PAAIA's Hypocritical Stance on Apple's Discrimination

Share/Save/Bookmark

Kabriat
by Kabriat
25-Jun-2012
 

On Friday, almost 5 days after numerous media reports came out describing how Iranian-Americans were discriminated by Apple, PAAIA issued this "public statement" where it asked "Does Apple Discriminate Against Iranian Americans?"  In that statement, PAAIA made the following comments:

- "As is our policy, PAAIA refrained from making any public statements until we investigated certain facts regarding the incident."

-  "[W]e believe that Apple did not engage in a deliberate act of
discrimination, the application of the policy, the incident was
interpreted as discriminatory by the customer and, thereupon, by the
general public and media."

Now, today, PAAIA comes out with a statement on this website where it states "Today, [PAAIA] received a statement from M. Khurram Baig, the attorney for Ms. Sahar Sabet, that contrary to other reports, an incident of discrimination did take place at the Apple Store in Georgia on June 14, 2012. Given this new information, PAAIA strongly and unequivocally calls on Apple to take immediate steps to cease any instances where members of the Iranian American public are inappropriately targeted for discrimination based on their language or national heritage."

Dear PAAIA, people aren't stupid.  First, you claim you investigated the issue and determined there was no discrimation.  Well, clearly you didn't investigate the issue because you didn't speak to the Iranian-American who got discriminated and whose lawyer probably called you up, angrily, to tell you that you were wrong. Second, you just pulled a 180.  AT LEAST ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOUR PRIOR STATEMENT WAS WRONG!  Had you had acknowledged that you were wrong, this author wouldn't have to do so.  Third, for godsake, acknowledge the efforts of other organizations by name.  NIAC has been issuing letters and informing people about this from Day 1.  You did nothing for 5 days, got it completely wrong, and then (without apologizing) finally admit there was discrimination: something every news organization and Iranian-American has been yelling about for the past week.

I've been saying this for weeks now on this website.  PAAIA is completely ineffective.  We need to hold these organizations accountable for their failures.  We demand more.

Share/Save/Bookmark

more from Kabriat
 
Kabriat

@aghareza1234

by Kabriat on

My information comes from both sources. 

And of course I have a chip on my shoulder against PAAIA.  I think the organization has created divides within the community, is ineffective, and overall creates a false standard of success.  I see them taking the community backwards, not forwards, and for that and other reasons I post blogs about them.  This was all part of my initial post here: //iranian.com/main/blog/kabriat/problem-paaia.  Note, PAAIA posted a response to this post which I then replied to.

Do I, like you suggest, have some personal animus against them and the people who run the organization?  No, not at all.  No one at PAAIA has done anything personally offensive to me.  But the organization as a whole is ineffective and more harmful than good.  So you may not like my criticism of PAAIA, but it doesn't mean its not objective or shared by numerous, numerous others. 


aghareza1234

Good luck to you!

by aghareza1234 on

@Kabriat

So, you have talked to PAAIA and/or Ms. Sabet and her attorney? Is that how you know the information you've stated in #s 1 - 4 to be an accurate depiction of what happened? If not, then you are assuming all of the things you say and you know what they say about people who assume things...

Look, you have a chip on your shoulder about this organization. I don't know why but whatever it is, you're doing NO one a favor by going at it....you're not objective, so you're being a hypocrite by expecting objectivity from others. I think you have a lot of talent, but some of us pay attention to your blogs to see who wins the bet about how quickly you're going to post something negative about PAAIA. I hope that's not how you want you or your posts to be viewed.

Based on your pseudonym, I think I know who you are. I wish you much luck and really hope that you can move on to something positive.  All the best to you, ma'am.


Kabriat

Why PAAIA has to apologize

by Kabriat on

@aghareza1234

I find nothing sincere or objective about PAAIA's approach here.  Look at the facts:

1. They say they conducted a "thorough investigation".  But in reality, they never actually spoke to the attorney for the victim.  Thats not very thorough quite frankly and to say it was was to deceive the PAAIA audience that it was somehow being objective.

2. They came out saying there was no discrimination by Apple, despite the fact that they didn't even speak to the victim. 

3. Because of PAAIA's actions, the victim's lawyer was forced to send out a press release denying PAAIA's description of the events.

4. PAAIA issues a follow-up announcement now saying there was discrimination after speaking to the victim.

What PAAIA did is shady.  They conducted a shoddy investigation to appear to be objective but without being honest about the limits of that investigation.  Now they are trying to cover the mess they created without apologizing for creating it in the first place.  There's nothing objective about it.  


CIM

I interviewed the 'apple woman' [fn1], it did not take 5 days

by CIM on


The email  below was also forwarded to PAAIA; concerning hundreds of complaints about one of the causes of creating a hostile climate against Iranians -- I.e., the content featured on this site which falls below rudimentary journalistic standards and persistently seeks to paint the Iranian community in a negative light -- Not to mention the pattern of violent threats and threats of reprisal tolerated here against dissenting viewpoints.     The email to PAAI:  

 

1. A lengthy record has been amassed and presented to us that this site, Iranian.com, is run as a mechanism for spreading defamatory propaganda against Iranians through selective inclusion of biased content while heavily censoring dissenting voices. You can see a portion of the complaints by clicking this link. We have received hundreds of complaints from Iranians living the United States, Canada, and Europe. The site owners and administrators refuse to address those points (we have invited them to a sit down interview). And we are sending this to you by email as well.

