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You are here: MacNN Forums > News > Mac News > Apple retracts App Store games with Confederate flag imagery [u]

Apple retracts App Store games with Confederate flag imagery [u]
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NewsPoster
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Jun 25, 2015, 11:31 AM
 
[Updated with comment from Apple] Apple has passively addressed the Confederate flag ban issue on the iOS and Mac App Stores, and has removed nearly every entertainment title with it in the application's iconography or preview graphics. This removal is partially extending to historical and contextual use of the flag, and is including some educational titles showing the controversial flag as well.

While no official response from Apple has been made on the issue, the company is responding to a call to eliminate the flag. The eradication movement is a response to the weekend church shootings. South Carolina has removed the symbol from its Capitol, following a resounding vote calling for the ouster.



MacNN feels that the flag is a part of history, and its use in historic context such as educational titles must be allowed -- however, use in games is more questionable, and needs to be examined for context. Apple should take a stand against applications that may use it as a symbol in racially-galvanizing way, and this sort of behavior is already prohibited under Apple's rules for developers.

Update: According to a comment made to Buzzfeed, Apple claims that it has "removed apps from the App Store that use the Confederate flag in offensive or mean-spirited ways, which is in violation of our guidelines. We are not removing apps that display the Confederate flag for educational or historical uses." Military simulations that don't qualify as "offensive" or "mean-spirited" remain unaccessible, as do some educational titles. Furthermore, movies, books, and music all retain the flag in imagery.
( Last edited by NewsPoster; Jun 25, 2015 at 06:24 PM. )
     
Grendelmon
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Jun 25, 2015, 11:34 AM
 
Sigh.
     
Raman
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Jun 25, 2015, 12:11 PM
 
1984
     
Oneota
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Jun 25, 2015, 12:29 PM
 
Actually, South Carolina has only voted to allow debate on the bill to remove the Confederate flag from its capitol building. The flag still flies there today. The debate will happen next month.
"Yields a falsehood when preceded by its quotation" yields a falsehood when preceded by its quotation.
     
panjandrum
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Jun 25, 2015, 12:46 PM
 
Yeah, there is a difference between using a hate symbol for purposes of hate, or using it in any other context (historical, creative, etc. etc.) How amusing (especially considering Apple's original Macintosh advertisement) that the current management at Apple doesn't understand this. Maybe Apple's management should be put in charge of a worldwide censorship project. Next step? Force the removal of the Swastika from all historical documents, WWII era-games, documentaries, and most importantly even when used by other cultures (it's not just a Nazi symbol, look it up...) As much as I detest the use of hate-language or symbols *when used for the purposes of promoting hate*, I detest censorship even more. Apple's has proven the point of those (hopefully few) racist-right-wing-nutjobs who actually do fly this symbol out of hate and then cry "free speech" and "if I can't fly the confederate flag where will it all end?" Nice job Apple.
     
zehspoon1
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Jun 25, 2015, 01:18 PM
 
Isn't it ironic that a company which used the imagery of "1984" in a commercial will lower itself to same ideals of that movie?
     
just a poster
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Jun 25, 2015, 01:23 PM
 
This will backfire with unintended consequences.
     
Inkling
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Jun 25, 2015, 01:58 PM
 
Sorry Apple, I just checked and you're still selling multiple versions of the movie "Gone with the Wind." Apple calls it a "drama." Those who have seen it know it glorifies slavery as good for slaves. It's vastly more bigoted and harmful than any flag symbol and all the more so for its cinematic skill. And yes, we all know that the movie ($17.99 in HD) makes you far more money than a few civil war apps.
Author of Untangling Tolkien and Chesterton on War and Peace
     
sgs123
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Jun 25, 2015, 02:04 PM
 
It does seem that the pendulum has overshot a bit. I was even more amused to here that Warner Bros. has pulled the entire "Dukes of Hazard" toy line. I don't recall anything racist there -- sexist maybe. ;-)

@Oneota reaction by Alabama governor was quite impressive/appropriate. Mississippi governor still has his head in the sand: "We voted on this in 2002 -- it's the will of the people" (a lot has changed since then)

It does appear that the shooter's actions backfired with unintended consequences.

@panjandrum Perhaps when things settle out proper treatment for the Confederate flag is somewhere between the Nazi Hakenkreuz (reversed swastika) and Japanese Rising Sun flag, which both have similar connotations -- inappropriate for government use, appropriate for historical war games, other uses in between.

