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Posted on 07/21/2011 3:16:56 PM PDT by FromTheSidelines
“You sure know how to keep FreeRepublic classy.”
I’m sorry, you may have confused me for Johnny McCain. I have no interest in supporting those companies or people who are actively working towards liberal, leftists, homosexual interests. I will not extend an olive branch to such groups. Never. I will not reach across the isle to “be classy”. There are enough Republicans who have corner on that market, and I am not one of them.
I am a conservative first, and I personally think that this nation is at the brink. I have no use for those who think that shaking hands with the enemy, in “bi-partisan” support is good for this country.
We are beyond that.
Apple, and those who run Apple, represent much of what is wrong with this country. I do believe in capitalism, and everyone has the right to purchase and invest in whatever they want. But, that is a two-edged sword. I also have the right to discuss why people should not invest in Apple.
I grow tired of those posters who gloss over Apples liberal history, their strong-arm tactics AGAINST free-market, their use of foreign labor (while claiming to be All-American Apple Pie), their board of directors (who incidentally include the #1 liberal in the US, imo), Jobs financial backing of dems all over the US (particularly here in Chicago), and the list goes on.
Because I am a capitalist, I believe that consumers can have an impact on corporate policy. If folks think that a company is behaving badly, then they have every right to note that behavior, and try and convince others to take their money elsewhere. Apple falls into that category.
There are many leftists companies, who have decent earnings, I do my best to avoid them. There is more to life than profits. I have made enough money in my life to know that putting money above such things as God, Family, and country is the wrong way to go about it. At least for me, and for most of those who hang out on Free Republic.
FreeRepublic, as I understand it, is a conservative site. Not a tech site, so those posts made here, will fall under the eye of conservatives, and those companies who are pimped here, should and will fall under the scrutiny of the conservative looking glass.
If one wants to talk only about the technical aspects of something, there are many boards to do such a thing, and on those boards, you will have a much better audience with which to argue technical merits. As it stands, we have a poster, who promotes Apple as being a conservative company, in hopes of increasing Apple stock, or in hopes of selling the product. It is misleading.
There are many folks here who do not know much about computing, and are influenced by those they perceive to be both technically savvy, and conservative. Many here will make buying decisions based on whether or not a company promotes family values, and some posters wish to flat out lie for personal gain about Apples role in the conservative arena. I won’t sit idly by and allow that to happen.
Now, if that classifies me as “unclassy”, I am guilty as charged.
I will leave the “classy” to the “reach across the isle” types. I am not one of them.
Can't use Apple, can't use Microsoft. Makes for a tough computing environment. I need to work on my Linux skills too.
Much of what you are decrying is myth... or misrepresented exaggerations or distortions of what little truth there is. The facts are out there and can be found with a little Google research:
Are you aware that from 1999 to date, according to Campaignmoney.com, the average contribution to Republican Candidates from Apple Employees was $1060 but the average contribution to Democrat candidates was only $682... But in those years the TOTAL contribution to political candidates, that you so decry from Apple employees, was only $741,502! Less than a million dollars!!! 20% of that went to Repubicans. Apple itself does not make political contributions!
In the same time frame, Microsoft employees gave an average contribution of only $875 to Republican Candidates and $827 to Democrats. But during that period, they gave $13,274,570, and only 15% of it went to Republicans! So which is truly the "Liberal" bastion? Apple is pretty much apolitical. Microsoft plays politics, a lot!
According to NewsMeat's Contribution Search website of all individuals donations of over $200 since 1978, Steve Jobs did not make any federal political contributions since his donations to Rahm Emanuel in 2004! He didn't even donate to Obama! His TOTAL political donation have been $229,000. He may have donated to Emanuel's Mayorial race in Chicago, but that was not a Federally reportable donation. That level of contributions looks more like an apolitical person than the activist you claim, especially for a multimillionaire. It even shows he made a $1000 donation to a Republican.
So Apple computers are made by foreign labor. So are Dell's, HP's, IBM's and every other maker's. At least Apple's hardware and software is engineered and designed in the USA! Show me one that isn't manufactured overseas in today's market! Instead, show me another maker that has its design work of its laptops, tablets, phones, etc., done in house in the United States! Apple has 50,000 employees, the vast majority of them are in the United States. They contract out the manufacturing. The manufacturing workers are not their employees.
