Posted by
Mark Holt on Thursday, September 11, 2008 3:30:27 PM
As most people know, Google often changes the logo on the main page of
their website to commemorate current or historical events and
holidays. When this happens, clicking on the logo will take the
visitor to a web page, selected by Google, that gives more details
about the event in question. During the Olympics, for example, there
were at least eight days of new logos that I remember. A couple of
days ago, a large ring around the logo advised us all to read about a
Hadron Supercollider.
But today is September 11. And on the Google main page, we have a
picture of...
Nothing at all.
I almost expected it. I didn't have anything to search for, I just
went to Google today to see if in some way they would commemorate the
victims of the September 11th attacks the same way they commemorate Olympic badminton or Europe Earth Day. I thought there was a chance they
wouldn't, but I didn't want to believe it. I really did expect to see
maybe a little cartoon of firemen raising a flag or something. Nope.
Don't know why I expected anything different. At Christmas time every
year, I am pissed off with every google search from the 17th until Christmas. Every December, there are 8 days of little
santa mice, or polar bears, or some other animated creature pushing presents around, with the
caption "Happy Holidays from Google!" Every other holiday gets its
real name written out, including Hannukah, Ramadan, and even the
made-up Qwanzaa. But Christmas, by
far America's most observed holiday, is just sort of generally included
in "Happy Holidays." Even Boxing Day, December 26th, gets its name on the logo. (Does anyone even know what Boxing Day means? I like to think it's like President's Day--they combined Mohammed Ali's birthday with Mike Tyson's. Or maybe it's the day everyone moves all the new worthless junk they got for Christmas to the old refrigerator box in the garage, in a national ritual known as "Boxing"). But Christmas has its name changed to "Holidays." Further, the representation on the logo is entirely areligious. For Jewish holidays, there might
even be a little Star of David or a menorah. But for Christmas, no representation of
Christ, Christianity, nothing, unless you consider Santa Claus a religious figure. (Hint: he's not.)
Now, Google has, of course, no obligation to commemorate Christmas or September 11th. But that's precisely the point. What they choose to commemorate, by their own choice, is more revealing of their company's overarching philosophy than any financial statement could be.
I don't know why I'm surprised. Whenever I notice Googles failure to recognize it was, in fact, nurtured by the American system, I am reminded of
certain events in 2006. At that time, Google refused to provide the US Government with information which would
have assisted them in catching child pornographers. Because
there was no warrant involved, Google said, simply, "No." Even though every other major search engine thought it a reasonable request and complied, Google didn't. After all, freedom of
speech was at stake! And privacy! You know, the privacy amendment,
the one in the Bill of Rights, the Right to Privacy While Looking at Child Porn. I'm sure it's in there. Coincidentally, around the same
time, the Chinese government asked Google to limit (read, censor) its
search services. Don't bother censoring child porn, Google. Just
censor certain political topics of our choice, so we can continue indefinitely with our boots on the face of the Chinese populace. Google's response: "Of course!"
The problem with the US Government's request is that Google saw no
dollar signs involved. Just as they see no dollar signs in giving
Christmas or September 11th the same respect as, say, Marie Curie's birthday. But if money is the only issue, perhaps
Google can answer a question I thought was interesting. A friend of
mine owns a business in search engine optimization, i.e. getting his
clients' websites listed on Google. He said Google would sell you ads
for any category under the sun, including any category of pornography
you can imagine (and several you can't), but if you wanted to buy
listings for websites trading in guns or gun paraphernalia, you were
out of luck. Your money is no good with Google. They will take money
from pornographers, but not gunsmiths, gun dealers, or gun
manufacturers. Unless the Chinese government counts. They are obviously losing money there--no one will argue there is plenty to be made in gun sales. So the argument that business decisions rule the policy isn't enough. The policies of Google have every appearance of being ruled by Leftist ideology. Which makes me wonder why they seem to have such a gift for capitalism.
I work on the internet, and thus, I'm almost forced to use Google. They are simply the best at what they do (I'm sure the free market had nothing to do with that). But someday, somebody else, somebody not Google, will make a search engine that works. And on
that day, I too, will censor Google's search results. By never
initiating another Google search.