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Apple's App Store Accepts 'Gay Cure' App
parallel_prankster writes "Apple is under fire for approving a controversial app created by a religious organization — Exodus International. The app seeks to help gay individuals become heterosexual. It received a '4' rating from Apple, which indicates the company considered the app to contain 'no objectionable material.' The new smartphone app was released last week and is now available through iTunes. Exodus International claims to be 'the world's largest ministry to individuals and families impacted by homosexuality.' A petition has been launched by Truth Wins Out, which describes itself as a non-profit organisation that fights anti-gay religious extremism on the change.org website, asking Steve Jobs to intervene to remove the app."
Considering Apple is gay.
So would a god bashing app be allowed?
Homosexual? There's an app for that!
How nice for them.
"I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Well if it cures you of being Gay.. I don't think Apple will have many ....blank.....s left in the marketplace.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Apple accepts this app and they're attacked for being anti-gay, supporting homophobia, etc... If Apple rejects this app, they'll be attacked for infringing on free speech, supporting a particular political agenda, etc... Either way, you're pissing customers off.
But all I feel is schadenfreude. They got themselves into this mess by imposing editorial control over the iPhone in the first place. They made their bed, now they get to lie in it.
It will be interesting to read how many people want this app censored. I'm guessing someone will even try to argue it was wrong to censor the Mark Fiore app but that Apple should censor this one.
The rating gets set based on what checkboxes the developer chose to tick while submitting the app.
It doesn't mean that Apple thinks it is rating 4, it means the developers do.
Seriously. How many more downloads will be generated for it based on this press?
"Stop using Apple products."
Anyone have a 'Religiousness Cure' app handy that can help people become atheist? Would be fun to watch the reactions when Apple approve that one...
I assume that you include the app's authors and publisher in this, yes? They take it quite seriously.
Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
So... an app designed to turn black people white and de-black-ify their speech and appearance would just be good natured fun too? Just curious.
Homosexuality is not a choice and is not a disease. It can no more be 'cured' than heterosexuality, or race, or eye color (you can put in colored contacts -- just like you can go into the closet -- but it doesn't change the underlying reality of your eye color -- or sexuality).
The app is ignorant and bigoted and offensive, as well as pushing an agenda based on hatered and lies. That honestly sounds like 'good natured fun' to you? Really?
I agree with you that the app is absurd. But I don't find it particularly hilarious, especially knowing the number of people damaged and even driven to suicide by anti-gay "ex-gay" programs. There's a real human cost here, and I just can't laugh at that.
It took awhile, but Apple is finally going to have to face the consequences for putting themselves in a position to choose what is and is not allowed to run on their devices. Next up expect a lawsuit because someone used an app that Apple approved for copyright infringement and then the snowball will really start to move.
The religious bigotry industry is much much bigger than the pro-gay or porn industry.
I am a free slashdotter. I will not be modded, blogged, DRM'd, patented, podcasted or RFID'd. My life is my own.
It's funny to read the same people decry Apples appstore censorship appeal to Steve Jobs to remove the app on the basis.
Free Speech hurts doesn't it?
How come no one was on here decrying the blatant religiosity of Spaghetti Day? You don't even have to squint to see the FSM in the imagery, and I won't even mention the all-cat cast.
This is why Apple should never have gone control freak and just let everyone market their app. Let the users rate them, there is no reason for apple to approve each app. They can always promote the app that provide the 'best apple experience'. I think they got in the shit they deserve. Fuck 'em!
In the general population, depressing as it is, you are probably correct. Purchasers of trendy, high-end electronics, however, tend to skew towards the younger, richer, urban dwelling segment - even from a straightforward business perspective, this could quite easily go badly for Apple.
Bigger than porn? What are you smoking?
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Your last line really says it all about Apple, that is all the point in this whole post. Apple tried to act like God, now they have to deal with God-sized issues.
What's the latest word on the possible biological basis for homosexuality? I remember reading 10+ years ago about the discovery of physiological differences between the brains of Gay and Straight men, but I haven't followed the story.
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
The app is ignorant and bigoted and offensive, as well as pushing an agenda based on hatered and lies. That honestly sounds like 'good natured fun' to you? Really? I agree with you that the app is absurd. But I don't find it particularly hilarious, especially knowing the number of people damaged and even driven to suicide by anti-gay "ex-gay" programs. There's a real human cost here, and I just can't laugh at that.
Then don't download the app. Neither you nor anyone else has the right to decide what speech is damaging. The human cost for the suppression of free speech is far far greater than anything this app could possible do.