As for Apple's Board of Directors, it has both Democrats and Republicans. One very conservative Republican at least, Dr. Ronald Sugar, former CEO and chairman of Northrop Grumman, and a couple more. Yes, Al Gore is on the Board. So what. That hasn't got Apple a free pass from Greenpeace! Currently the Apple board is about evenly balanced.
Sorry, that don’t fly.
I haven’t seen anyone on here pimping Microsoft, or Dell, or HP, or whatever, certainly not me.
You sir, are pimping what many claim to be the 2nd most liberal IT company in America, and you are trying to disguise it as conservative for personal gain.
http://ideologicalcartography.com/tag/apple/
You are a snake oil salesman of the worst kind.
You cherry pick articles, you cherry pick facts, and you deliberately mislead folks for personal gain.
You seldom respond to confrontational posts, until the thread is dead, so you don’t get sacked.
It is likely that you are a paid pimp for Apple, you do not engage in this forum, you do not engage in conservative posts, and you are active on nothing but pro-Apple propaganda.
I would be attacking you if you were pimping Microsoft and calling them conservative, but you aren’t, you are pimping Apple day in and day out, on a conservative site.
Greenpeace doesn’t even like Obama, so I guess he’s conservative now? Your straw-man arguments are tiring, but as always, follow the money (your money).
Pimp what you like, but don’t expect folks like me to sit idly by, while you attempt sell your brand of bull excrement. In an Orwellian world, I guess Apple is conservative, but in the real world, they are a homo-supporting, dem supporting, machine. NewsMeat does not take into account bundling, it only takes into account what is given to direct candidates. It does not take into account the progressive doctrine of a company.
And I don’t care if Rush Limbaugh was on their board, it would not even out Jobs and Gore. Gore has done more damage to this country that I could even begin to imagine. You may disagree, but then again, that’s what your most likely paid to do.
As far as your previous thread, where you said I was starting rumors that Jobs was gay, those rumors have persisted for 20 years, and there are several posts of those close to him now who say he has AIDS. Do a Google, or a Bing or whatever you like, but to say that the rumor was started here, means you are sorely out of touch with Apple, OR you are just a shill trying to dismiss what folks are talking about. Yes, yes, he’s married, and there has never been a married man who was on the down low....
Sorry, it’s a homo promoting company, that uses child labor, in china. Apple suppresses anti homo apps, it kills free-market via abuse of the legal system, it has notoriously been involved in payola schemes with school boards going back to the 80s.
Jobs gave over $100k to Rahm Emmanuel, and he continually gives on the local level because it is not reported federally.
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/01/rahm-emanuel-draws-the-curtain.html
Many found it interested that our Chicago Gay Parade was had the Apple “Think Differently” rainbow apple flat displayed. Many also find it interesting that Jobs is buddy buddy with known bath-house homo Rahm Emanuel. Dismiss all you want, but these rumors are NOT starting here on FR, or by me. They’ve been around for a long long time.
As someone who has claimed to be “very close” to Jobs since Apple began (your words, not mine), your ignorance on the subject is alarming.
I don’t apologize, and you will find my resistance to your re-branding Apple as a conservative bastion of American goodness to be quite dutiful until I am banned or censured from this conservative site for disagreeing with your Orwellian propaganda.
If you want a ‘tech only” discussion, then you are on the wrong forum. Go over to PC World or something and spit out what you have to say, and you will get a good dialogue. You might get trashed by real techies though, which is why you like to do it here.
Heck, I could go on this forum and start discussing the laws of thermodynamics and why this brand or that brand of air condensing unit was the best, and how this brand or that brand was the most conservative. I might even be selling that sort of brand, or might profit from its sales (hint hint). But it would be totally unfair of me to lash out at those who disagreed with me. It would also be unfair of me to try and convince non-technical folks to the merits of such brand on Free Republic. If I were to have such a discussion, it would be fairer for me to have that discussion on a technical forum, if I were looking for feedback. But, that’s just it, you are not looking for feedback, you are selling a product. You are an advertiser, looking for free advertising, on a conservative forum, and you expect no resistance from conservative people.
