For me, Tim Cook will always and forever be that fake design award he gave Trump.

[cptsuperlative@toot.cat]

@inthehands

Standing up means accepting the potential consequences.

I don’t think many people make it to that level of wealth, power, and influence by saying, “fuck you” to anyone else in that elite network. Lesser beings? Sure, if they even warrant a “fuck you.” But other members of the club? That’s not how you gain or keep your membership. In other words, it’s a self selection issue.

[nf3xn@mastodon.social]

@spiegelmama @Sgns @inthehands Agree 100% - the absolute worst take. TimApple could very easily have nothing for Trump and his pool would have been quite safe. He wasn't neutral - he has actively helped him.

[griotspeak@soc.mod-12.com]

@inthehands The thing about it is, when Trump takes office a second time, you realize he will have a direct impact on your legacy. You know it. But you’ve been CEO for years at this point and you definitely have Enough money. Make the board fire you when you defy or even just ignore trump. Still defines your legacy but leaves room for your actions

[jesstheunstill@infosec.exchange]

@inthehands Some 80 years later, we still remember the companies who collaborated with Nazis.

[unlikelylass@mspsocial.net]

@JessTheUnstill @inthehands He's a quisling. A(nother) cis white gay man who is just fine cozying up to fascists.

Maybe not as bad as Peter Thiel, but who is to say? It's not like he's not out here giving his personal million dollars (not Apple's, but his own money) to the inauguration bribe fund.

[jesstheunstill@infosec.exchange]

Cis white gay men at the end of the day are still cis white men, and far too many will eagerly hide behind that privilege to toss trans, Black, and or non-men under the bus.
@Unlikelylass @inthehands

[mathaetaes@infosec.exchange]

@inthehands Liquid Glass is pretty f*cking terrible too. Not on the level of bowing to a fascist before you’re even asked, but definitely points in the negative column.

[oldoldcojote@climatejustice.social]

@inthehands @anildash

I guess thats why I'm poor. Never been shy about saying it very politely and firmly when asked to turn a blind eye.

The MN corporation I use to work for supported doing the right thing when I started 45 years ago, you could talk to honest company lawyers about issues. Maybe it was because it was run by engineers and the board and a majority of stock holders where MN. Then the board composition changed, they decided you needed an mba to be management, understanding of comercializing new technology eroded, and a backstabbing culture emerged as cuts were made repeatedly after programs on unrealistic timelines failed to produce on target. Communication was replaced with lies and posturing.
My experience and expertise didn't change, nor did the reality of physics and manufacturing. I refused to stop being politely realistic about what it took to succeed at the ventures proposed. I was repeatedly advised to just do the impossible. Ultimately, I walked out at 61 after being told to take a 3 level lower position to to help new PhDs learn development. Because I was honest and cared about making endeavors successful.

Now our country has become a cesspool of the same process that took a good tech company down. We need to learn together to care, communicate, value knowlege, and refuse to participate in harm to others if we are going to build teams that can create a new world for us all. I learned what I believe in and to be who I am growing up in Minnesota. Lets keep it going.

[cptsuperlative@toot.cat]

@punissuer

Yes indeed.

@inthehands

[mirth@mastodon.sdf.org]

@inthehands I half agree, but here's another perspective: Apple directly employs around 150k people with maybe 1M more working primarily on supporting Apple at suppliers etc. All of that is connected by a supply chain that is built on top of agreements and trust that Apple will be a reliable (if difficult) counterparty for the various companies and governments involved. Faced with a capricious and impulsive president, one who threatens all of those jobs, what is the right thing to do?

[mirth@mastodon.sdf.org]

@inthehands Tim personally isn't very vulnerable, he could get on a plane and live out forever in Switzerland or wherever he chose, but the rest of the company is effectively held hostage by random moronic trade policy. What he appears to have done is accept the indignity of being "Tim Apple" and presenting a token tribute that was the least gaudy yet gaudy bauble they could come up with, in the hopes that it would maintain stability. I'm not sure it's right, but I'm also not sure it's wrong.

[mirth@mastodon.sdf.org]

@inthehands I suspect what he's doing is hoping that as his parting gift to Apple he can function as the sin eater on their behalf to absorb the reputational cost of what he views as necessary political theater, giving the company better stability and the new CEO some room to distance themselves from this mess in a future where this gets mostly unwound.

[inthehands@hachyderm.io]

@mirth Yeah…I’m just really damned skeptical. If we’ve learned one thing about Trump, it’s that he backs down when forcefully challenged (TACO!) — and takes capitulation as an indication of weakness and a sign that he should come back for more. You frame this as a choice between Cook’s dignity and Apple’s economic viability, but I think there was no such choice. That’s a fool’s dilemma.

I think Cook could have forcefully opposed Trump and gone down a hero, building generational trust in Apple as a brand — a trust whose dividends would more than repay the short-term costs of tariffs…but that’s me speculating. What I do feel confident about is that Cook could have simply •ignored• Trump, given him the blank stare, and emerged with both dignity and market position intact.

[spiegelmama@infosec.exchange]

@Sgns Nah. I can't even pretend this is an interesting way to look at this. I no longer even find it interesting to wonder why you are trying to hold space for him. Catch a block, you uwu-for-billionaires dork.

[spiegelmama@infosec.exchange]

@Sgns Wait, I forgot you should at least see that your earnestness failed to win the hearts and minds. Mute, and then if I ever think about you again, maybe a block then.