Whatever next?

[Bruin Fisher]

According to this BBC news item, a man claims his iPhone has turned him gay...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-49933003

[Cole Parker]

Well, the man does have a point.  It's analogous, isn't it, to a supermarket giving  out free samples of some sugar-inflated soft drink.  I taste it, like it, and purchase it.  I get fat and loose a lot of teeth.  Sounds like a lawsuit in the waiting to me.  Both the pop manufacturer and the grocery store would be defendants.

We can all agree with this, can't we—except for those folks who keep preaching personal responsibility.  They'd be a nuisance to deal with.

C

[Camy]

He should have bought an Android. Easier to have a relationship with, and if they complain you just reboot them.

[Bruin Fisher]

What strikes me as particularly whack about this story is the guy now has a boyfriend, and says his life has changed for the worse and he will never be 'normal' again!

He was, obviously, gay all along and only discovered it when he tried a same-sex relationship. And he got a boyfriend out of the experiment! Okay so he has a problem about coming out to his parents, but he also has the prospect of a life with a loving partner, instead of the years of loneliness that would otherwise have been his future.

He is Russian, maybe they think differently over there. He'll face a lot more abuse than he would in the West, I'm guessing. Is that what he's really complaining about? Unless it's a particularly badly written news piece, it sounds almost like he resents his boyfriend...

Okay, I know I'm being a nerd, reasoning on an unreasonable story, but what can I say? I'm a nerd...

[Cole Parker]

You're trying to make sense of nonsense, Bruin.  That never works well.

 

C

[Camy]

5 hours ago, Cole Parker said:

You're trying to make sense of nonsense, Bruin.  That never works well.

 

C

OOOOOOO. Harsh!

Um... Lewis Carol did it quite well.

I think, as he's suing for a miniscule amount, he's hoping Apple pay him instead of going to court.

C2

[Nigel Gordon]

40 minutes ago, Camy said:

OOOOOOO. Harsh!

Um... Lewis Carol did it quite well.

I think, as he's suing for a miniscule amount, he's hoping Apple pay him instead of going to court.

C2

I hope Apple fight it all the way up to the highest court. If they agree an out of court settlement they are agreeing to the proposal that somebody can be turned gay. If that argument is accepted then the counter argument holds, that somebody who is gay can be turned straight. What we have here is somebody who was clearly homosexual but repressed, access to homo erotic material via the phone allowed his true self to manifest. The phone did not turn him gay, it just showed him he was gay.

[Cole Parker]

Yes, Nigel, which is another way of saying this is nonsense.  It's hard to believe this is factual.  If there was any credence at all, it would mean every person or company the created anything could be held liable for anyone who misuses the product.  If that isn't de facto nonsense, what is?

Someone could read my story, most anyone of them, and end up suing me.  Let's take Ren for an example, as it was mentioned here.   Ren is badly abused in the beginning of the story.  He ends up, of mostly his own initiative, a very successful and happy kid. 

So, some potential abuser could read that story and say, 'Aha!  Look how I can help my kid!  I can beat the hell out of him!  I think I'll do it!  The more I beat him, the more successful he'll be!'  Now, is that a justified response to this story?  Should I be sued if this Cretan goes ahead with his plan?

Nonsense.   No court would possibly agree to even hear this.

C

[Merkin]

Cole, your stories have kept me up late at night, you hack, worrying and seething and trying to figure out what happens next.  I've lost sleep and my anxieties are usually out of control before you provide the solutions in the final chapter.  Even then you make me long for even more story about characters I've committed myself to.  You've played with my emotions enough, you lowlife scum, and I'm suing you big time for mental cruelty.  You'll be hearing from my attorney.  Don't try to leave the country.

 

 

[Bruin Fisher]

Well, I agree with Cole, it's not a piece that makes any sense so there's no point trying to squeeze sense out of it.

Also I agree with Nigel, he mustn't win his case because that would set a precedent, allowing others to claim that they were turned gay, or that gay people can be turned straight. A very dangerous claim.

Also I agree with Camy, he's probably hoping to wring a bit of money out of Apple, on the basis it's not worth their contesting it (but he's deluded if that's what he thinks - Apple haven't shown any reluctance to fight their corner before).

Also I agree with James, it's all Cole's fault.

[Cole Parker]

1 hour ago, Merkin said:

Cole, your stories have kept me up late at night, you hack, worrying and seething and trying to figure out what happens next.  I've lost sleep and my anxieties are usually out of control before you provide the solutions in the final chapter.  Even then you make me long for even more story about characters I've committed myself to.  You've played with my emotions enough, you lowlife scum, and I'm suing you big time for mental cruelty.  You'll be hearing from my attorney.  Don't try to leave the country.

 

 

For a lawsuit to be profitable, the suee (that has to be a word) has to have money to be sacrificed.  That's why I'm not worried.

 

1 hour ago, Bruin Fisher said:

Well, I agree with Cole, it's not a piece that makes any sense so there's no point trying to squeeze sense out of it.

Also I agree with Nigel, he mustn't win his case because that would set a precedent, allowing others to claim that they were turned gay, or that gay people can be turned straight. A very dangerous claim.

Also I agree with Camy, he's probably hoping to wring a bit of money out of Apple, on the basis it's not worth their contesting it (but he's deluded if that's what he thinks - Apple haven't shown any reluctance to fight their corner before).

Also I agree with James, it's all Cole's fault.

I can live with that.

C

[Camy]

I'm super happy someone agrees with me.

Thanks, m' bear.