I call that bull hockey. If the moderators or Jim R disagree, they can censure me, or drop me a line to leave you alone.
I am even going to ping a moderator, for your benefit as to my post. Perhaps I am in the wrong, perhaps you have some deal with FR to advertise and pimp Apple day in and day out. I doubt it though.
Well, I guess that is my point. With many folks saying the nation is 55%=60% conservative in nature, why do we, as conservatives, allow these companies to do what they do? The buying power of conservatives is immense. Far greater than the gay community, but the gay community is loud and vocal. If Apple and Microsoft fear losing 7% sales because of a gay community boycott, how much fear would there be in losing half the nation because of a conservative “rethink” of buying their products, or instead choosing to buy from a more conservative vendor.
I think those companies would rethink their business models.
Or at the very least, if conservatives banded together, perhaps a conservative IT company would see a market niche, and emerge. Why do we have to have no choice in our IT purchases? We can have a choice, if we become active about it.
So, you support Google?????
Google is far, far, far more active in changes our social mores for the worst than Apple is on its worst day.
No, I don’t invest in Google, nor do I get on the forums and tell people how conservative Google is.
It is one thing to quietly use a product (and I use a few search engines, but Google will always return the largest results for what I use it for, usually, looking up a vendor or electrical schematic), it is quite another to attempt to sell it on a conservative forum.
Is that point lost on you?
I use MS products because of my work, but I don’t make several posts a day telling everyone else how great they are. I bite the bullet and use them because I have to. If I had to use Apple products, I would, and that may be the case soon, as one of our universities is switching over to the Apple OS for its environmental control system, but we are assured that it will still be the same Siemens program, we’ll see.
I have to use our highway system as well, but I don’t get online and tell everyone how great the tollbooth is, and how taxation of the toll roads is the greatest thing since sliced bread. I use them because I have to, and I do it begrudgingly.
Try again.
What isn't lost on me is that Android is a Google product.
If want to defend it and advance Google's America-hating, homosexual agenda, well, to each his own I guess.
who the hell is defending android or any other product? are you dense? because it is certainly not me pimping them.
You don’t justify one wrong by pointing to another wrong, did your folks not teach you that? ie, yeah, Apple is bad, but their bad too! If you read my posts, all IT companies pretty much suck, and what is worse is advertising them on FR, and pimping them as some conservative Holy Grail when they are not.
Get with it man.
You know, I always check someones posting history when I get into these matches on Swordmakers threads, because they are usually Apple bots, but this is not the case with you, and after skimming 3 pages of your posting history, there is not one post that I have found that I would disagree with you on. How you have interpreted that I am defending anything is beyond me. I suggest another cup of coffee FRiend, because if you have a beef with Google, well, I’m right there with you.
The subject of this thread is Android. You decide to chime in on it solely to bash Apple and to exalt in a perceived loss of momentum by Apple to, wait for it, ANDROID.
How can we not think you are a defender of Android (and Google)?
Now you're right in that the the left coast IT companies all lean to the left including Apple.
Swordmaker is right, however, in saying that Apple is far less political (hence leans less to the left) than its competitors in Redmond and Menlo Park.
In fact, Jobs appears to be getting a little conservative in his old age.
He's ripped the teachers unions and publicly called out enviro-loons and is fighting to keep porn off iPhone & iPad apps.
Now, I'm not saying you should expect to see Jobs wearing an I Heart Sarah Palin button, but as IT CEOs go he really is likely more conservative than average.
My comment about "classy" was not about politics or tech or reaching across the aisle, it was about the way in which you made up false statements and attributed them to another FReeper. The satirical humor of your comment about "Swordmaker talking points" was obscured by the obvious fact that you appear to hold a grudge as well. Poking fun works better when you're not gritting your teeth at the same time. A lighter touch might have worked better, that's all.
> Apple, and those who run Apple, represent much of what is wrong with this country. I do believe in capitalism, and everyone has the right to purchase and invest in whatever they want. But, that is a two-edged sword. I also have the right to discuss why people should not invest in Apple. I grow tired of those posters who gloss over Apples liberal history...
