On the other hand, I was sad to learn, recently, that Apple removed the Manhattan Declaration App from its app store because some people consider it hateful and bigoted.I suppose some people may say I'm hateful and bigoted because I support traditional marriage and believe homosexual behavior is immoral and sinful.
As I've openly declared before, I have a brother who self-identifies as homosexual, and I love him very much. On the other hand, I am disappointed with his choice to label himself that way.
Rather than view my brother as an inferior gay, or a "second class citizen," I view him as a beloved child of God who merits my love and respect.
Although I feel I've expressed my disagreement in love, I'm surprised to see so many people shouting their wish to silence me and others they disagree with. While, I strongly disagree with those who who support same-sex marriage and similar views, I firmly believe they have a right to politely speak their voice.
Rather than be silenced, I will let my voice be heard, and I have. Here is what I wrote to Steve Jobs on this matter:
Mr. Jobs:Writing six years ago, President Gordon B. Hinckley invited us to stand for truth:
First of all, my congratulations on Apple's many successes this year. I'm particularly impressed with the new MacBook Air line. Moreover, I'm curious to see how Apple responds to Chrome OS, once it actually arrives. :)
With that said, I was very sad to learn that Apple removed the Manhattan Declaration App.
I feel very strongly about traditional marriage, an unborn child's right to life, and the preservation of religious freedom in this greatest nation on earth.
I view Apple as a strong presence in our society and, as I believe Apple intends to be, a trend setter.
I invite you to use your influence for good, to let individuals peacefully speak their mind.
Please reinstate the Manhattan Declaration app.
All the best[.]
Will you please stand with me in inviting Steve Jobs and Apple to reinstate the Manhattan Declaration and to let people speak their mind?The building of public sentiment begins with a few earnest voices. I am not one to advocate shouting defiantly or shaking fists and issuing threats in the faces of legislators. But I am one who believes that we should earnestly and sincerely and positively express our convictions to those given the heavy responsibility of making and enforcing our laws. The sad fact is that the minority who call for greater liberalization, who peddle and devour pornography, who encourage and feed on licentious display make their voices heard until those in our legislatures may come to believe that what they say represents the will of the majority. We are not likely to get that which we do not speak up for.
Let our voices be heard. I hope they will not be shrill voices, but I hope we shall speak with such conviction that those to whom we speak shall know of the strength of our feeling and the sincerity of our effort. Remarkable consequences often flow from a well-written letter and a postage stamp. Remarkable results come of quiet conversation with those who carry heavy responsibilities.
You can write him at steve@apple.com.
Please also sign the petition to have the app reinstated.
If you have yet to sign the Manhattan Declaration, please sign it at the link, below.
http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/home.aspx
7 comments:
Of course you have your right to peacefully speak your mind, and Apple is not preventing you from doing so, through the many channels of communication available to you; they are merely abstaining from actively participating in the publishment of this view.
I for one applaud any technology company choosing to distance themselves from the kind of propaganda that led directly to the death of Alan Turing, the undisputed father of modern computing.
It took 55 years for the British goverment to officially apologise for the disgraceful way this war hero was treated, and while I am in a happy heterosexual marriage, I continue to view the use of computer technology to promote the view of homosexuality as immoral and sinful as a continuation of the injustice done to a great man.
Does this mean anything residing in the app store represents Apple's "publishment of [that] view"? Did Apple originally make publishment of the Manhattan Declaration when it gave it a 4+ rating? I personally assume (or at least hope) there are a number of apps in the app store whose message Apple disagrees with, and yet tolerates.
To be candid, I'm unfamiliar with Alan Turing. I also fail to see how declaring that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that homosexual behavior is sinful "le[ads] directly" to anyone's death.
Again, I'm unfamiliar with Mr. Turing's story and congratulate him for his undisputed achievement. On the other hand, I fail to see how publicly disagreeing with someone's behavior, alone, necessarily creates an "injustice."
Oh, and thanks for commenting, Mr. Arthur!
Alan Turing was probably the most important member of the Bletchley Park station during WWII where the German cypher known as "Enigma" was successully cracked, using a combination of complex numerical algebra, covert intelligence, and (probably most important) the development of electronic calculating engines, designed to methodically try out a large number of potential starting conditions in the hope of decrypting a day's worth of enemy transmissions.
These machines were the product of Turing's vision, though were not quite what we'd now call generalised computers, as they were designed to perform a single specific set of calculations, given a set of inputs. His great achievement was imagining a machine whose inputs specfied the calculations to be done; in other words, a programmable computer.
He was also homosexual. Upon calling the police one evening to report a burglery, he was found to be living with his male lover. This was still a criminal offence, and he was given a choice: go to jail, or submit to hormone treatment to "cure" his homosexuality. The medication he was given destroyed him mentally and physically (one symptom for example was the growth of female breasts). In 1955, unable to go on he ate an apple laced with cyanide.
Make no mistake: without his work at Bletchley Park, the allies would not have prevailed; and who knows how computing would have evolved either without him, or indeed where we'd be now had he not been persecuted to his death.
I thank you for publishing my comments; I know some sites that would prune out comments they disagreed with, and it is good to see that you encourage debate. For my own part, I hope I didn't/don't come across as too combative; Turing is a great hero of mine, and I can get pretty emotional about how tragic and wasteful was his suicide.
Oh, and purely as an aside, the reason we're all now familiar with computers is to distinguish them from the Bletchley Park huts full of (mostly female, of course, with the men fighting) workers tirelessly performing the innumerable basic arithmetic operations necessary to crack the Enigma; these ladies were known as computors.
Thanks for the background information. I definitely believe countless individuals can make a positive impact on society, even if I do disagree with parts of how they live their lives.
As President Henry B. Eyring said, "The children of God have more in common than they have differences."
I'm sad to hear Mr. Turing's life ended in suicide and that he apparently suffered greatly.
On the other hand, I take great comfort in knowing that the Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered for us, anything we may ever suffer:
11 And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.
12 And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.
13 Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.
http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/alma/7.11-13?lang=eng#10
I published your comments because, at a minimum, I find them polite and respectful. I hope more will come, and I thank you again for the discussion.
Done, thanks for being on top of things!
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