Steve Jobs monument dismantled in Russia because Apple CEO Tim Cook is gay

[Roma_Victrix]

Welcome to the ugly side of Russia.

Russian monument to Steve Jobs taken down after Apple CEO Cook says he is gay

A Russian monument to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has been taken down, after Apple CEO Tim Cook’s announcement last week that he is gay.

The monument, which is in the shape of an oversize iPhone, was located on a university campus in St. Petersburg, one of the more liberal cities in Russia, until its removal Friday.

It was put there in 2013 under the initiative of Maxim Dolgopolov, head of the holding company ZEFS, known in English as the Western European Financial Union, which cited Cook’s revelations about his sexuality in a Bloomberg Businessweek article last Thursday as the reason the company decided to remove the statue.

“Russian legislation prohibits propaganda of homosexuality and other sexual perversions among minors,” ZEFS wrote in a statement published on the Web site of Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy. “After Apple CEO Tim Cook publicly called for sodomy, the monument was dismantled pursuant to Russian federal law on the protection of children from information that promotes the denial of traditional family values.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a federal law in 2013 that bans “the propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations to minors," only a few months after the iPhone monument was installed. Putin has since argued that the law is not discriminatory and is intended only to keep children safe.

The monument was installed slightly more than a year after Jobs passed away. At the time, an organization called the “Communists of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region” complained that the monument looked too phallic, that its featured face of Jobs “will scare children and students,” and that the structure inappropriately “symbolizes the superiority of the American way of life.”

After Cook’s revelation Thursday, ultraconservative St. Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov called for Cook to be banned from traveling to Russia, telling the Web site FlashNord that he, or other gay people, could bring “the Ebola virus, AIDS, gonorrhea” to Russia.

In its statement explaining the decision to dismantle the statue, ZEFS also cited Apple’s participation in spying activities revealed through the leaks of former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who is currently living in Russia. Dolgopolov even called on owners and users of Apple technology to replace their Apple products with other brands, so as not to expose themselves to undue surveillance.

Yet one Russian state news agency is contradicting the ZEFS statement. Russian news service Tass claims that the press service of the university that hosted the monument — the St. Petersburg National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics — received a letter from ZEFS before Cook's announcement saying that the iPhone monument would be taken in for repairs, particularly to the touchscreen. Tass said it had not been able to secure further comment from ZEFS at the time of publishing its report.

Clearly Tim Cook is trying to sodomize Russian children and give them AIDS and Ebola, because, you know, that's what all the gays do.

This is pathetic. Thoughts on this? In its quest to become the polar opposite of the US (or rather to embrace the ultraconservative Bible Belt views of the US), Russia has strayed into the deep end in terms of morality. You have to be a pretty insidious human being to suggest that gay people are responsible for Ebola, for one thing.

[snuggans]

and to think that if Snowden had just shut up, Apple would still be able to help spy on iphone-using Russians. instead, we're stuck with Russians spying on us thanks to Windows security flaws. what an ironic and amusing turnabout.

[mrmouth]

But then people wouldn't have known that the NSA was watching literally everyones Facebook and Twitter accounts and recording literally everything. I dont need them knowing what curtains I just bought. Only people in my circles can know that.


Russia's plunge down the rabbit hole is a hell of a thing to watch. Let's hope it doesn't end badly for us all.

[Stavroforos]

Yeah, that's terrible and everything...but why the hell is there a monument of Steve Jobs in Russia anyway...

[Roma_Victrix]

Must every conversation about Russia feature Edward Snowden, no matter how irrelevant the latter is to the topic of discussion?

Yeah, that's terrible and everything...but why the hell is there a monument of Steve Jobs in Russia anyway...

Because Macintosh is a religion and Steve Jobs was high priest, if not the living deified emperor. Don't believe me? Just take a look inside any Apple store. Looks like a sleek modern church or a cult recruitment center if I've ever seen one.

[Sir Adrian]

Why the hell did Jobs even have a monument in the first place?

[Roma_Victrix]

Why the hell did Jobs even have a monument in the first place?

Like I said in the previous post, Sir Adrian, Apple religion.

Worship the Apple, the constant, ever-glowing Apple.

Seriously, though, I can't think of a more ridiculous reason to take down a monument that was ridiculous to put up in the first place.

[Emperor Arcturus Mengsk]

I have a question, why Tim Cook announced he is gay?

Why does it matter? Who cares? What was the point of that announcement?

