Posted on 09/14/2005 5:37:46 AM PDT by imintrouble
Earlier this week we discussed the 9/11 Anniversary and one writer mentioned that Google had not placed a logo or identifying symbol on their opening page. I wrote an e-mail and received a reply.
I just sent an e-mail in return reminding them that I will not forgot to look next year to see what they have "come up with", and as far as "hurt feelings" of the international commuity, I thought Google was still a U.S. corporation. In addition there were lives from other nations lost in that tragedy.
A logo needn't be their "only answer" in opting to ignore the anniversary (which was their primary intent)... a simple phrase "We will never forget" would have sufficed. "Lest we forget" has done well in our memorials to WWI and WWII.
I also wrote their bias is showing through in their banner ads and their links for the general public and I personally feel if they are going to become a political activist company, I will spread the word to stop utilizing their services.
The sheer numbers of abstinence may make them think twice about where they are going in their philosophies or whether they intend to cover all spectrums of ideological belief.
Their response is as follows:
"Thank you for your note. We would like to explain to you why we didn't post a Google holiday logo for September 11 this year. As an international company, we'd like our logos to reflect the diverse, global nature of our user base. The decision whether to display a special logo for a holiday doesn't reflect any judgment on our part about the holiday itself.
Furthermore, Google's special logos tend to be lighthearted in nature. If we were to commemorate September 11, we'd want to express reverence, rather than mirth. This would be a particularly challenging design. We would not want to, in any way, create a graphic that could be interpreted as disrespectful. In light of the mail we've received about this, we're actively considering designs we could display on this day next year. We welcome any suggestions you may have.
Regards, The Google Team"
Americans must unite or we will lose our freedoms given to us by the lives of others in defense of those freedoms.
Amen to that
Um. I could have sworn they had a ribbon up for the past couple of weeks in support of Hurrican Katrina victims. Hardly and international incident and hardly "lighthearted in nature."
Do you suppose there's a "Mrs. Team" who named her child "The"?
Screw Google. I avoid them whenever possible.
Google News is a total outrage. When you search Google's so-called news site, it brings up lefty blogs like OpEd News and sources like Media Matters [the polar opposite of Brent Bozell's Media Research]. Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs has long complained about how pro-American views and sources are filtered out in Google News.
International, diverse and global are nice words from some more rich and powerful liberals. I am still so confused how liberals have money. When I gre up I was taught by libs that they hated money and power because they corrupt. Now we find out that the rich and powerful are often liberals. I am so confused.
I suspect that Google is going to blow it by getting political to a greater and greater extent. They are successful now because they are seen as a neutral party that helps with all things. But I don't think they are going to be able to resist the temptation to try to use their successful position to start pushing the standard Idiot Lefty line. At that point, they will sacrifice the characteristic of univeriality which is the only reason they were successful in the first place.
If Google is still a major player in five years, I will be very surprised.
The designs must reflect the preferences of the person creating them.
I'd love to stop using Google--I noticed the lack of a 9/11 tribute too.
Does anyone have a recommendation for a better search engine?
How about a Red Crescent of Embrace?
Holiday? Stupid wankers.
I'm pretty sure that whether or not Google posts a logo for a day has nothing to do with the continued existence of our freedoms. In fact, I would posit that outrage over Google's logo - or lack thereof - is more of a threat.
"As an international company, we'd like our logos to reflect the diverse, global nature of our user base.....We would not want to, in any way, create a graphic that could be interpreted as disrespectful"
Assuming that the world (not just NY) was attacked on Sept 11, who the hell are they going to offend...THE TERRORISTS? I would think ignoring the whole thing would be more disrespectful of the victims (and their families).
Too much self-appreciating "***Symbolism over Substance***" already in this country.
The GOOGLE logo as a "SOLIDARITY" symbol?
Velcom to the Gulag! Where ***Symbolism over Substance*** always wins!
I wondered why that did not put one up myself.
Many people of many different nationalities died on 9/11, I don't think it gets much more international than that.
Dogpile. Uses multiple search engines
I'm considering using Google next year.
I suspect that Google is going to blow it by getting political to a greater and greater extent. They are successful now because they are seen as a neutral party
they haven't been neutral since Bush won in 2000
Thank you! :)
And besides that, the foreign google sites (like www.google.de) do not show the special holiday logos anyway.
they do a big spill for Christmas and other holidays,,wonder how their islamanac friends feel about that?
They publish all the logos they have used throughout their existence at
http://www.google.com/intl/en/holidaylogos.html
Alot of them seem location specific.
I support Google's right to post whatever they want, just as I support customers/users to vote with their feet/wallet.
Pssst. FR didn't have a memorial anything up either. The day is defined by an attack on our country not a few squiggly lines on a logo.
crap, you just HAD to get that in before my little rant
lol
I got the same form reply for Memorial day. Funny Earth Day, now that they can have a logo for.
Screw em, will just use one of the alternative search engines.
Here's a thought. The companies that pay google to be placed at the top of the search, pay for each click on their link. ( I doubt if they pay more than once per person, so no point in hitting tehm multiple times.)
It might be interesting, however, to email these companies and tell them that you do no wish to patronize anyone who pays google, and by doing so, contributes to political parties you oppose.
As the article states, their Google adwords is just plain awful. They feed so many left-wing political ads that I just dropped them after a few weeks of trying to filter all the garbage ads out.
Hey, they didn't put a cute logo for the 4th of July either. I sent an e-mail and by the end of the day a logo appeared. At the time I thought is was an oversight but now I'm sure the patriotism of the 4th of July is just too much to bear for these kooks.
