anti-gay orthodoxy in russia has been planning something for a while.
(Score: 2) by n1 on Wednesday November 05 2014, @01:15AM
The information that it was to be taken down for repairs anyway appeared when the story originally broke yesterday. However, that was before the public statement was made, which is being used for political posturing of the business group within Russia. Reuters, The Independent and The Washington Post has run this story on the statement made by ZEFS.
So if it's disinformation, or a hoax; did they not make the statement as reported by Reuters [reuters.com]?
So while it is probably true the monument was being taken down for repairs anyway, it is now not going to be reinstalled as a result of the 'anti-propaganda' laws to protect children in Russia.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Wednesday November 05 2014, @03:04AM
I'm sure it just had a light that wouldn't light on one side.
(Score: 3) by aclarke on Wednesday November 05 2014, @12:42PM
A quote like this seems like it could only come from The Onion:
I decided to do some digging, and found the Buzzfeed article [buzzfeed.com] that links to the Flashnord article [flashnord.com] in Russian. Google Translate gives a rather humourous version of this article, with some interesting [facebook.com] links [lurkmore.to] in the comments. The English Wikipedia article on Vitaly Milonov [wikipedia.org] gives a more prosaic and unfortunate version of this guy that, if correct, seems to suggest that he is actually sincere and serious in his comments. It looks like this is not his first time [independent.co.uk] in the international news.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @12:53AM
Its always about poo in the end.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @12:55AM
Like the shitty tasting hot dogs at a gay barbecue.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @01:36AM
Plenty of gays don't even like sodomy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @02:35AM
and plenty of straight people do.
(Score: -1) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @03:49AM
This. The way so many "straight" guys obsess over anal sex makes me wonder just how straight they really are.
(Score: 2) by fadrian on Wednesday November 05 2014, @01:57PM
C'mon... Devotion to particular acts is nothing but personal preference (which just about everyone, including gays, has). It says nothing about which gender you're attracted to.
That is all.
(Score: 2) by cafebabe on Wednesday November 05 2014, @08:06PM
There's a bash.org quote on this topic. From http://www.bash.org/?338364 [bash.org]:-
1702845791×2
(Score: 1) by dpp on Wednesday November 05 2014, @08:32PM
A *layman's understanding.
Not claiming to be an expert on sodomy or anything.... ;-)
I understand the definition of sodomy to be, basically:
Any sex other than penis->vagina
Some would argue, further still, the purpose of said penis->vagina mingling should be for the purpose of procreation.
However, the straight forward definition would indicate that, by definition, gays would engage in sodomy, if they have "sex". Additionally, I'd posit a vast majority of heterosexuals engage in sodomy as well.
*Not "lay man"
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by malloc_free on Wednesday November 05 2014, @02:09AM
Can I have the number pls? Are there options, like non-lubricated? Throw a bit of sand in there? Giver vs receiver?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @06:11AM
They should shoot feminist and lower age of marriage to girls.
Old testament allows men to marry female children.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @08:53AM
Now lsitening to: t.A.T.u.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @09:27AM
Now listening to t.A.T.u. -- (2002) 200kmh In The Wrong Lane -- CD, UICS-9017 (JPN) -- 07. Malchik Gay.flac
(Score: 2) by zafiro17 on Wednesday November 05 2014, @11:00AM
This has more to do with the sanction being put on Russia by the West in retaliation for Russia's intervention in the Ukraine. In the same light, Putin and pals have promised they're going to develop their own chip technology (heard on the awesome Linux Voice Podcast, highly recommended) and standardize on Linux so they're no longer "beholden to" Western chip fabs, etc. That's a crazy idea for a country with an economy the size of Russia's and reflects politics more than economics, something that has doomed more than one other strongman. Even if you mistrust the NSA to not put backdoors in Intel chips, that's crazy talk.
As for Cook promoting sodomy, about the only time you get sodomized these days are when you pay top dollar for a new Mac Mini with the specs of a mini-ITX box from 2012 - boo ya!
Dad always thought laughter was the best medicine, which I guess is why several of us died of tuberculosis - Jack Handey
(Score: 2) by arslan on Wednesday November 05 2014, @10:02PM
You obviously haven't visited any Australian churches...
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @02:43PM
Not my business what his personal views are, but what is my business is the way he's using sweatshop and what basically equates to slave labour. I'd like to see less 'Cook is gay!' and more information on Apple's violations concerning worker's rights.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by pkrasimirov on Wednesday November 05 2014, @04:25PM
It's not like we couldn't tell since iOS 7 anyway.
(Score: 1) by dpp on Wednesday November 05 2014, @08:34PM
A: Apparently Russians.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 05 2014, @03:19PM
Hahahaha! Stupid ignorant homophobe ruskies! Obviously no LGTB in momma russia. And of course they're subhuman and oughta be shot on sight...
However this caused them to remove a monument for an abuser... I guess the ying and yan thing is right, there's nothing so bad that there's no positive.