Apple
is helping support censorship and the suppression of the free exchange of
information and ideas in China.
I like Apple and think they represent the best of the best companies, but this is just wrong. Should their cooperation with China’s Communist government be met by a protest and boycott in America?
I like Apple and think they represent the best of the best companies, but this is just wrong. Should their cooperation with China’s Communist government be met by a protest and boycott in America?
The
truth is we’re too immersed in the Apple culture to just pull out. This is what happens who one company has a
lot of power and reach. Same with
Amazon, Facebook, Google, and a handful of others. We become too dependent on them that, so short
of murder, we lack the will or the power to do much about it.
The
dangerous thing here is how easily censorship comes about. Press a button on the Internet and some have access
to is vastly different world than what others see.
The New York Times app was scrubbed
from Apple’s digital store in China because the dictators there said the app
violates a policy that the government issued in June. The app apparently engages in activities that
endanger national security or disrupts social order or both.
Not
all media has been censored or banned, but the NYT is the biggest one blocked.
The Washington Post and WSJ, for example, are not banned.
The
public record of information and ideas is distorted when some countries or
Websites ban the appearance of certain apps or specific books. When all people don’t have access to all
information, and in some cases not even know what they don’t have access to, we
have a compromised and diminished world.
Choices should be made not by a country or even a company – it’s up to
people to choose what they buy, read or participate in.
Certainly,
none of us can even consume one percent of one percent of one percent of the
information circulating out there. We
lack the time, funds or awareness to download, read or consume billions of
pieces of content. But when the reason
we don’t read something is because of censorship and government bans, we are
outraged. We can’t reconcile the fact
that we’re purposely deprived of something – even if there was only a tiny
chance we’d have read or clicked on it if given the opportunity.
It’s
hard to believe that in 2017 we still discuss things like censorship in real
time, but here we are. Anything that
China does impacts one in five global citizens.
But
there’s censoring going on in America, too.
School newspapers are edited by administrations. Other publications are at the mercy of the sponsors, grants or advisers supporting them. At libraries across the country, there are book bans going on. An app here, a book there. It all adds up to an uneven world, one where some ideas and facts remain out of reach to others.
School newspapers are edited by administrations. Other publications are at the mercy of the sponsors, grants or advisers supporting them. At libraries across the country, there are book bans going on. An app here, a book there. It all adds up to an uneven world, one where some ideas and facts remain out of reach to others.
All-New 2017 Book Marketing & PR Toolkit
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