Does Google Hate America?

The search giant rankles the right by declining to commemorate certain holidays. (story)
Popular since:
2008-06-14
Category:
Technology, Tech Industry News
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Best thread:
1034 diggs (thread)

Here's an excerpt of the most-dugg comment thread for 2008-06-14 :

456 diggs
mediaphile on 2008-06-14 04:15:12
About half way through reading I had to check and make sure this wasn't an Onion story.

People are really this worried about cartoonish doodles on the website of a private company? Google wants to celebrate science and art, not death and American nationalism (which for some reason seem to go hand in hand). And why _should_ Google celebrate American nationalism? Isn't it time we start acting like the global community we're supposed to be? Why do we place so much importance on arbitrary divisions of territory?
  • 158 diggs
    ICSU on 2008-06-14 07:48:32
    It's the usual chauvinist bullshit: either you are with us or against us. (Also see the paranoid comments.)
    • 80 diggs
      Mootabolife on 2008-06-14 08:44:54
      "Few keep a closer watch on Google than the editors of National Review. For years, they have monitored Google's doodles in search of value judgments about America."

      LOL
      • 15 diggs
        Theli on 2008-06-14 15:33:48
        "Even when Google commemorates Independence Day, Lopez has looked for hints of a clandestine liberal sensibility. Last year, she printed a comment from a reader who claimed that the American eagle on Google's logo was clutching olive branches—but not arrows, the symbol of America's military might: "I think they've gone with a remodeled 'peace is patriotic' bumper sticker. They just couldn't bring themselves to do something 'American' without making some kind of signal about current policy."

        Huh?
      • 11 diggs
        jtlight on 2008-06-14 16:43:45
        The even more ridiculous part about this, is that if you look here (http://www.google.com/holidaylogos07.html), not only is the eagle clutching olives, but arrows. Peace through strength?
    • 12 diggs
      MacParrot on 2008-06-14 11:21:01
      What I found interesting was that they chose "Veteran's Day" as an example of a day that Google should cange their logo or acknowledge it in some way since that day originally was called Armistice Day in recognition of the sacrifices made by all countries involved at the end of WW1. It was hoped that by remembering the death and losses suffered by all that another war would not happen on the same scale (good luck with that).

      After WW2 and Korea, some bright mind decided to change that from being a memorial to all veterans everywhere to just the American ones. I have no problem with celebrating the American veterans and thanking them for their sacrifices, but it shouldn't have been Nov 11
      • 4 diggs
        Ramble on 2008-06-14 12:53:05
        In Britain on remembrance day (Nov 11) we usually just celebrate our veterans.
      • 7 diggs
        Jawsh91 on 2008-06-14 16:49:37
        In Canada as well, we have Remembrance Day
      • 3 diggs
        celticchrys on 2008-06-14 20:20:43
        Thank you, MacParrot, I actually did not know the origin of Veteran's Day. All they taught us in school was that it was an American holiday to remember and thank our Veterans. It actually seems much more worthwhile now that I know the origin.
  • -6 diggs
    ralphthemagi on 2008-06-14 07:50:36
    Google is a public company.
    • -19 diggs
      Audacitor on 2008-06-14 08:04:31
      I'm pretty sure Google's privately owned.
      • 0 diggs
        dahuf on 2008-06-14 08:37:25
        You can buy stock in it, are you kidding me? Privately owned by millions of public investors, haha...

        Mass dig downs for someone stating the truth? Hah, wow.
      • 5 diggs
        azbmr on 2008-06-14 11:01:59
        @ralph -
        I'm pretty sure you are being dug down due to your comment being a non sequitur. Google being a publicly traded company has nothing to do with the comment you replied to.
      • 1 diggs
        azbmr on 2008-06-15 02:44:19
        I see your point about it not being a non sequitur, and I think you are right (by the time I'd gotten through all of mediaphile's comment, I had forgotten the word private was even mentioned).

        I disagree that the private company opening sentence was the basis for the rest of the questions mediaphile posed. Being publicly traded doesn't mean you need to give a shit about what some small amount of idiots think (unless those idiots are comprised of your shareholders). Luckily for google, they're not, so they can keep on doing whatever the fuck they want with their website, since it is the most heavily used search engine.
    • 15 diggs
      netdroid9 on 2008-06-14 08:34:26
      So's Microsoft and Apple, doesn't mean they have to bend over for any whim of the consumer.
      • 7 diggs
        Lythium on 2008-06-14 12:24:22
        @ralph: FTA - "Google now accounts for more than 60 percent of all online searches conducted in the United States." Seems to me that whatever Google is doing is working out juuuust fine for both its consumers and its shareholders (refer to the NASDAQ link below).

        http://quotes.nasdaq.com/quote.dll?page=charting&m ...
  • 34 diggs
    PotatoSamurai on 2008-06-14 08:05:32
    "Google wants to celebrate science and art, not death and American nationalism (which for some reason seem to go hand in hand)"

    Nationalism really defines itself by death and struggle; It's certainly not unique to America. Australia has its subjugation of the natives, France has the atrocities of the Revolution, and Britain a legacy of imperialism that fucked up the world. Nationalism is a perversion of the purpose of a nation-state: to unite the people, not to agitate their xenophobia, but to overcome their difficulties with a common strength.
    • 6 diggs
      Drizzit on 2008-06-14 18:08:19
      Yeah and as a people were about as united as the knees of a cheerleader on prom night.
      • 4 diggs
        tech42er on 2008-06-14 19:57:36
        Best simile ever.
  • 27 diggs
    dreamstorm on 2008-06-14 08:09:10
    You have to wonder if these ubiquitous claims of "left-wing bias" are intended to shift everyone's thinking to the right. Do you think Google may, in the interests of appearing balanced, decide to add more "right-wing" holidays (whatever that means) to their doodle schedule?

    Similar to how the Clinton campaign complained they were being unfairly treated by the media--while in fact the opposite was true, the media shortly thereafter increased their positive coverage of the Clinton campaign to correct this perceived deficit.


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