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Apple Removes American Civil War Games from the App Store

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Re: Apple Removes American Civil War Games from the App Store

#221

Post by kiiski »

dalore wrote: post #217
TillE wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple is quite explicitly uninterested in artistic expression on the app store. From the second paragraph in their guidelines: "We view Apps different than books or songs, which we do not curate. If you want to criticize a religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex, write a book or a song, or create a medical App." Their stance makes very little sense (arbitrarily dividing games away from books or films), bu…

So could we create a porn book?

Are you implying that Apple wouldn't allow that? I can't find a way to browse their book store with a browser (it just tells me I have to download iTunes), but I would imagine they have erotica as a category there (or at least as a sub-category under fiction like Amazon does).

edit: slightly rephrased.

Re: Apple Removes American Civil War Games from the App Store

#222

Post by shaftoe »

pdabbadabba wrote: post #190
melling wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jefferson owned slaves. While we're cleaning up our history, maybe it's time to tear down the Jefferson Memorial? http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-t... --- CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield this week questioned whether the Jefferson Memorial should be taken down because Jefferson owned slaves. "There is a monument to him in the capital city of the United States. No one ever asks for that to come…

It's an interesting and provocative idea, which I appreciate. But I think a little perspective is in order. Jefferson owned slaves. The confederacy was a nation (or collection of rebel U.S. states, or both, depending on who you ask) founded explicitly on the belief that people of African descent are inferior, that it is their natural and proper condition to be owned by people of European descent, and the (literally)…

No issue is, ahem, just black and white.

Actually living in the south, there is still a generational memory of being invaded and occupied. There are still cemeteries where the graves are unknown as the bodies and headstones were thrown aside when union troops dug up corpses to rob jewelry. There are still ruins, largely in remote areas and parks, where people's homes and businesses were put to the torch as part of an inhuman scorched earth policy.

These events are older than anyone alive's grandparent's memory, but emotions surrounding the confederacy are tied up into a lot more than slavery. That an elected Republic was overthrown by an invasion, much like if the American Revolution had been quashed by the British.

It's rare to find someone who truly wants to resurrect these issues, but self-righteous attitudes rub people the wrong way.

Re: Apple Removes American Civil War Games from the App Store

#223

Post by nathan_long »

A lot of the debate here pits "users can decide what's acceptable" against "Apple can decide what to sell".

The only reason these seem incompatible is that iPhone owners can only get apps from Apple.

If you want both Apple and users to have freedom of choice, lock-in is the real enemy.

(Side note: lock-in also goes hand-in-hand with DRM, which goes hand-in-hand with surveillance: if the user isn't allowed to see what code they're running, and the software company isn't allowed to disclose what the government made them do, then the user can't know how their device is bugged. Cory Doctorow explains nicely how fighting lock-in and DRM is good for political freedom, too: https://vimeo.com/123473929)

Re: Apple Removes American Civil War Games from the App Store

#224

Post by hodwik »

vonmoltke wrote: post #141
hodwik wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it's not historical, the south didn't actually fly that flag at Gettysburg.

Actually, it was the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia for the entire war following First Manassas, and since the Gettysburg campaign was an ANV campaign it most certainly was flown there.

I thought the NVA flag was the square jack? The rectangle jack was a navy flag as far as I know.

Re: Apple Removes American Civil War Games from the App Store

#225

Post by kctess5 »

Interesting. It seems like in a historical context such as this, accuracy is more important than some random current events association thing. Weird move, Apple...

Removing "unnecessary" references (ones without any historical context or other legit justification) might be more reasonable.

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