Discussions abound about how people should be sensitive towards and respectful of other religions, especially regarding rhetoric directed towards Muslims in the wake of proposed construction of the so-called Ground Zero mosque. Some folks say such sensitivity is motivated by fear of violent reprisals by radical Islamists if such respect is not paid. Some people say Christians, on the other hand, are diminished and disrespected at will, as no widespread fear exists of avenging angels descending upon perceived transgressors.
Here’s an interesting and admittedly minor example about how Christian sensibilities may not always be uppermost in some people’s minds.
For all you iPhone users, check out the phone’s text messaging spell checker.
Conveniently and thoughtfully, our friends at Apple automatically capitalize words in mid-sentence, which are normally capitalized, such as Linda, John, etc. In fact, if one types iphone in the middle of a text, Apple obligingly corrects it to iPhone.
One day, I was texting somebody something, which I can’t recall, but God and Bible were in the sentence. Strangely, neither God nor Bible was automatically capitalized. Both remained in the lower case form I entered. Just for fun, I tested other words.
Allah. Koran. Quran. Torah. Lord.
All were capitalized – except Lord.
Perhaps ‘holy bible’ would appear as Holy Bible, as people often refer to the book – or should I say Book – with that title. That didn’t work. I tried scripture and holy scripture, but no capitalization. I entered holy. No change.
My point is not to claim nefarious motives, but I thought I would contact Apple about this apparent oversight. I left a voice message with the Assistant to the Vice President of Marketing. She e-mailed me the following week, and later that day (9/22) wrote: Your request is being handled by our PR department now. Thank you for alerting us to this issue!
I’ll be tracking how quickly Apple modifies its spell checking capabilities. A change seems only fair.
+++
Fred W. Apelquist, III, M. Ed.
Approximately 325 words.
© September 30, 2010
+++
YETMO: “You’re Entitled To My Opinion,” A Balanced Point of View
"To stimulate thought, debate, and introspection”