According to a recent report regarding tech giant Apple Computers’ upcoming mobile software update, the house that the two Steves built is planning to add a totally cutting edge feature to the iOS 8.3 texting system that absolutely nobody knew they wanted or needed: racially and ethnically personifying emoticons.
In a move that can only be explained as major pandering to the P.C. police’s self-congratulatory sense of acceptance, Apple is intending to roll out a choice between various new ingratiating virtual punims sporting “six different skin tones,” says CNN. That same account quotes an Apple spokesperson as saying the following: “Apple supports and cares deeply about diversity, and is working with The Unicode Consortium to update the standard so that it better represents diversity for all of us.”
That aforementioned Unicode Consortium sets the standard for ubiquitous electronic characters across geographic regions and languages – emojis, a Japanese invention, have gone a long way toward fulfilling that end. However, I always thought that the standard yellow, round smiley face was good enough for this function – it clearly exuded friendliness, had very expressive options already, and most importantly, was not depicted as a human being with any particular skin tone.
This, in theory, should have already trumped the issue of diversity representation, but now that this can of worms has been opened, how long will it be until a seventh racial or ethnic group feels unrepresented by the current six options? Or an eighth? While nobody can know for certain yet, the possibility of us being further crushed under the weight of faux-diversity immanently coruscates.
