Russia Takes Down Steve Jobs Memorial After Apple's Tim Cook Comes Out

An anonymous reader writes Citing the need to abide by a law combating "gay propaganda," a memorial dedicated to the late Apple founder Steve Jobs has been torn down. This comes on the heels of new CEO Tim Cook coming out as gay. "In Russia, gay propaganda and other sexual perversions among minors are prohibited by law," ZEFS (a Russian group of companies that originally erected the statue) said, noting that the memorial had been "in an area of direct access for young students and scholars". "After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was taken down to abide to the Russian federal law protecting children from information promoting denial of traditional family values."

Comments

Terrible

[Anonymous Coward]

After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy

I know this is terrible and all, but as someone completely unaffected by this (not an apple fanboy, russian or gay) I find some kind of weird surreal humour in the whole thing.

Mr Putin says there is no discrimination against gay people in Russia and the law was needed only to protect young people

Like, how do you even reach this point of reasoning.

Re:Terrible

[MozeeToby]

I know I turned gay when I heard Tim Cook came out! Wait... that's not how human sexuality works.

Re:Terrible

[MightyMartian]

Because you're the autocratic ruler of a backward nation where a healthy percentage of the population still believes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a historical document.

Since the time of Peter the Great, Russia has been an odd mix of backwards regressive state with a shiny veneer of modern technocratic government.

Re:Terrible

[AK Marc]

The humor is that by that reckoning, they'd need to tear down the Lincoln memorial if Obama came out gay. The idea that a future holder of the same job should have any relation to the past (and dead) holders of the same position. They might as well make Apple illegal in Russia, as the CEO is gay, so all Apple products call for sodomy.

Re:Terrible

[Crashmarik]

I for one do do whatever statues tell me to do.

Just don't blink when talking to them.

Re:Terrible

[rtb61]

Forget the US government propaganda, one can not be both populists (seeking votes) and autocratic (not needing votes). It was a disturbingly very populists move to go homophobic (disturbing because other groups will also likely come under attack) in Russia with the majority supporting it. The more likely reality in this case was that it is actually an anti-American move with homophobia as the excuse (sort of a double edged attack on the US). After recent events, a trend of anti-Americanism is growing in Russia, fuelled not so much by the Russian government but the rampant hostility of western media (especially US media) to Russia and Russians. With a growing number of English speaking Russians that hostility is feeding back into the general Russian society in a very negative fashion. So it is now becoming a populist move to oppose what the US culturally promotes (often just for mass consumerism or simple political distraction or straight up propaganda). This is not just occurring in Russia but spreading throughout the world as more 'foreigners' become exposed to US media 'American Exceptionalism' propaganda meant for domestic audiences only, this of course in conjunction with the destructive global political manoeuvrings of US corporations. The TPP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership or as I like to call it, the toilet paper protocol because of what it does to all member countries constitutions) is going to cause a huge amount of global social damage from which the US image will likely never recover (the more secret the more likely it will become a focal point for very damaging anti-Americanism).

Re:Terrible

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Sodomy itself is not prohibited, but it is illegal to advocate it.

I experience huge cognitive dissonance when Putin tells me that the law in question was only designed "to protect children from gay propaganda" when in reality, a statue of Jobs, who is a completely different person from Cook, gets torn down because Cook admitted that he's attracted to men. Not only does it mean that merely saying "I'm gay" could get you prosecuted because that alone is "gay propaganda", even if you said no more than that, but just like in the ole' good Soviet times, your family and associates would apparently be punished as well. Take that, all you idiotic Russophiles out there!

Re:Terrible

[Payden K. Pringle]

Your thought experiment is fruitless because there is no discernible way to tell if people could choose because they are bisexual or because sexuality is a choice. Or that if they can't "choose", if it's because it's not a choice, or if it's because of their psychology regarding the issue regarding any of the possible factors that make humans choose what they choose growing up.

In other words, the thought experiment is pointless without the very information that quote says we don't have.

Humans psychology is vastly complex. Solving for whether something is truly a choice or not, when that thing is deeply embedded in something we don't understand very well (our desires) is nigh impossible without a lot more information.

I'm not arguing that it's a choice. I'm arguing that the claims that it isn't a choice are baseless.

Re:Terrible

[jeremyp]

You're overthinking it.

I'm heterosexual. I cannot choose to be sexually attracted to other men, I'm just not attracted to them. Whether this is caused by psychological reasons, the chemical environment in my mother's womb, or genetic factors is irrelevant. I cannot choose.

It should be pointed out that the choice thing is really a red herring. If homosexuality were a choice, that would still be no reason to persecute gay people.

Re:Terrible

[silfen]

But they do support it now. Can you say the same for the GOP?

I don't think supporting gay marriage is a good thing, for the same reason I don't think supporting straight marriage is a good thing: the extensive government support of marriage that we have is actually hurting marriage.

In general, Democrats want to extend their lousy and destructive social policies to gay men and women; Republicans oppose this out of bigotry and prejudice. I don't care for either of them, frankly.

Because

[MouseR]

Putin on a horse half naked is not gay.

ah, I understand

[rubycodez]

I didn't know a person could become gay-tainted after they die if their successor is gay. Hope the next person to have my job after I die isn't gay, otherwise my tombstone might set off someone's gaydar. that would be embarrassing.