MPFantod
Bret CarmichaelAs a company that has long boasted about its commitment to principles, Apple has had a bad several months. It removed ICE Block from the App Store. It let X remain, empowering its users to create child porn, which is apparently “free speech” now. After two American citizens were killed by ICE, Tim Cook responded by attending a special screening of the Melania documentary. It’ll be hard to believe that Apple believes anything it says after all this. When principles mattered, Apple collapsed.
Seán Fenian@bretcarmichael Apple has always been deeply committed to the principles that served Apple, just like every other giant tech company.
Kevin RussellLinux Good People have solved apple walled garden hardware - so now you can just install linux on old macs, M1, M2, and M3 CPUs get rid of the tax stealing, walled garden, billionaire's handcuffware.
Dump apple, install linux
Do it to fight billionaires, to protect democracy and voting, for your sanity and freedom, do it because Tim went to Trump's propaganda film at the White House the day they shot Pretti.
https://www.linuxnest.com/how-to-install-linux-on-a-macbook-m1-m2-m3-intel-the-complete-2025-guide/
AdventureTense@kevinrns @bretcarmichael I'm so happy with my decision to leave the Apple platform back in 2022, and migrate over to Linux.
I had been using Apple products for 20+ years. It was a really difficult decision to make at the time. A platform affects one in soooo many ways.
But after a long series of very irritating milestones, I finally concluded that Apple had lost its soul, and wasn't there for me, but rather, for its shareholders.
Linux is Awesome! I will never go back.
@kevinrns @bretcarmichael
But, I would say this. Being on the Apple platform for that long required far more planning to leave than I would have thought. It wasn't just about ripping the band-aid off.
I started planning "my escape" a solid year before I actually executed to the plan.
Parts of Europe are figuring this part out with leaving American "big tech". Leaving needs to be sustainable and built on all the best parts that keep one excited about what comes next, and growing forward.
Andrew Deacon@bretcarmichael A question that could be asked is, are any of Apples senior executives in the Epstein files? it would explain a lot.
@aadeacon I think the real driver is that Apple is acting in the fiduciary interests of shareholders. The company may believe that Apple's reputation and Cook's reputation are separate; that Cook can retire when Trump leaves, and the problem is solved. The problem is, Apple — the company — will be on the wrong side of history. Principles are just words when one is not willing to sacrifice anything in their service.
Grovewest@bretcarmichael @aadeacon True but protecting the fiduciary interests of shareholders is always a given. What is driving this is so far Apple has had reprieves and exemptions on Trump U.S. tariffs for Apple products made in China. They seemingly bought those with a three figure billion dollar pledge to invest in the US so the exemptions of just them do not to appear blatantly ‘socialist’. Apple hopes to stay out of the fray so it can continue to ignore that pledge.
pizzafunghi@bretcarmichael Remember? >> The company does „a lot of things for reasons besides profit motive. We want to leave the world better than we found it.“
Reportedly looking directly at the NCPPR representative, he said, „If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.“ << Tim Cook 2014
Reportedly looking directly at the NCPPR representative, he said, „If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.“ << Tim Cook 2014
TeflonTrout 
he/him@elzappato2 @bretcarmichael
Yes, and Musk said he is a world class gamer
MBA : Morally Bankrupt Asshole
Max Lee@bretcarmichael
? Their principle clearly is profit and they are sticking to it!
? Their principle clearly is profit and they are sticking to it!
Violet 
@bretcarmichael That was bad apple
(Pun intended)
Justin Scholz@bretcarmichael @Gargron the principle of revenue and profit growth is unbroken /s
🇨🇦 Maverick ✊🇲🇲🇺🇦🇻🇪🇬🇱@bretcarmichael @Gargron It’s SO cool to dump on these companies for trying to survive until the next election (if there is one). The companies didn’t vote. The American people, their customers, CHOSE this — when it was obvious that this is what was coming. Trump said you won’t have to vote again & orchestrated an insurrection! Still he was still re-elected. You’d think that would be enough to self-disqualify, but no. All of this is on the American people. They chose it, they have to correct it.
