Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Tim Cook Speaks Up

businessweek.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 1001 posts

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#151

Post by lentil_soup »

vegardx wrote: post #55
broodbucket wrote: post #4

Being in such a progressive community (i.e. young nerdy people), it's easy to forget that this is an enormous deal for some people. A friend of mine recently came out as transgender and the general response was "oh, cool, good for you". It's hard to fathom what it's like for people who aren't in such a supportive environment. There are undoubtedly many people who will no longer purchase Apple products because of this…

There seems to have been a cultural shift in the United States as of lately. Just a few years back most companies was afraid of "choosing" side, and kept things pretty neutral. But look at recent Disney movies and Coca-Cola commercials. They all give the impression that from a marketing perspective it's better to take a stand.

I don't have any data to back it up, but I guess it's just companies following the trend on public opinion? They didn't before because the majority was against it, they do now because the majority is for it. Not sure if that means taking a stand, though.

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#152

Post by [deleted] »

Jedd wrote: post #20

I wonder how carefully crafted this line was: ... I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me. It seems a particularly odd thing to slip in, on so many levels.

[deleted]

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#153

Post by wozniacki »

rsynnott wrote: post #93
wozniacki wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Felix Salmon outed it on the very day of Tim Cook's appointment as the CEO. I'm surprised that a story that was on Techmeme at that time, did not get broader attention, until now. http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/08/25/dont-ignore...

It got a reasonable amount of attention, but I think a lot of journalists (correctly, IMO) felt that speculating on someone's sexuality where they hadn't talked about it publicly was a bit inappropriate.

True.

However there is the Nick Denton school of thought.

Denton ( of Gawker Media ) routinely shames public personalities for being clandestine about their sexuality.

The rationale for doing so is such that if no one calls them out, that the worldviews these public personalities profess never get the perspective, those views deserve. The backdrop of the person's sexuality and the influence it had on the shaping of those views is lost, Denton believes. [1]

[1] Gawker Kicks Open the Closet, but Its Disclosure Barely Reverberates

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/business/media/gawker-kick...

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#154

Post by hox »

[deleted] wrote: post #152
Jedd wrote: post #20

I wonder how carefully crafted this line was: ... I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me. It seems a particularly odd thing to slip in, on so many levels.

[deleted]

Who is to say that one's definition of "God" must conform to what a church teaches?

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#155

Post by cronin101 »

UnoriginalGuy wrote: post #140
DanBC wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where the homesexual agenda in Disney movies? I'd prefer specific examples rather than just handwavey nonsense.

Frozen. Had a Swedish guy (shop owner) living with another guy and they both had a bunch of kids. Described the other guy and kids as his "family." See point #5 in this article's list: http://mic.com/articles/79455/7-moments-that-made-frozen-the...

Unrelated clarification but, judging by the lutefisk, the shop owner is actually Norwegian and not Swedish.

Just a heads up so you don't make the mistake in less forgiving Scandinavian company next time ;-)

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#156

Post by sspiff »

gpvos wrote: post #122
egil wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be honest, I for one know very little about the important persons in , gay or not. We might all know about the terrible fate of Alan Turing, but I don't expect non-cs people to know. (Thanks to gpvos for the correction of faith->fate. )

*fate (at least I hope you mean that)

Oh no, he surely meant the terrible atheist beliefs Turing upheld during the later half of his life!

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#157

Post by gergles »

nailer wrote: post #111
kelvin0 wrote: post #39

I guess Tim Cook and Brendan Eich don't see eye to eye on some issues.

I don't share Eich's views, but he's 58 - the cultural concepts that made it difficult for Tim Cook to be public about his sexuality may be the same thing that makes Eich against gay marriage. Edit: I can't comment due to rate limits, but a poster below hasn't read what I wrote above and is suggesting I am saying the men grew up in different times. I am suggesting the exact opposite: they grew up in the SAME period/c…

Tim Cook is 53. Are you suggesting there's some sort of swell change that occurred in 5 years?

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#159

Post by chrisBob »

GI_Josh wrote: post #107
praptak wrote: post #96

I found this one very striking: "Still, there are laws on the books in a majority of states that allow employers to fire people based solely on their sexual orientation." Could anyone provide details? I wonder whether it is an explicit "Being gay is grounds for firing" or rather just plain lack of protection from firing for being gay?

I'm no expert, but I suspect this is just referring to work "at will" states, where you can be fired without being given a reason. Thus, it could actually be for anything: Your orientation, your work performance, that ugly shirt you wore yesterday. Doesn't matter.

The issue is that there are specific protections for things like age, race and religion, but not sexual orientation. I consider orientation, like race, to be something that you are born with that deserves the same protections.

Re: Tim Cook Speaks Up

#160

Post by glifchits »

broodbucket wrote: post #4

Being in such a progressive community (i.e. young nerdy people), it's easy to forget that this is an enormous deal for some people. A friend of mine recently came out as transgender and the general response was "oh, cool, good for you". It's hard to fathom what it's like for people who aren't in such a supportive environment. There are undoubtedly many people who will no longer purchase Apple products because of this…

The passage of time doesn't "fix" deeply rooted beliefs. However, over time, role models will do things to change those beliefs.
Post reply on HN