Marco Arment on Apple pulling ICEBlock:
I’m gonna go and you’re gonna have to bear with me here. So this entire premise is predicated on a lie. It’s predicated on the idea that they had to remove this app because it was dangerous to law enforcement.
That is a straight up lie. You know, if you think about, okay, what unreasonable danger is posed to ICE’s, they use the term officials, I would use the term kidnappers and murderers. What unreasonable danger is posed to ICE’s kidnappers and murderers by people telling other people where they are.
They’re the ones that have the guns, zero accountability, and the complete support of a fascist federal government behind them. They are kidnapping and murdering US citizens. And we are supposed to believe that they are the ones that need protection from people knowing where they are.
ICE agents, just like Donald Trump himself, are pathetic, weak, thin-skinned racists who only know how to demonstrate strength with cruelty, violence, and punching down. They are cowards and they hide their cowardly faces behind masks because the only real danger they face is cameras. And they’re such cowards, they can’t even handle that.
Now, just like when racists twisted Black Lives Matter into Blue Lives Matter and All Lives Matter, the idea that the ICE agents are the victims in need of protection from the people they’re assaulting and killing is a dangerous lie, and that lie will be used to justify using more deadly force in retaliation. And Apple is now complicit in that lie. And the context of this is very important.
The Trump administration is literally waging war on America on Americans. This is not a metaphor. They are waging war against US law, the US Constitution and US citizens in the US.
They are deploying military troops intentionally into liberal cities that will probably result in them shooting liberals. And now this might sound like an exaggeration, but if this does, ask, say, your parents, if you’re maybe underage, you know, 50 or so, or ask Neil Young, what happens when a thin skin Republican president does deplorable things and then when people start protesting, they deploy National Guard soldiers against them? This is going to escalate.
People have already died. A lot more people will probably die as this escalates. And Apple, in this war against Americans on American soil, has chosen not only to not fight against it, but to explicitly and repeatedly support the aggressors of this war.
Tim Cook’s legacy will forever be tarnished by his Trump support. And not only is he destroying Apple’s brand and reputation by doing this, he’s supporting the destruction of our democracy and our home country. Tim Cook has shown us exactly who and what he is.
He is cowardly, spineless, and I would say at this point, irredeemable. But there are other people, powerful people at Apple, who can still make a difference. So Tim Cook is a lost cause.
He has shown us who he is. Believe him. I urge the rest of Apple’s senior leadership to do some serious soul searching right now and consider what they’re willing to support, what they want their careers and legacies to mean, and what they would like to tell their grandchildren in the future about how they handled what’s going on in America right now with the power they had.
Please, Apple leadership, really do some soul searching and consider how you want this to end.