If this country oppressed free speech, then slavery may not have ended, Jim Crow may not have been defeated, and homosexuality may still have remained in the DSM as a mental disorder. At the time, speech proposing the end of any of those items was considered ignorant, offensive, and pushing an agenda based on lies.
Moralities change in this country, and what is considered offensive, dangerous, and disgusting evolve and change. But through it all, we retain the right to speech and that is--more than anything else--what allows us to evolve as a society. It is the thin layer separating us as a free society from an oppressed one where some self-imposed leader decides what is right and what is wrong.
What is wrong with someone learning a new way of speaking and dressing? Would you deny these lessons to everyone, or just black folks?
...But I think this app deserves to stay. Why? Because homosexuality is nothing more than a preference, a preference that some people clearly don't like. You can't force people to not download the app because you disagree with it's position. That's the whole point of free speech. IF the people who approve of homosexuality don't like the app, just don't download it! It's that simple! You can't force people to subscribe to your view of the world by making them approve of homosexuality, and likewise you can't prevent people from disagreeing.
In a completely unrelated point, I find homosexuality disgusting for various reasons; plus, I'm a Catholic and have religious beliefs about sexuality. That has nothing to do with my opinion of the application though (I don't plan on downloading it), so please don't respond criticizing my beliefs and preferences.
"Our country is not nearly so overrun with the bigoted as it is overrun with the broadminded." -Archbishop Fulton Sheen
There are genetic predispositions for violence, alcoholism and all sorts of destructive behavior. Just because someone is genetically predisposed to act a certain way doesn't automatically make that behavior "normal" and ok. Religions have been in the business of persuading (or coercing) people to regulate their behavior for thousands of years, for better or for worse. I don't have enough information to judge this app in particular, but as a general rule it's certainly the right of religious institutions (or other well-meaning institutions in general) to help those who desire to take control over their impulses. You wouldn't call a dieting app bigoted because it suggests that there's something "wrong" with fat people (many times obesity is just a genetic condition, right?)
In the general population, depressing as it is, you are probably correct. Purchasers of trendy, high-end electronics, however, tend to skew towards the younger, richer, urban dwelling segment - even from a straightforward business perspective, this could quite easily go badly for Apple.
The real kicker is this -- Apple regularly rejects politically-sensitive apps, including a bunch of anti-Bush apps that people made during the last years of his presidency. One of the authors emailed The Steve about it. Jobs responded:
Even though my personal political leanings are democratic, I think this app will be offensive to roughly half our customers. What’s the point?
Steve
What's quite sickening actually is that people still think that being gay is a lifetyle choice. Or would you say that being heterosexual is also a lifestyle choice? Lifestyle is pretty much orthogonal to sexuality or gender or race or pretty much any biological givens.
I think you forgot to take your pills today. Seriously.
Therefore, by the (faulty) logic you're using, you're just a cow with a keyboard - osu-neko (2604)
The problem with this app is not that it attempts to turn homosexuals into heterosexuals; if it could actually do that, great.
The problem is that Exodus makes unproven, misleading, and at times patently false medical claims. If Apple accepts this, they should accept any unlicensed, unproven medical treatment into the app store.
In general, I absolutely agree. In this specific case, Apple have already been censoring content they consider objectionable, and to turn around and cry 'free speech' now would be a blatant double standard.
> ...If Apple rejects this app, they'll be attacked for infringing on free speech, supporting a particular political agenda...
Apple did that when they decided not to accept sexually explicit material.
jhw
Apple has historically faced anti-religion, pro-gay accusations in the past, selling the Apple I for $666.66 and the (gay) rainbow colours of the Apple Logo, and for using an apple (a traditional sign of temptation) and now that it passes an pro-hetro app for iTunes together with other soft porn apps, the tables seem to have turned. Ok, so now the gay lobby will want the Bible removed from ITunes too? The Bible says that gay behaviour is disgusting, along with a number of other things relating to heterosexuality, and not to forget, lying, cheating and stealing.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
Homosexuality extends far beyond "stick[ing] your dick up some guys (sic) arse". It is being attracted to people of the same sex -- attraction to people is something that cannot be controlled. I don't choose who I'm attracted to, neither do homosexuals. The only thing homosexuals have any control over is whether or not they engage in sexual activity -- and frankly, if they are attracted to someone else, and that person is attracted to them, what exactly is the problem with them engaging in anything?
