Monday 20 December 2010

Are Apple Racist?


By MJ Olahafa

For those who have been following the recent controversies at Apple, it’s clear that hate has found a home in the company’s many platforms.

Apple recently launched an app for NumbersUSA, an anti-immigrant group that is part of a network with ties to white nationalism. NumbersUSA’s executive director Roy Beck is a frequent contributor to The Social Contract Press, a white nationalist quarterly journal published by John Tanton. Both TSCP’s editor, Wayne Lutton, and Roy Beck have associated with Council of Conservative Citizens, a white supremacist organization.

Apple also broadcasts The Political Cesspool, a radio show hosted by white supremacist James Edwards. Along with hailing Hitler and advocating his hatred for the Jews, Edwards voices his views on immigration, or more precisely ‘non-white immigration.’ In his own words:

“The reason why America was a First World nation was because we had a First World population, and as we continue to be inundated with people from Third World nations we are going to become a Third World nation.”

It should come as no surprise then that Apple also allows white power music to be sold through iTunes. Apple is the largest purveyor of music that gives a platform to racist bands to spread their hateful message worldwide.

White power music has become the most significant recruiting tool for organized bigots across the globe. It has succeeded in infiltrating numerous youth subcultures, transforming healthy youth rebellion into hardcore white supremacy.

Skrewdriver is one of the bands whose music can be purchased on iTunes.

Other white power bands available on iTunes, to name a few, include Bully Boys, White Wash, White Wing, NON, H8Machine, Infester, Valhalla, and Fanisk. Although the company would argue that its catalogue is simply too large to closely monitor, other sites don’t seem to h ave that problem. Take for example MySpace, which has worked diligently with civil right groups to identify and remove racist music.

Apple, on the other hand, seems content to profit from bigotry. And its customers deserve to know why.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Of course, it's perfectly okay when they sell music by misogynists who sing about mutilating and raping women, it's only a problem when ethnic and religious minorities are the subject of hatred, right?