 

2.  It has been suggested, and with some basis, that the defamatory stereotypes consistently presented against Iranians on this website are one (1) of the catalysts for engendering further discrimination against Iranians living abroad.   

 

3.  You appear exceedingly late in being heard on the subject of the Apple discrimination; Can you be counted on to monitor for biased and degrading online and media content against the Iranian community or to explore the sources of that type of material?  Again, this is being sent to PAAI by email; a lack of awareness of the story will is not a consideration this time around.   We would be curious to see what your reaction is to the content indicated in the link, and to see if you are able to provide a timely response in relation to your mission statement.  

 

[FN 1]  You should not be shocked to learn that several mainstream news outlets embellished facts to make the woman at the subject of the Apple controversy seem less sympathetic.   

 


aghareza1234

Being objective is not a crime!

by aghareza1234 on

@Kabriat.  Here you go again!! I'm not supporting PAAIA or NIAC or any other organization but I am happy that at least one organization had the decency to look into the matter objectively and not jump all over the discrimination bandwagon without some evidence. Every other organization and I know most of them haven't talked to this young woman just chose to start their public protests. We still don't know the truth of the story. We don't know if there were other issues. We only have her statement, so, I'm glad that there was one organization that said what we have NOW doesn't point to discrimination. If we find out that there is more, we will say so...and they did. Unlike you, I don't think it was hypocritical but mature and appropriate.  And I'm glad they didn't apologize...why should they apologize? And that's a rhetorical question that you don't need to answer. 

Sensationalism has its place and we Iranian Americans are good at "ye kalagh chehel kalagh"ing everything. Slow down...let the facts come to light...you don't have to run around screaming to get your point across.


Kabriat

Press Release from Sahar Sabet

by Kabriat on

Here's a Sahar Sabet's press release where she affirmatively tells PAAIA they were wrong.  But still, PAAIA refuses to issue a public apology!

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UPDATE ON CASE OF IRANIAN-AMERICAN TEENAGER DENIED

SERVICE AT APPLE STORE IN ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA 

Sahar Sabet Corrects Erroneous Media and Organizational Reports

June 25, 2012 – Atlanta. Ms. Sahar Sabet, the Iranian-American teenager who was denied service at the Apple Store located inside North Point Mall in Alpharetta, Georgia because of her ethnicity and national origin issued a statement through her attorney, Mr. M. Khurram Baig, to correct numerous erroneous reports that have surfaced in the media over the past week.

In Sabet’s own words, the incident in question occurred on Thursday, June 14th 2012, when she went to the Apple Store located in the North Point Mall in Alpharetta, Georgia to purchase an iPad as a birthday gift for her older sister who lives in North Carolina.  The iPad was notbeing purchased by Sabet for her cousin who lives in Iran, as has been previously misreported in some media accounts.

On the date in question, Sabet’s family had relatives visiting from Houston, Texas.  Ms. Sabet decided to take her uncle, aunt, and grandmother with her to the mall that afternoon.  Sabet received assistance from two different Apple employees while finalizing her decision on which specific iPad model to select. Ultimately, she selected an iPad and was preparing to make her purchase.  It was at this time that Sabet’s uncle, a native Farsi speaker, had a question regarding an iPhone that he was considering purchasing for his daughter in Tehran, Iran.  Sabet, a United States citizen and native English speaker, served as a translator.  After asking her uncle’s question to one of the Apple employees that had been assisting her, she translated the answer into Farsi for her uncle’s benefit.

Then, as Sabet attempted to complete her purchase, another Apple employee, previously unknown to Sabet, approached her and rudely demanded to know what language Sabet and her uncle were speaking.  When Sabet replied that they were speaking Farsi, the Apple employee, with no other basis, denied Sabet the sale and stated that “our countries do not have good relations with each other.”  Sabet’s attempts to escalate the situation to the store’s management were fruitless as the manager on duty simply sided with the employee’s decision to refuse Sabet the sale on account of her ethnicity and national origin.

“Apple could have done so many things differently in this situation”, said Baig.  “But unfortunately, instead of serving as a retailer, Apple decided to play the role of custom’s enforcement and that is simply not Apple’s role to play.”  Baig went on to add that had Sabet not been speaking Farsi, she likely would not have been singled out on the date question.  “Contrary to erroneous reports that no discrimination took place, Ms. Sabet was treated differently than every other person who walked into that Apple Store on that day. That was not an accident.  It happened because Apple supports a policy that allows Iranian-Americans like Ms. Sabet to be discriminated against and that must change immediately.  Discrimination like this is an affront to everything we believe in as Americans.”

For comments or to schedule an interview, contact attorney M. Khurram Baig via telephone at (678) 534-2529 or via e-mail at mkbaig@baiglaw.com. 

 


maziar 58

....

by maziar 58 on

I'd read in some link on IC

That even the seller was an Iranian NIAC member !

Maziar