Censorship is idiotic. I see no real reason that they shouldn't accept it, despite the fact that I heavily disagree with their message.
Filthy, filthy copyrapists!
At this rate, they should have an app out by next year to make my girlfriend bi...
K.
Now, they are going to accept the "Christian Cure" app as well, of course...
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
If they hadn't assigned themselves the rule of censor, nobody would complain about this. The app would still be offensive, but Apple would be assigned no blame for allowing its distribution. It would be held up as an example of universal freedom of speech.
Having decided to act as the official nanny of every Apple customer, though, they are fully responsible for the shit they let through, too. Don't let them off the hook for this.
Apple accepts this app and they're attacked for being anti-gay, supporting homophobia, etc... If Apple rejects this app, they'll be attacked for infringing on free speech, supporting a particular political agenda, etc... Either way, you're pissing customers off.
But all I feel is schadenfreude. They got themselves into this mess by imposing editorial control over the iPhone in the first place. They made their bed, now they get to lie in it.
Meh. What mess? This is called free advertising...
Being gay isn't anything that can be cured. Based on the gay people I know it seems to make life so much more significantly difficult (even in Massachusetts) that the fact that anyone would "choose" it seems patently absurd. You are what you are.
I know of two cases where a guy who was married turned out to be gay (after having kids in one case) . Its pretty hard on everyone when that happens and comes out (no pun intended) due to an affair. In both cases there was a lot of religion involved which may or may not have played a role.
In the Bill Mahr movie "Religulous" which was ok, had an interesting scene where he visits someone who runs one of these "turn people straight" organizations, so there are people like that out there.
I think apple needs to rethink its app store model.
There is a sizeable group of people of mixed ancestry for whom identifying as Caucasian or African American is actually a choice.
Does it depend on which god? People believe in so many different ones! Also, why would it matter to bash some imaginary entity or entities? What about a Santa Claus bashing app?
When 1person suffers from a delusion,it is called insanity.When many people suffer from a delusion,it is called religion
There's two issues, one that they allowed it into the Appstore when they've banned many apps for less. The second issue is that they gave it a rating which implies that it's OK for everybody, rather than deeply offensive to a substantial group of people. They could've given it a more appropriate rating, as in for adults only, but they opted to give it the equivalent of a "G" rating.
That's my understanding of the 4 stars they gave it, I don't have an iPhone so I'm not positive if the summary is correct.
Then it can be "corrected" for eventually, the genetic anomaly eliminated.
That's why a lot of gays don't subscribe to the "born that way" theory.
Heterosexuality is natural, propagation of the species and all. Other choices, including asexuality, aren't natural. But then many things we do out of choice aren't natural, so homosexuality isn't special in any regard on that front.
You don't know any 'ex-gays' either. Because there is no such thing. There are only gay people who have gone back in the closet.
Homosexuality isn't a "lifestyle choice". That's absurdly ignorant.
And apparently you seem unaware of what gays have endured in this country and throughout history. No, it's not "the same" as what blacks went through (or jews, or any other oppressed minority), but there ARE parallels that are worth noting, and denying that is kind of ridiculous. In fact, trivializing the traumas that one minority endured just because they were different from another minority is kind of sickening.
No gay person has ever been 'cured'. Gay is gay. Straight is straight. Bi is bi. Human sexuality is complex and varied.
- Spryguy
There are three kinds of people in this world: those that can count and those that can't
To all the people trying to get this app banned: Fuck you.
No, I'm not even going to bother posting AC.
Fuck you for trying to censor someone else's opinion, no matter how offensive or batshit insane.
Tell it to these researchers.
I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
Apple imposes a certain degree of editorial control, but they also allow a lot of things in their apps. I get a click-through warning about 'adult content' every time the App Store wants to update my Craigs List apps, for example.
I'm going to download it so I can write a review. Here's the preview:
"**** awesome app. I was blowing random dudes at gas stations but after 3 days of using this app I'm down to finding Justin Bieber attractive. With constant use, I hope by next week I'll like boobs."
What is the highest / most prominent / most expensive / etc. building in most human settlements?
;> )
(that said, there's also the possibility of religious bigotry gay porn...
One that hath name thou can not otter
If Apple (where Tim Cook, interim leader of Apple, has been outed as gay) removes this App for gay bashing, then all the religious apps will need to be removed to satisfy the atheists, "sexy" male oriented apps removed for the feminists and vice versa (although straight males seem to have an attachment to lesbian sexuality), and so on until the PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals, oh no, the first amendment died that day and that other PETA won in court), well those guys demand all the animal cruelty Apps be removed (i.e., it has an animal image therefore encourages animal exploitation. So no more Penguin Catapult or Angry Birds will remain. All in All after everyone is done objecting the Apple "App Store"(tm) will look as barren as the Microsoft Windows Phone 7 phone Applet Market.
