Apple Tells Gun-Control Advocates To Get Lost with Their Outrageous Demands
In the most recent push for stricter gun control from the left, some gun-control advocates have eschewed the legislative route and instead applied pressure to corporate America in a bid to impose their anti-gun measures upon American society.
One company that has been under immense pressure from these groups has been Apple — specifically in regard to how its streaming of NRATV through its Apple TV service, according to TheBlaze.
Gun-control advocates who hate the National Rifle Association and ludicrously blame it for mass shootings have demanded the channel be dropped from streaming services like Apple’s as part of a broader effort by the left to silence opponents of their progressive agenda.
Apple CEO Tim Cook was recently asked about the demands for his streaming service to drop NRATV but his response wasn’t what the gun-control advocates had been wanting to hear at all.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes, Cook was asked to respond to the demands that AppleTV cease streaming the NRATV channel, but Cook immediately made it clear that Apple itself doesn’t stream NRATV, but merely offers it in the app store for customers to download and stream of their own accord.
As to the demands that NRATV be silenced, Cook said, “We don’t want to take a view that throttles public discourse on something. Public discourse is an important part of democracy … democracy without discourse is not a democracy.”
Cook made it clear that he wasn’t a fan of the NRA and that he disagreed with their “tactics and positions,” some of which he personally viewed as “unbelievably distasteful.”
Yet, “their point of view, along with the alternate point of view … I think it is important for the public to hear that,” Cook said.
Cook said he lamented the “vitriolic tone” and “personal attacks” he claims to have heard on NRATV and left a door open to drop the channel if it ever ventures into “hate speech,” though it remained unclear what exactly would constitute “hate speech” in Cook’s view.
“In a democracy, free speech has to have as wide a definition as possible … and we do want to allow as wide a discourse as possible,” Cook said.
In addition to AppleTV, gun-control advocates had also applied similar pressure to have NRATV dropped from streaming platforms like Amazon, Google Chromecast, iHeartRadio, iTunes, Roku, SiriusXM and YouTube, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Unfortunately for those advocates, there’s still enough support for free speech and the Second Amendment that their bid to silence the NRA hasn’t met with their desired success.
Freedom of speech, freedom of association and an exchange of diverse ideals through civil debate is a fundamental part of the foundation upon which this nation was built.
That societal foundation of basic natural rights is, in turn, supported by the Second Amendment, which serves as a guard against would-be tyrants who would silence their opposition and banish them from the public square and prohibit their participation in the public discourse.
Despite his own personal opinion of guns and the NRA, Apple’s CEO understands the concept of free speech and how critical it is to the civil debate our society is dependent upon.
The fact Cook is willing to risk drawing the ire of perpetually offended leftists in defense of the free expression of viewpoints he himself disagrees with is more than a bit refreshing. Let’s hope he he continues to stand strong for American values and doesn’t ultimately bow to the pressure from the left and give in to their demands.
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