I support your right to boycott whomever you please, for whatever reason you please. And you have every right to hate Apple if you wish. But I do recommend, for the sake of consistency, that you avoid all major tech companies altogether, since all of them, not just Apple, have a history of supporting leftist, socialist politicians and causes. If you're typing on a Windows computer, you're just as guilty as the folks on a Mac. And we all know Linux is a commie plot. :)
I have no stocks, no investments, in any tech company. Nor do I have a favorite hardware or software or OS manufacturer. I use them all, depending on the task at hand. I've been doing that for around 40 years now. Fanboy squabbles bore me to tears. So I suggest you either beat up on -all- the companies who support leftists, or just accept that if you're going to have a reasonably standard computer and software these days, you're going to buy stuff from those companies. Or build it yourself, and I mean from the silicon on up.
The bible talks about ‘the mark of the beast’ and those without the mark won’t be able to ‘buy and sell’. Sometimes I wonder if that isn’t talking about days like these...
Total BS
Just looked at the comments on the posted link. It seems this may be a report on “shipments” of Android tablets not devices sold. So I would tend not to believe this tripe.
Anyway, Oracle will own Android when this is all through, and Steve and Larry are good buds. Game over.
“I’m sorry, you may have confused me for Johnny McCain. I have no interest in supporting those companies or people who are actively working towards liberal, leftists, homosexual interests. I will not extend an olive branch to such groups. Never. I will not reach across the isle to “be classy”. There are enough Republicans who have corner on that market, and I am not one of them.”
Fine, but I sure expect you to be spending even more time bashing Microsoft, Google and the host of other entities that do even more to push the left/liberal agenda. So be sure to throw in an anti-Android rant here, and be sure to pledge to never use a Google product or service.
In the meantime, for those of us that need the edge given by the best tech, will evaluate things on technical merit alone.
Have a good day.
I pledge to check the preview more carefully...on a bad roll with that today. :-P
Swordmaker is free (you might want to look that word up) to post about whatever interests him. In promoting Apple, he's promoting technology that empowers people and frees them from lots of IT drudgery one experiences using Windows and other inferior tech. I'm sure a lot of Freepers appreciate learning something about Apple tech here.
Free Republic is NOT entirely devoted to conservative issues, or discussing things only through a "conservative" lens. It is a COMMUNITY designed to atract conservatives. Many of the topics discussed here are FAR more frivolous and off-topic than the Apple discussions, and the ping list is actually a pretty nice one stop shop for Apple news.
So, quit wasting your time rowing against the tide, and go do something useful.
Personally, I think you're just a disgruntled MSFT stockholder who's gone insane with jealousy over AAPL. ;-)
“Free Republic is NOT entirely devoted to conservative issues, or discussing things only through a “conservative” lens.”
Really? I bet the owner of this site may disagree:
“Free Republic is a site dedicated to the concerns of traditional grassroots conservative activists”
—Jim Robinson
“If you’re typing on a Windows computer, you’re just as guilty as the folks on a Mac. “
That’s the crux of it. I have no beef with anyone using what they have to use, as I’ve stated over and over. We all have make compromises in our lives or become ludites.
My beef is with Swordmaker using FreeRepublic to market a liberal product. If it was account xxxxxxx pimping Microsoft as being conservative day in and day out, I would be jumping up and down as well.
There is a major difference between using a product, and “dealing with it” and going out of your way to increase sales of said product.
I would bet you dollars to donuts that the same poster is on liberal sites, exclaiming how “progressive” Apple is.
There are rules on FR about blog-pimping, even to other conservative sites, and here we have daily commercials pimping companies that lean very very far left.
Every pro-lib company I see pimped, I will speak out against, but that’s the thing, there is only one leftist company I see pimped by the same poster day in and day out, and when I see them, I’ll comment.
“Really? I bet the owner of this site may disagree:”
Actually, he disagrees with YOU, as he has already given his blessing to the Apple ping list.
You may also want to ponder the difference between “dedicated” and “entirely devoted”. Reading comprehension is your friend.
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