...
Stop the political correctness overreaching because they're well beyond the point of affecting my individual rights. It is equal protection under the law, not the orwellian equal protection for all but some are more equal than others
- Tjp
I am in wallow with my inner money grubbing capitalistic pig. ... Oink!
I would be surprised. If anything, you can expect some silly (but working, easily offsetting sales losses) movement by religious bigots to "support a righteous company"...
;) Also - I'm not sure if "richer" is a big part, not when contract / living off credit hides cost of a (sort of) positional goods)
(plus - suddenly iOS products aren't widely successful?
One that hath name thou can not otter
What did your link have to do with what you said? The only thing that wikimedia said is that there isn't aren't genes for characteristics, but a pattern of genes that creates a characteristic. It may be scientifically incorrect to say gay gene, but it amounts to the same thing for a layperson. Your genes are arranged in a certain way to give you your eye color, hair color, and probably your sexual preferences. As for a citation, let's have a thought experiment. I want you to visualize the most attractive person you have ever seen, personally. Did your stomach swoop? Did your heart miss a beat? Did, at any point, you decide to have these reactions? Did you, at any time before that moment, decide that you were going to be attracted to a person that gender, with that look? No? If you had no choice in your sexual preferences, why would I? Can you even put yourself in my shoes and mean it? It is a choice, right? The next time you see a blond muscle head, can you will yourself to lose your train of thought and blush all over? Choose homo for a day. Let's see how it goes.
Space Shuttle was a program that strapped humans to an explosion and tried to stab through the sky with fire and math
Homosexuality is not a choice and is not a disease. It can no more be 'cured' than heterosexuality, or race, or eye color (you can put in colored contacts -- just like you can go into the closet -- but it doesn't change the underlying reality of your eye color -- or sexuality).
Is that a fact, or do you just really, really want it to be true?
Yeah, as soon as the GP made his strawman racist app, I immediately thought, "Yeah. You know, there's a lot of people that could benefit from learning how to speak words correctly."
Maybe we could do one for grammar and punctuation as well...
...(assuming the app doesn't unfairly vilify homosexuality), but I don't know why you felt it would be helpful to include a "completely unrelated point" about you finding homosexuality disgusting (for various undisclosed reasons). The Catholic Church hasn't exactly been a shining light in terms of sex and gender (particularly in regard to the rape of children, and ensuring the swift and effective prosecution of such rapists by secular authorities). Also women in the clergy?, Contraception? And of course homosexuality. If you don't like the idea of having your Catholic Church inspired, backwards beliefs about sexuality criticized, then how about you don't add them to the discussion.
In a completely unrelated point, I find the Catholic Church's dogma to be disgusting for various reasons; plus I'm an Atheist and have moral beliefs about religious dogma. That has nothing to do with my opinion of your comment though, so please don't respond criticizing my beliefs and preferences.
It's actually a great idea for an App. Easy to make, easy to attract (phony) controversy to get publicity to boost sales.
And learning better vocabulary, diction, and grammar, and learning how to dress and act to appeal to various subcultures is extremely useful. And it's a good fit for the multimedia capabilities of the iPad and iPhone.
A quick Google search reveals that the US porn industry rakes in somewhere between 10 and 20 billion dollars a year depending on which source you prefer.
Donations to religious groups in the US alone amount to over 100 billion dollars per year. And that doesn't include the sales of tens of millions of Bibles, and hundreds of millions of religious books, CDs, movies, etc.
We might have a real Ouroboros going on here.
Is it remotely possible that what goes on in the Premier App Store of the country then becomes a microcosm of what the country "decides it is thinking"? I'm not good enough at the math to do this next bit, but as a fast & rough theory, we're starting to get a Walled Garden set of laws. See that new law floating around Congress about Felonies for unauthorized streaming etc... with that level of hyperbole, I'm absolutely sure there can be a Rated G rider in it or following it that Hate Speech leads to Discontent and Discontent breeds Terrorism and therefore Hate Speech is a threat to National Security.
So what they do with the app can be spun into talk debates on both outcomes. If they allow it, they "support the Right Wing agenda", if they ban it, it is "Apple over-controlling the software-consumer interface" and more.