Question to consider: what flag would Germans fly over a WWII memorial to their war dead?
     
slboett
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Jun 25, 2015, 04:29 PM
 
UP next: Books.
Hey Apple, how about songs with the "N" word? Are they going?
     
Charles Martin
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Jun 25, 2015, 04:39 PM
 
I find it a bit ironic that some people are going a bit too far in trying to "whitewash" all traces of the Civil War, that's an overreaction caused by people still wanting to dance around the real problems of inequality and prejudice. Let's obsess on the Civil War, because that's what this latest attack and the many other minority attacks have been about.

No. Sure the Secessionist un-American flag thing in state flags and on state property is something good to deal with, but can the US really only do one thing at a time? Let's talk about an assault rifle ban too, and more education on the history and the subject (we seem to have successfully taught people that slavery was wrong ... I think we can do the same for racial prejudice), and other **concrete actions** to correct obvious wrongs. We can multitask on this, America, really we can -- rather than obsessing on some minor point and disappearing up our own backside on one tiny area.
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PJL500
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Jun 25, 2015, 05:13 PM
 
Does Apple allow games with WWII swastikas? If one looks back at the efforts of the organization that used that symbol it might be possible to find ideas that were very patriotic and and maybe even something to be proud of. BUT... because of several ideas that were absolutely abhorrent and debasing to humanity that flag is consigned to garbage and the basement of hate filled people.

The Confederate flag belongs with that swastika.
     
zehspoon1
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Jun 25, 2015, 05:47 PM
 
See the slight backpedaling from Apple? Money will always overrule the PC sentiment du jour. So they are keeping the 'educational' use of the Confederate flag. Funny, they didn't notice the "offensive" or "mean-spirited" when they approved the apps. My how their eyesight changes on a daily/hourly basis.

I don't particularly care for the Confederate flag. I just see it as an historical artifact. The larger problem is the over-reaction of corporate America and those who need/want to find something to divide us.....like the shooter. We are all fighting while (ALL) the politicians in DC are selling ALL OF US down the road.
     
Charles Martin
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Jun 25, 2015, 07:10 PM
 
Apple didn't backpedal -- it never removed all apps with Confederate flags, it only ever removed some, and later clarified what its guidelines were for that removal. It boggles my mind a bit that Apple (and a lot of other companies) have suddenly just begun to understand -- or, more accurately, care -- that non-historical use of the secessionist flag is offensive, just as non-historical use of Nazi imagery is generally offensive, but I guess its better that it finally comes to their attention rather than never comes to their attention. Some of us have been banging this drum for a while ...
Charles Martin
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sgs123
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Jun 26, 2015, 10:52 AM
 
One thing I didn't realize until looking it up is that the "Confederate Flag" we're all talking about was never a flag of the Confederacy -- see Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America on Wikipedia (since I can't post a link).

The symbolism in the actual (2nd and later) national flag is overtly racial (from the flag's designer):

"As a people we are fighting maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause.

—William T. Thompson (April 23, 1863)"

@Charles I agree it's late, but progress is progress and there seem to be momentum at the moment.

Incidentally, I included the Japanese Rising Sun flag (see Rising_Sun_Flag in Wikipedia) as a milder counter example to the German Swastika in that it has a historical context that predates WWII and is still acceptable in some contexts (Japanese sporting events, appears on clothing) but is also understood to be extremely offensive to some groups -- especially Chinese and Koreans.

I would suggest that the "Rebel Flag" should be treated somewhere between the two.
     
ptklenk
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Jul 7, 2015, 12:49 PM
 
Originally Posted by Grendelmon View Post
Sigh.
As a retired attorney, I agree with the "sigh." For those who do not know, The First Amendment, is NOT an absolute right and its application may depend on the circumstances. For example, in the famous case of Tinker v. DesMoines, the Court found that students could wear black arm bands protesting the Vietnam War. However, there was a balancing test and the primary issue was whether wearing arm bands substantially interfered with the educational process. In this case, it did not. Also, there must be "state" action to invoke the First Amendment. A public school fulfills the requirement of "state" action.

So, based on this analysis, let's look at Apple and the fundamental question is whether there is "state" action. The answer is probably not, so the First Amendment does not come into play. Consequently, Apple is under no obligation to permit the use of the Confederate flag under any circumstances. However, Apple does not wish to appear reactionary, so it will remove some of the flags perhaps appeasing both sides.
     
   
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