@maverick604 @Gargron It doesn’t matter that Trump won by a majority vote. That doesn’t mean a company gets to pass on its principles after it made those principles a core feature of its brand. It’s not called “trying to survive”. It’s called lying about what the company stands for. The idea that a company should not incur criticism for turning its back on its stated values because those values have become inconvenient to near-term profit incentives is ridiculous.
@bretcarmichael @Gargron I agree with everything you said, just replace the words “a company” with “the American people”, and “near-term profit incentives” with “their hatred of minorities”. 😉
I’m not saying give them a pass. I think the criticism is justified, but I do think that people are holding these companies to a higher standard than they apply to themselves. The people literally voted for fascism. The companies are adapting to that reality.
Janet Grootebroeder@maverick604 @bretcarmichael @Gargron Companies bought the elections and are now profiting off from it.
@maverick604 @bretcarmichael @Gargron
The american people voted in accordance with what the people who were paid to tell them wanted
(goose chasing man in down coat meme) who pays people to tell other people what to think? Who pays them motherfucker
CEOs and corporations alike - including Apple - paid more money than we peons are asking for as a living wage to buy the election via citizens united.
So while you are correct, you are zoomed in too far.
@TeflonTrout @bretcarmichael @Gargron Paying people to do anything doesn’t guarantee a result. AFAIK, Apple (or Tim Cook) didn’t contribute anything to get Trump elected (although many other companies did, which is a huge problem). Corporations can’t vote. Real people took their real (secret) vote and gave it to a fascist dictator wannabe. Everything else is scapegoating.
@maverick604 Scapegoating would be blaming Apple and Cook for getting Trump elected. Holding them accountable for their conduct thereafter is not scapegoating. Individuals have agency. Corporations have agency.
@bretcarmichael No. The scapegoating is blaming Cook for not standing up to authoritarianism while the American people a) elected the authoritarian and b) do not stand up to the authoritarian themselves.
Maria Langer | 📝💎🌵🛥️@bretcarmichael @MissConstrue I'm with you 100%. It breaks my heart to see a company I've been relying on since 1984 caving in to an authoritarian regime.
I have to wonder what Steve Jobs would be doing if he hadn't died and was in Tim Cook's shoes. I'd like to think he wouldn't cave so easily.
MissConstrue@mlanger @bretcarmichael I dunno man, Steve was a right fucker. (I may be biased, I have a personal grudge)
@MissConstrue @bretcarmichael Steve definitely had his problems, but I don't think he was as gutless as Tim Cook.
@mlanger @bretcarmichael that I will grant. 🤣
David Fleetwood - RG Admin@bretcarmichael Apple never had any. Ever. Not even once. Jobs always made it clear what his priorities were. Money and power.
Faraiwe@bretcarmichael quick reminder Jobs ousted Wozniak, the REAL creator of apple, long time ago, and that was when apple collapsed. There were no "principles" after that, only marketing to the overly gullible.
T@bretcarmichael Apple is a company, not a values system.
@corsairstw Apple chose to make its values a key feature of its brand, which helped them earn and retain customers. It similarly chose to betray its values, burn the trust it had earned, and promote movement in the other direction as customers recoil at its conduct.
Woolfhound@bretcarmichael @corsairstw they’re not alone. Remember when Target was differentiating themselves as the cool discount store? More recently they’ve been letting ICE use their parking lots at staging areas. Ultimately they all answer to shareholders. This would be less of a problem if Congress had the will to keep Trump operating within the law.
@woolfhound @corsairstw Target has no choice. Its parking lots are private property that are open to the public. It cannot stop federal law enforcement from occurring in public areas. I take your point all the same though. It backed off Pride Month when the right was triggered by it.
Rochelle W.@bretcarmichael I never understood why people thought Apple had better values. It's just not something I ever saw. I would have liked to be wrong.
LemonadeJoe@bretcarmichael it's not just that they ignored principles, the CEO is literally part of this Administration's Backdrop of Acquiescence.