All of these partial examples are building into deep social pressure that is going to overflow soon.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
I for my part wil boycott this App!
Wow, I feel relieved now.
angel'o'sphere
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
Someone should counter by creating an app that aims to make heterosexual people become gay.
So long as it lacks explicit material it should be allowed, by the very same logic that 'Gay Cure' is allowed.
If Apple rejects this app, they'll be attacked for infringing on free speech
Apple is not the only avenue one could use for spreading homophobia. The same group could not expect to be able to run an ad for their "services" in OUT magazine; and for that matter it may even be rejected by publications who are overall neutral on the matter. If Apple doesn't allow the app to be sold, it doesn't stop the message or suppress their right to spread it.
That said, if Apple wants to be seen as open to a variety of viewpoints then it is likely in their best interest to sell it. But there is no reason why they have to allow it. They are, in the end, a publisher. If you write a pro-KKK letter to your local newspaper they are not required to publish it if they prefer not to.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
a) apple does not censor apps at all
b) we try to deal with the problem by education and information instead of forbidding it
c) If its free, rate the app down (i dont have an iphone). Write comments like "a friend tried it and is now severely depressed".
Apple don't rate the apps in the App Store in this way. The developers themselves rate the app when they submit it. All Apple do is approve it or reject it. Sometimes they accept things they shouldn't. Either the reviewer clicks the wrong button, they make a decision that doesn't reflect company policy, whatever. It happens. Another example is the "baby shaker" app. It was mistakenly approved, then yanked as soon as it was called to their attention.
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
"You don't know any 'ex-gays' either. Because there is no such thing. There are only gay people who have gone back in the closet."
That would be a surprise to those I know. I was wrong on one point. I thought you were going to say they weren't gay in the first place, just experimenting.
Either way, the fact that it is a choice doesn't fit into your pro-homosexual agenda, so it can't be an option.
the most appropriate response would be to create an app to "Cure Heterosexuality" or "Cure Christianity".
Good point. Doesn't he remember being asked before being born if he wanted to be attracted to guys or girls? I do. It was right after the questions asking what I want my favorite color to be and if I want to be right or left handed. I can't imagine why anyone would chose the gay option given how much more difficult it would make their life. Perhaps he just wasn't properly informed about his choices. I guess he can complain to his god about that.
make this a cage fight!
The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
Spot on. But it's important to remember that we're seeing a trivialization of government, despite the ongoing claims of government being "too big". There's an effort to make it meaningless, to put government itself behind the "walled garden" so that corporatists can do as they please. It's why I'm very leery of the "government is the problem" crowd, because throughout our history, if government has been a problem, it's been our problem. But the effort to destroy our institutions is coming from a level above governments. Destroy Social Security so all the enormous amounts of money it collects goes to the transnational banks. Destroy Medicare so the transnational insurance companies can get all that money. Destroy education and the legal system so the big corporations involved in "privatizing" schools, and prisons can collect all the money. There's a law in Michigan being passed by their GOP government to allow the governor to take any municipal government, any town, any county and just hand it over to "private industry" (which just happens to be the governor's buddies). There will still be taxes collected, but it will go into the hands of people beyond the control of citizens. After all, if you objected to say, Haliburton, how would you go about using the "free market" to bring them in line? How do you vote Haliburton or Bank of America or Goldman Sachs out of power?None of us are their customers.
TaoPhoenix, you're right on the mark with your "fast and rough theory". And the best we can hope for is that the "deep social pressure" overflows with enough force to disrupt their plans.
You are welcome on my lawn.
True, but they already have a record of infringing on free speech, so there you go.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
It's a smart gambit if your objective is to take a stand on free speech. It's an even smarter gambit if your intent is to support gay culture. Free Speech benefits "gay culture" in the end. Start with an anti-gay app. take the heat. then publish "gay" apps. who can object? Now think about what happens if you do in the opposite order. Apple takes a neutral stand on gay employees which ultimately is pro-gay. so it's reasonable to see this as a gambit to establish that same neutrality in the app world.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
If you consider yourself gay and you can be re-educated to prefer hetero sex, then in reality you were bisexual, you are bisexual, and you will always be bisexual. So yes, a few people can be converted, those people that were actually bisexual to begin with. For those that are truly homosexual, this software should be about as successful as re-educating true heterosexuals to prefer gay sex, i.e. it ain't gonna happen!
