Tim Cook, in an internal memorandum sent to Apple employees (via Bloomberg):

Team,

I’m heartbroken by the events in Minneapolis, and my prayers and deepest sympathies are with the families, with the communities, and with everyone that’s been affected.

This is a time for deescalation. I believe America is strongest when we live up to our highest ideals, when we treat everyone with dignity and respect no matter who they are or where they’re from, and when we embrace our shared humanity. This is something Apple has always advocated for. I had a good conversation with the president this week where I shared my views, and I appreciate his openness to engaging on issues that matter to us all.

I know this is very emotional and challenging for so many. I am proud of how deeply our teams care about the world beyond our walls. That empathy is one of Apple’s greatest strengths and it is something I believe we all cherish.

Thank you for all that you do.

Tim

I responded appropriately on Threads:

You aren’t heartbroken. You don’t care deeply about anyone. You have no prayers nor sympathies. You believe nothing. You have no morals. You watched a movie with a murderer and posed in photos with a rapist while Americans were crying on the streets, mourning our fellow citizens. You should resign.

The responses to my post — of which there are many — went something along the lines of, “Apple is a fascist company, and I’ll do anything to sell all of my Apple stuff now.” “So grateful I don’t use Apple products,” one commenter wrote. Candidly, I don’t think Apple is a fascist company, and in fact, I’m somewhat apprehensive of even using the word “fascist” now to describe the current regime. They’re Republican. That’s the word — Republican. It is our job as Americans to taint that word with every bit of contempt and reproach as we do “fascist.” These people are nasty, authoritarian, traitorous Republicans. One of those people, in fact, is Tim Cook, Apple’s nasty, authoritarian, traitorous chief executive.

But Apple isn’t Tim Cook. While I understand people’s frustrations with the company and the motivations behind boycotts, I think they’re ineffective more often than not. Sure, if the company itself is taking its profits and handing them over to Republicans — like Chick-fil-A or Hobby Lobby, as prominent examples — a boycott makes financial sense. Sane-headed people don’t appreciate it when their money funds fascistic Republicans. But everything Apple has done in support of the Trump regime has been privately funded by Cook, who unquestionably is a Republican fascist. That doesn’t make Apple itself a Republican company, but it does mean that it is under occupation by a Republican fascist, who ought to be removed as soon as possible.

If there’s something we’ve learned over the past year, in this community and elsewhere, it’s that corporations are not on the side of people. Capitalism, in the United States at least, has become too laissez-faire. Neither conglomerates nor their leaders have the interests of American citizens in their minds or hearts, and it’s up to us to realize that corporations are undeserving of our love or reverence. But I continue to buy Apple products — I subscribed to the new Creator Studio bundle on Wednesday — and I will continue to do so, probably until the end of time. When Apple decimates its attention to detail and design, I decry it. When it hires ace designers and makes great products, I praise it. These are things a supporter does, not a detractor. So why am I contradicting myself? Why do I support, maybe even revere, a company that hates me and my fellow citizens? Why do I wish well to this corporation?

Over the last 12 months, I’ve drawn a line between Apple and its employees. I would not have a career if it weren’t for the people who make Apple products. The Mac is not just the tool I use to do my job — it is my job. I write apps for Apple products. I write about them. I wouldn’t study computer science if Mac OS X had never been invented — if I never looked at the Aqua paradigm of user interface design and thought that I wanted to be part of its development. I would have never written a word on the internet if I hadn’t read Macworld and MacRumors as a child. I would never be as good at programming if not for Swift, the first language that truly clicked for me. And the countless ex-Apple employees and interns who inspire my work — there are just too many to name. My gratitude for the people this corporation has employed and given a home to is indescribable. I owe my life’s work to them.

My readership is almost entirely comprised of people who share my love for Apple, and for that I’m immensely grateful. I would have nobody to write to if it weren’t for this group of incredibly nerdy, smart, and passionate people, all united by our passion for Apple hardware and software. And when I say “Apple,” I don’t mean the corporation headquartered at 1 Apple Park Way in Cupertino, California. I mean the people who make Apple. The people who inspired me to code, to write, to find a personal and professional home. The people who so excitedly describe their inventions every year at the Worldwide Developers Conference. The ones who put on a Worldwide Developers Conference at all. The people who revolt in Slack as their leader poses in photos with rapists. These are my people; to me, this is Apple. Not some Republican billionaire at the helm — the people who truly think differently, to use the cliché.

I will continue fighting for this group of people. I will continue fighting alongside you, dear reader, for a company that does more good with the money we (sometimes mindlessly) give it in exchange for world-class hardware and software. I will continue to call for Cook’s resignation today and every day until it inevitably happens. So, no, I don’t love a corporation. I love the people who make that corporation live and breathe. And I think that if you, too, care even a bit about Apple, you should make that distinction for yourself. Don’t let a soulless corporation control our passion for technology.