Two Day Magazine

An Open Letter to Apple:

Last night you did something very interesting and disturbing. You have decided to censor yourself for “the good of the children”. You have removed apps that show any “skin”. By doing so, you have moved yourself into very scary territory. Apple has decided it knows what is best for the buyers of ipods and iphones and wants to ensure that we are not looking at anything deemed (by Apple, of course) inappropriate. Because, sometimes those rating systems just aren’t enough. You were swift with this move, quickly eliminating most “offensive” apps, basically anything attached to the words “boobs” or “sexy” was removed. Thank goodness you did this. I have no children, but what if some random child picked up my iphone (well, my imaginary iphone, because I don’t have one of those morally upright devices, either) and saw a picture of a scantily clad woman or man...or worse...Dr. Drew app talking about S-E-X. (Am I allowed to still print that word knowing that I am on Mac computer?) By making this bold move, you have now opened a can of worms. The question is, are you a company selling products, or are you a corporate police force, deeming what is morally right and wrong?

Here are the new rules that CNN was able to gather:

1. No images of women in bikinis (Ice skating tights are not OK either)
No images of men in bikinis.
3.  No skin.  
4. No silhouettes that indicate that Wobble can be used for wobbling boobs.
5. No sexual connotations or innuendo: boobs, babes, booty, sex – all banned
Nothing that can be sexually arousing!!  (Which will be hard to establish...have you ever looked at the internet? All sorts of things can turn people on!)
No apps will be approved that in any way imply sexual content.

Many people will say, “Well if you don’t like what Apple is doing, don’t buy the product.” And, it’s true. I won’t be buying your iPhone. But, it extends much deeper than that. What is happening is a shift towards censorship, a shift towards what corporations want, they get, including citizen-like status (ahem, I’m talking to you, Supreme Court). What’s even more interesting is that none of your “violent” apps, like shooting games or other games that “could be” considered inappropriate have been removed from the store. So, what you are saying is that it is ok for a child to play or view a violent game on the iPhone but they are protected from breasts. What’s even more hypocritical and disturbing is that not ALL “sexy” apps have been removed. Sports Illustrated is still available for purchase as well as Playboy. The reasoning for this was because, Phil Schiller (Apple executive and chief of the moral iPolice) justified the Sports Illustrated app to the Times by saying, "The difference is this is a well-known company with previously published material available broadly in a well-accepted format," he said.  We have entered a very strange time, America. Make no mistake about it.

Apple is criminalizing the HUMAN body (and tights, apparently), Apple is selling only other large corporate crap at its store at the expense of indie companies, Apple is allowing the youth to tap into as much violence as they like, but sexuality is off limits. Does anyone else see where this could lead? The fear of government that started in the 80s has now made us blind to the fact that corporations are the ones ruling our lives.  And, what’s worse, is that Apple was selling itself as a “cool, hip, young” brand, but has now decided to bow to the religious right and soccer moms, apparently. It won’t end here. This is the beginning of the end.  Apple, stick to what you do best. Make electronics and let parents handle their children, and let adults deem what is appropriate for themselves to view. The rest is just a bunch of corporate fascism.

PS: The video contains wobbling boobs. No, not Phil Schiller and his corporate cronies, ha!