And yes, insisting that the sexual preference that God created someone with is something that needs to be "cured" is offensive on many levels.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Jesus's favorite disciple was Mary Magdalene. According to the Gnostic Gospels, Jesus frequently kissed Mary and loved her more than the male disciples. So I strongly suspect Jesus was in fact straight. However, he did preach tolerance and made a point of associating with the outcasts of society, leading me to think that he would have loved gay believers just as much as any other.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
That was precisely my argument against DADT -- closeted homosexuals are a security risk, they could be blackmailed easily if disclosing their practices meant the end of their career. Only openly gay volunteers should be accepted into the military. That being said, they should be discrete and follow the same rules about "conduct unbecoming on officer" that all other military personal must adhere to.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
God made me straight. Do you think anyone can change that, no matter how hard they try? Sexual preference is just like handedness. Most people are right handed, some people are left handed and some people are ambidextrous. Does EI also think they can retrain left handed people to be right handed? I think they can only retrain ambidextrous people to prefer to use their right hand.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Ignorant and unenlightened behavior should be responded to by education. not violence.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Dude, it's called "soap-on-a-rope", the soap of choice for navy men the world over!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Or maybe having a small percentage of the population remain non-breeders is actually a survival factor for the species. It's not like homosexuality is a new development in human behavior, or even that it is confined to just the human species. 2000 years ago the long time success of a tribe was largely determined by it's birth rate, so anything that might lower the birth rate was strongly discouraged. That is no longer the case, hence the lessoning of the taboos against homosexual behavior. (Sparta is a case in point. 3000 years ago they had a culture wherein homosexuality was considered normal. However, they eventually declined as a city because their birth rate was too low.)
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
It'd be like building an app for the Amish.
Has this site gone out of business yet?
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I started seeing articles attacking this app last week, and what really frustrates me about them is that they say that Apple ought to ban the app because it's EVIL, and then go talking about how evil the organization that publishes it is, but never say anything about the app itself. It looked very much like they hadn't actually seen it, and criticizing it for being evil without seeing it first is really inappropriate.
I'm sure that once they take a look at it, it will either be as evil as they're claiming or else somewhat lamer than that, but they really shouldn't be attacking it before they've seen it, just because they're prejudiced against people who are prejudiced against them.
So thank you for contributing actual information to this discussion - you're the first person I've seen who's done so :-)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Apple allowed Grindr: "The app makes use of the device geolocation, which allows users to access other gay and bisexual men within close proximity. This is accomplished through a simple user interface that displays a grid of representative pictures of men, arranged from nearest to farthest away." I'm surprised that one passed Apple's porno filter.
So, if the opposition wants to have a say, so be it.
They have the only smartphones in the world and the only App store in the world? And they control every web site on the planet?
Really?
I guess that makes those companies evil.
They've got nothing compared to the Church of Scientology, which keeps a record of what was discussed in every "auditing" session.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Why is it an app? Probably because apps are trendy, and can be sold for small amounts of money, and they get to call themselves cool for having written one, and they can tell the people who donate to them about the exciting work they're doing so please give more money. Also, it's portable, so if you need hourly reminding not to be gay or something, it's there in your pocket to remind you instead of being back on your PC at home. It's not like there aren't lots of other apps that have no need to be on a phone instead of a website.
As far as your point about not being supportive of the organization, as the anti-anti-abortion bumper sticker says, if you don't like it, don't ban it, just don't get one. In practice, I don't think they're going to get a lot of customers, and if it makes money it's going to be from their donor channel, not their actual sales.
The reason Apple should allow them to sell it is "app neutrality" - do you want them deciding what the public should be seeing on their phones, as long as it's not causing technical problems with the phone? Maybe you do - I'd really object if they were selling a KKK literature package app. But I've found it really annoying that the people who are attacking Apple for having not censored it yet seem to be doing so without knowing anything about the app except the organization that's selling it.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
The problem is that this speech isn't intended to cause damage to human beings. It's intended to help them overcome a problem that the organization considers to be seriously bad for them. That's much different from, say, encouraging gay-bashing, even though both of them start from the belief that being gay is bad.
Whether you agree with that or not is a separate question, but if you think they're wrong, they're not in the "Hate Speech" or "Falsely Shouting Fire In A Theater" category - they're in the "Preaching the Wrong Religion" category or maybe the "Quack Medical Advice" category.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Installed app as a joke on my frat bro's phone and it turned him gay. Plz fix this bug. ONE STAR.
You have got to be kidding. Porn is big time. And since much of the porn out there has lesbian scenes of some sort, that would make it "pro gay" too.
