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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/03/handgun-emoji-new-change-apple
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| Changing the gun emoji isn't political correctness gone mad. It's smart | Changing the gun emoji isn't political correctness gone mad. It's smart |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Emoji are fun. Guns in America are the furthest possible thing from a joke. That’s why it makes sense that Apple replaced its handgun emoji – yes, they had one – with an innocuous water pistol. | Emoji are fun. Guns in America are the furthest possible thing from a joke. That’s why it makes sense that Apple replaced its handgun emoji – yes, they had one – with an innocuous water pistol. |
| What will folks wishing to express their desire to use deadly force do? They will either need to hope that their texting buddies have sufficient grasp of semiotics to understand the water pistol as a mind-bending signifier, or use actual words to spell out their intentions: “I want 2 exercise my 2nd amendment rights on u”. | |
| Apple has not released an official statement acknowledging the thinking behind the new emoji. They simply sent out a release describing “beautiful redesigns of popular emoji”, of which the water pistol is one out of a hundred. From a PR perspective, it is testament to the culture around guns in this country that they didn’t make their point more forcefully. It would be inopportune for them to take a public stance against gun violence. | |
| Related: Water pistol emoji replaces revolver as Apple enters gun violence debate | Related: Water pistol emoji replaces revolver as Apple enters gun violence debate |
| But it does seem likely that someone within the company thought it wise to moderate the emoji in light of the recent propagation of gun-related violence in America. And rightfully so. | But it does seem likely that someone within the company thought it wise to moderate the emoji in light of the recent propagation of gun-related violence in America. And rightfully so. |
| As long the threat of death-by-firearm remains, those of us who oppose our nation’s descent into violence assert our resistance in ways that are small as well as big. Too often, those of us on the anti side of the gun debate are too gentle in our rhetoric because of our fear of seeming illiberal or intolerant of people whose views oppose ours. (We may also be afraid to speak because the people who oppose us most enthusiastically are quite often, well, armed.) | |
| But when it comes to guns we need to stop being gentle and instead take as hard a line as those who disagree with us: there is no reason for people to possess weapons that are expressly designed to kill other people. It’s not possible to engage in rational debate with people who disagree. | But when it comes to guns we need to stop being gentle and instead take as hard a line as those who disagree with us: there is no reason for people to possess weapons that are expressly designed to kill other people. It’s not possible to engage in rational debate with people who disagree. |
| Changing the emoji isn’t a sign that political correctness has gone awry. It’s a smart, small part in the battle – which we’re presently losing – to keep Americans safe. We need to change the conversation to one that’s about prevention of deaths rather than preservation of laws that made sense to a group of men from England in 1776 and which simply don’t make any sense 240 years later. | |
| Emoji are funny, but they’re also a powerful way to communicate. This move by Apple communicates that tools of violence and death shouldn’t be part of our light-hearted, ubiquitous lexicon. It’s exciting to see a brand as influential as they are take this kind of position, even in a quiet fashion. So many companies and politicians stay quiet and still, their principles quelled by the threat of boycotts, public shaming or loss of office by the gun lobby. | Emoji are funny, but they’re also a powerful way to communicate. This move by Apple communicates that tools of violence and death shouldn’t be part of our light-hearted, ubiquitous lexicon. It’s exciting to see a brand as influential as they are take this kind of position, even in a quiet fashion. So many companies and politicians stay quiet and still, their principles quelled by the threat of boycotts, public shaming or loss of office by the gun lobby. |
| And as for anyone who objects that it’s in some way a slur against their constitutional rights – well, no one is going to stop you from using your imagination when you use iMessage. Just ask anyone who’s ever employed the eggplant emoji. |