He used to be a human being named Tim Cook, and now he came forward to say, "I'm not just Tim Cook, I'm GAY Tim Cook"

Labeling himself, sigh.

[Adar]

I have a question, why Tim Cook announced he is gay?

Why does it matter? Who cares? What was the point of that announcement?

He used to be a human being named Tim Cook, and now he came forward to say, "I'm not just Tim Cook, I'm GAY Tim Cook"

Labeling himself, sigh.

Well, one might suspect that he may have explained that when coming out as gay.

[Roma_Victrix]

Well, one might suggest that he may have explained that when coming out as gay.

I actually find his line of reasoning agreeable. He wasn't just trying to slap a label on himself, but was trying to influence public discourse about homosexuals and provide an example to homosexuals throughout the world who struggle and endure harsh realities of outdated laws against them and social alienation.

[Himster]

I have a question, why Tim Cook announced he is gay?

Why does it matter? Who cares? What was the point of that announcement?

He used to be a human being named Tim Cook, and now he came forward to say, "I'm not just Tim Cook, I'm GAY Tim Cook"

Labeling himself, sigh.

"I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy."

He admitted it because it shouldn't matter. To persist in a life of lies and secrecy because that is what society demands of homosexuals is not conducive to a healthy life, it is an undeniable fact that that harmful practice should be highlighted to be done away with.

[Roma_Victrix]

"I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy."

He admitted it because it shouldn't matter. To persist in a life of lies and secrecy because that is what society demands of homosexuals is not conducive to a healthy life, it is an undeniable fact that that harmful practice should be highlighted to be done away with.

I have to say, it's pretty sweet being a straight white American male in my late 20s. I'm like an apex predator, top of the food chain. However, one must step into another man's shoes every once in a while to gain perspective and the ability to empathize. In many countries gay people don't come out of the closet because if they do so they will be shunned by their family or worse, penalized by the law and hounded by authorities. In some cases, they face death at the hands of either a zealous mob or an executioner with a mandate and sentence handed down from a judge in court.

[Himster]

However, one must step into another man's shoes every once in a while to gain perspective and the ability to empathize.

My family's cordwainer happens to be gay, so I can speak from experience that walking in a gay man's shoes is practical, comfortable and stylish.

[Thorn777]

Washington Post is not a source.

[Emperor Arcturus Mengsk]

So Apple advocates for human rights now, I'd like to know more about their sweatshops.

Sweet Jesus!

[Roma_Victrix]

Washington Post is not a source.

So Apple advocates for human rights now, I'd like to know more about their sweatshops.

Sweet Jesus!

Hah! Well, there is that. Surely there's some gay kid working at one of those third world Apple factory sweatshops that Tim Cook has inspired to work harder by coming out.

[Nicov55]

The very idea of a monument to Steve Jobs is ludicrous. He created a company and products people seem to find enjoyable but that certainly does not justify that kind of apotheosis in order to gain the adoration of the masses. The world really is upside down and there is no sense of a hierarchy regarding mankind's accomplishments anymore.
Tell me how much you make and i will tell you how much you're worth...

As for Russia's homophobia, this is the result of the authorities policy to find a scapegoat for everything and divert the people from their own unability to develop the country. So it's the gays, the caucasian minorities, the west... In order to make as few unhappy people as possible, just beat up the same ones all the time.
I also find that former commies / orthodox church alliance disturbing. Just as those extremists parading in order to celebrate the great soviet victories and wearing nazi imagery and sigils at the same time.

[Himster]

I also find that former commies / orthodox church alliance disturbing. Just as those extremists parading in order to celebrate the great soviet victories and wearing nazi imagery and sigils at the same time.

It seems to be a curse on Russia to repeat the theme of Animal Farm over and over and over.

[Markas]

It seems to be a curse on Russia to repeat the theme of Animal Farm over and over and over.

Well North Korea already took 1984 so it's understandable.

I was interested in the reasoning behind taking it down, that being it was somehow tied to 'Gay Propaganda'. Presumably it flashed 'Gay is OK' or sent out UHF gay-waves into the surrounding populace of St. Petersburg.

[Visna]

Well North Korea already took 1984 so it's understandable.

I was interested in the reasoning behind taking it down, that being it was somehow tied to 'Gay Propaganda'. Presumably it flashed 'Gay is OK' or sent out UHF gay-waves into the surrounding populace of St. Petersburg.

Think of the children!!