I realize that you're going for the mod points, but really.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
This one annoyed me when it started to become popular. Maybe we should just blame South Park for it, but it seems to be a juvenile thing about making yourself feel more secure about your masculinity and sexual orientation by using the alternative as an insult and as a tool for social pressure. Is it because boys that age are still scared of girls, and need extra social pressure to go out and interact with them to avoid being thought of as gay, and they'd rather be harassed as being gay, when they're know they're not, than for being immature, when they know they are?
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
That reminds me of something I've wondered before. There are people trying to turn gays straight. Does anyone try to do the reverse, i.e. turn straight people gay? If so, how successful is it?
Exodus International versus RuPaul's Dragulator
I predict a quick win for the RuMan because the Dragulator goes from zero to *fabulous* in no time flat!
Hey, don't look a me. That's *his* slogan for it.
Yes, but the Gospel of Danbrown clearly states that Jesus did marry and have a son.
I think what he's saying is that the medieval Catholic Church's practice of extorting money so your mom would get out of Purgatory was the main heresy that the Protestants were rebelling against, not saying that all Protestants are like the televangelists who want you to donate money. And while Luther's 95 Theses also argued against 94 other things the Church was doing wrong in those days, that certainly was one of the more egregious problems.
On the other hand, once Luther's Reformation happened, there were lots of other causes having to do with power and money that got involved. Some of them were things like whether the Church could tell King Henry he can't have a divorce just because there's this other chick he liked (though they don't seemed to have minded him beheading the second one when he dumped her for the third, so it's not like there isn't plenty of blame to go around.)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Oh, snap!
(as others have noted) when you filter at all.
By opting to edit "objectionable material" they have opened themselves up to this.
I think people who think gayness can be "cured" are idiots. But for all I know these app developers are actually following my personal code of business ethics: "1. A fool and his money are my target market, and b. It is morally wrong to allow stupid people to keep their money."
(Or is this a free app?)
I'm firmly of two minds: The first is my standard response whenever anyone objects to any media content: You don't have to buy/watch/listen. There's an "off" switch. Use it.
The other mind is every company that appoints itself guardian of my content should have its arse sued into oblivion.
All I know is that my next device will be android. Not because of this specific case, but because of Apple's consistent impulse for control. The iPhone served me well as a user, but as a developer it rather sucks and the android platform and range of devices have come along nicely.
Starting to block apps because of a point of view espoused therein wont go WORSE for them?
Lets put it this way, if a different author had spun it different, "Apple likely to block app because of Author belief", you dont think 80% of slashdot would be crying for a lynching?
That's not how personal preferences are formed. You don't have a genetic program that determines who you will have sex with. If there were a gay gene, they'd have found it by now. Sex is a creative process, and the people taking part in it decide how it will happen. Saying you don't choose to be gay is like saying you don't choose to be an engineer. I happen to be an engineer, but I don't believe that I had to be one, or that I could not put down my computer and pick a paintbrush or a hammer tomorrow if I wanted to.
Human development is a process of growth and exploration. It's not a deterministic process of like following a flow chart to your destination. People self-select who they are and who they will become. It is an amazing process that is shrouded in mystery. Telling someone that they are who they are, and they can't choose is as bad as telling them that it's wrong to be who they are because the did have a choice. Either is dis-empowering and unloving. Ultimately, you are responsible for who you are and who you will become. Where these Christian nut-jobs get screwed up they think it's their job to take that responsibility from the ones who rightly have it.
This app is misguided, but it's completely voluntary. If it's another step in people learning about who they are and taking the next step, I'm all for it, no matter how misguided it is.
Isn't that elsewhere called "Android"?
Not if AT&T is the only provider with good signal coverage in an area. Android-powered phones sold by AT&T restrict users to Google's market by hiding the "Settings > Applications > Unknown sources" checkbox, unlike every single other Android-powered phone or PDA I can think of, and users can't install an alternative market or downloaded APKs.
It's also horribly inconvenient for end users, who have to carry two separate devices: their existing device to run their existing iOS apps and a second device to run Android apps.
Now, if we continue with our analogy, there are certainly other "towns" that you can live in.
But you likely won't have a support network of friends and family in those towns, just as you have to give up your existing purchased apps, movies, and pre-iTunes Plus music when you switch to an Android-powered device.