Yes, but the public perception is that they have been neutral. Eventually, they will become so outrageous that this perception will change. As soon as that happens, they are lost.
It's not so much that people insist on Google's having logos in the first place, it's that people are pointing out the leftist bias they demonstrate in their choice of which holidays or important days to commemorate, and how they design logos on Christian holidays or days that are significant in American history.
Well the power of the people can be very powerful when people using their services IS their business.
I post on a site in Canada which is conservative in their primary ideology and advertises as such, however to finance their site, they utilize Google Ads - and some of the anti-Bush ads are outrageous.
These people have grown way beyond their need. I don't see ads in Dictionaries or Research Collections. The use and purchase of the service is the business right?
Not political activism.
I will use other engines as often as I can if their claim to fame is hits. We can certainly give them what they deserve for their lies...... shunning.
I use Google exclusively as my search engine. Excellent results.
If that is your take, then my response is the same: Google's leftist bias is not an existential threat to any freedoms we have.
You mean they wouldn't want to put up anything that would offend the international terrorist community. Afterall, terrorists google too!
I agree. Personally I don't like the idea of memorializing a day we got our collective asses kicked by a bunch of dropouts.
Yahoo search is pretty good. I just did a vanity search on both Google and Yahoo. Google found KarlInOhio on www.freerepublic.com 425 times. Yahoo found my name 5620 here.
Then again, I've never once clicked on a sponsored link, and therefore merely leech off the service and bring no revenue to the company, and as thus they should not care what I think.
I think people get too wrapped up in "memorials" and symbolism. Certain events can become the basis of a cult. Instead of recongizing something for what it is (a really F'ed up criminal action that our border policy allowed to happen and knew would eventually happen), we see it as some kind tie that binds some peopel together .... almost like an organized religion.
20,000 Americans are murdered yearly. Islamists are pretty far down the list of actual threats to the average American. How many of us commemorate the other 17,000? Should Google keep a running tally on their homepage, which is reset every year? How about a yellow ribbon for each person ... until the page has 20,000 ribbons in December?
Just live your life and don't worry about what little graphic Google does/doesn't put under their little textbox. You'll be happier. Seriously, you will.
And I had a relative in the Pentagon that partially lost their hearing, and HE doesn't want to hear (no pun intended) about frigging 9/11 anymore either. Nobody forgot it. Unless you are Momento, how could you forget it? And if you did forget it, a banner probably won't help as you would forget it the day after.
He doesn't need a stinking Google banner to remind him that he narrowly missed getting plowed by an airplane. He's moved on with his life. Seriously, what's the point? Oh yeah, 4 years ago 9/11 happened! There. Now what?
The border is still open. That is what should scare you.
I knew Yahoo sucked, you just confirmed it.
P.S. It was a joke ;-)
The search "Bush Quotes", gave me every moonbat site that hated the President. There were quotes that were simply not true (ones that "showed" his so-called stupidity, quotes that had previously been supposedly said by Algore and Dan Quayle, for example), or just used his words out of context. Try it yourselves.
Oh yeah. Darryl Worley had a fine song in Have You Forgotten?. IMO, too many of our countrymen have. Especially our blue state brothers and sisters. Politics trump proper respect of murdered Americans and outrage at our enemies, especially if it makes a Republican President they hate look good. The Left hates Republicans/Conservatives far more than the terrorists that kill us. As long as they have that attitude, they'll remain a minority party, God willing!
I've seen all kinds of things 'celebrated' in their logos from moon landing anniversary, to Mars rovers to dead artist's birthdays.
Frankly, this is pretty low on my list of things that matter.
Basically, everyone is upset because a company chooses to do business under its own logo, and we're fussing because they didn't change the design for one day to recognize a very sad historical event that isn't even a holiday?
I know some will scold me for characterizing 911 that way, but it's true. And whether Google (or WalMart, or Toyota, or Home Depot, etc.) choose to decorate their places of business is just irrelevant to me.
Sept.11, to me, should be a day of quiet reflection rather than one of celebration. One of Google's silly little logos would probably offend you, too. This is probably a no-win situation for them.
It's a free country, remember?
Give it up and spend your time on something important.
Once again, bloggers outperform the media. I didn't even know Google failed to do that, but it's interesting to read their response. Thanks for posting.
Their logos don't support international causes all the time. They have "Holiday" designs. Do they celebrate Ramadan? Islam is an international religion.
They don't want to offend anyone. Then better google the best method for wrist-slitting, because you're going to be offending someone somewhere all the time.
Was it a "challenging" design to make a reverent logo? Heaven forbid we "challenge" Google's image department with concocting a logo to pay respects to the 3,000 who faced some "challenges" on 9/11!
Do you Yahoo? You should now.
Thank you FreeRepublic - that I have the space here to rant against something I feel is a burgeoning illness in our country and it is becoming worse.
Your comment to my above statement:
"Pssst. FR didn't have a memorial anything up either. The day is defined by an attack on our country not a few squiggly lines on a logo."
Excuse me - Free Republic provided huge football fields of space for all our tributes.
There is no comparison between a logo and what we were allowed on FR and an aftershock such as my rant today.
I see you are not one to appreciate the "freedoms" offered quietly with respect and those never offered. I happen to appreciate the many freedoms offered by companies and groups which enhance my own life, such as the men and women fighting or guarding our country, the people in emergency mode in the south, and FreeRepublic for the space they and their donors offer to me for my outbursts!
Didn't bother me.
Well said, I agree with you.
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