“Racist and sexist apps and ringtones have remained for use and for sale [in Apple’s iTunes Store] — in some cases for years — despite clearly violating Apple’s policies prohibiting ‘defamatory, offensive (or) mean-spirited’ content against religious, cultural or ethnic groups,” Marissa Lang reports for the San Francisco Gate. “”
“Kate Antoniades, a freelance writer and editor in upstate New York, created a Change.org petition this summer to have the racist ringtones removed after she came across one on iTunes featuring a faux Asian accent encouraging users to answer their ‘linging’ phone,” Lang reports. “Antoniades is married to a man of Chinese descent. She has a mixed-race son. He’s 5.”
“Other ringtones featured ‘funny Asian’ messages with stereotypical East Asian accents, heavily accented Indian voices saying ‘Thank you, come again,’ and messages with a Spanish lilt shouting ‘Arriba!’ Apps containing libraries of ‘funny’ ringtones were left unchecked,” Lang reports. “Among those, many also crassly referenced women’s body parts and referred to the supposed caller as a ‘slut’ or other four-letter words.”
MacDailyNews Take: There’s no accounting for poor taste, but at least the choice of these ringtones tells you something about the mindset of those who would employ them.
Lang reports, “The Change.org petition was published in July. As of Wednesday, Antoniades had nearly 2,300 signatures.”
MacDailyNews Take: Which is, in effect, zero. Meaningless in the grand scheme of things. 2,300 overly sensitive, prissy arbiters of self-righteousness with way too much time on their hands.
“On Monday, after a call from The Chronicle, Apple removed dozens of offending ringtones and at least one app from HaHaas Comedy that allowed users to access long lists of ‘funny Asian’ and ‘gangsta Indian’ ringtones,” Lang reports. “Some, like the ringtone titled ‘For Best Friend (Ghetto)’ by Asian Andy, had been available for purchase for more than four years. Others, like the ‘Crazy Excited Mexican Pick Up Now’ ringtone created by Class of ’93 Comedy Productions, were uploaded as recently as June.”
Lang reports, “Still available in the iTunes store: A ringtone called “Warning, Slut Calling.” For 29 seconds, it announces that ‘the person calling you is an absolute slut’ as alarm bells sound in the background.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The PC Police won’t be happy until humor is totally dead.
No wonder Robin Williams offed himself. (Black humor. He’d likely laugh at it if he could. If it “offends” you: Tough shit.)
When people can no longer laugh at themselves or each other — when everything becomes VERBOTEN! — that’s when the real problems begin and nutjob terrorists start shooting cartoonists dead.
People everywhere, and in the U.S. especially (where the PC Police disgustingly pervade much of the media), really need to relax and learn or relearn how to laugh at themselves. Not everything is an affront. Not everything is a “hate crime.” Sure, some things will be in poor taste. Not everyone is a gifted humorist, but the alternative is far, far worse. We remember when we used to be able to laugh at ourselves and we got along much better, too.
People (of questionable taste, perhaps, but that’s none of anyone’s business) are downloading and choosing to use these ringtones. They could easily make similar versions themselves. Apple isn’t forcing their use. Some people are choosing to use these ringtones. That is their right. Not everything is meant to 100% politically correct. Not everything is a thoughtcrime. Not everything is “mean-spirited.”
We do not envy Apple’s App Store keepers — or comedians, professors, or pretty much anybody else — in today’s climate of political correctness run amok.
Something strange is happening at America’s colleges and universities. A movement is arising, undirected and driven largely by students, to scrub campuses clean of words, ideas, and subjects that might cause discomfort or give offense. Last December, Jeannie Suk wrote in an online article for The New Yorker about law students asking her fellow professors at Harvard not to teach rape law—or, in one case, even use the word violate (as in “that violates the law”) lest it cause students distress. In February, Laura Kipnis, a professor at Northwestern University, wrote an essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education describing a new campus politics of sexual paranoia — and was then subjected to a long investigation after students who were offended by the article and by a tweet she’d sent filed Title IX complaints against her. In June, a professor protecting himself with a pseudonym wrote an essay for Vox describing how gingerly he now has to teach. “I’m a Liberal Professor, and My Liberal Students Terrify Me,” the headline said. A number of popular comedians, including Chris Rock, have stopped performing on college campuses (see Caitlin Flanagan’s article in this month’s issue). Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Maher have publicly condemned the oversensitivity of college students, saying too many of them can’t take a joke. — Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, The Atlantic, September 2015
We highly recommend reading the rest of “The Coddling of the American Mind” in the September 2015 issue of The Atlantic here.