Apple's App Store is also limited by display capacity: only a small number of applications can appear above the fold in each category in iTunes. Apple's App Store is also limited by storage capacity: it costs Apple money to run servers. Furthermore, because Apple manages the payment, it would cost Apple money to refund the purchase price if it were to allow apps that end up not working as advertised.
Curing Gay people? Whatever next? Curing blonds? Curing tall people? Curing (insert the way you were born here)?
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
If you don't like the "gay cure" app don't download it. I'm gay - I won't. I know that homosexuality can't be "cured". But I don't like this politically correct stuff that you have to remove these things because they offend people. I don't want some people deciding what I can see and can't see.
If you don't agree with them, follow their dogma 100%, you're an"ignorant arsehole." You hurt your own cause by alienating people like me who have no problem with homosexuality.
Reminds me of the very subject of this story, fundamentalist Christians, if you don't agree, you're an idiot going to hell.
"It's your anti-gay agenda that blinds you to this, apparently."
That's a lie, I have no anti-gay agenda. I stated that up front. It's just like the fundamentalist Christians. When they find out I'm atheist they think I have an anti-Christian agenda too. Both of you alienate those who aren't against you by unfairly attacking at a personal level over differences of belief.
But if you think it's just a natural occurrence, probably genetic, then it absolutely can be "cured." Gene therapy will eventually get good enough that we will be able to "fix" what makes people homosexual. I don't believe that of course.
"But you don't suddenly "turn" homosexual, or "turn" heterosexual. The fact is, there are no ex-gays. There just aren't."
That doesn't explain the people who are, but weren't before, or who aren't but were before. You are being just like the Christians. You say they are "confused" about their sexuality. You can't accept what they say about their own sexuality, that they were gay and now aren't same as the Christians can't accept that someone can just be gay. For both of you, you think you know better than the people themselves.
"based almost entirely in ignorance and homophobia."
Another hint to quit alienating people. Using bullshit, loaded and 99% incorrect terms like "homophobia" in every case only makes you look stupid and vindictive. Very few people, even among the Christians (and Muslims BTW), have an irrational, intense and persistent fear of homosexuality. They may be against it, but they don't have a phobia.
Total bullshit.
Interesting, I was just told it's FACT.
Absolute fact, no ability to believe any differently.
Yet here you tell me that some gays don't believe that.
I guess they're homophobes.
And most likely decided in advance of the study.
Clearly agenda-driven "science."
Ask Gilbert Godfried
1) Gay and find the app offensive or 2) Closet homo Xians who would be offended if the app were removed. Either way, all Apple's customers are gay and Apple has to decide which gay customers it will offend.
(This is an attempt to make their heads explode ; sometimes ridicule is one of the more effective tools around against certain species of sub-humans, and this seems like such a case to me. If you can do better, feel free to chime in ; comedy isn't in my job specification.)
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
The rating is picked by the developer. That means the app submitter selected "No" to "Does your app contain violence? Offensive language? Sexual content?" and a bunch of other things.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
As in all things iTunes, Apple is always perfectly correct on every acceptance and rejection of software made available through the iTunes store. When you think there's a problem here, its you who are misinformed. An Apple Store Genius will be happy to assist you. Here, try these rose-tinted glasses, they will calm your raging mind. And have a tall, cool glass of Kool-Aid... you will soon be one with Lanrdu, er, Apple.
-Dave Haynie
1. Why does everyone decry censorship, unless it's against a viewpoint they disagree with. Leave the app. What if there is someone who wants to change their lifestyle, who are you to say such a tool should not exist.
2. Those decrying it's a birth thing, and those decrying it's a social thing are both WRONG and/or DISHONEST. The fact of the matter is that it is both. In some situations we are seeing more evidence of genetic level issues. In fact, we now know some people have multiple DNA, perhaps even having both male and female DNA. But there is also evidence that certain life situations and environment can be the reason an individual chooses a homosexual lifestyle.
3. Some people are comfortable within that lifestyle, and some people who struggle with being drawn to both lifestyles want to maintain a heterosexual lifestyle in part because of family or other reasons. Those desiring that should have access to tools and support, as do those who do not.
Wut?
Grindr, Scruff, Growlr, Manhunt.... They should have one for Homophobes. So we can have some gay-basher bashing? :)
E8B8B
I don't have a dog in this fight, so to speak. I am not religious, I don't care some two thousand year old book condemns homosexuality. I think the people who preach against homosexuality are idiots.
I go on the evidence, what I see, what is rational. And that doesn't fit with what the gay propaganda ministers are producing in the fight against the aforementioned religious zealots.