(Yesterday I noticed something strangely absent. I did a little Goggling and well...there are some things about which I sometimes find myself unexpectedly (and uncharacteristically) compelled to write. This is such a case. )
Dear Google:
You have inexplicably chosen, once again, not to honor America's fallen heroes by failing to graphically recognize Memorial Day on your search page . You found space on the Google calendar to honor the 125th Birthday of Walter Gropius and the invention of the First Laser, but can’t squeeze in a day to honor the men and women who have lost their lives for their country? No fan of the war in Iraq myself, your decision here has even me scratching my head.
George Bush, the War in Iraq, and issues involving the Chimp/McSame skewed view of reality (bananas) are worthy targets of derision and protest, but let’s not confuse the baby with the bathwater. These men and women weren’t (and aren’t) responsible for U.S. policy (many were scarcely more than kids when they were killed).
Take issue with a General or Congressperson if you must (and I must). Read Chomsky and The Nation (I have and do). Scream to the heavens in protest of the injustices you feel have been visited upon the people of the world by past and current U.S. policies. Please though, don’t give the cold shoulder to those that have made your achievement of the American Dream possible.
These are the people who fought and died over the course of American history to: (1) Establish our country; (2) Preserve our union; and (3) put and end to the scourges of two World Wars and Nazi atrocities.
And you know the worst part of your silent insult? You are not even being up front about it. If you want to register protest, at least have the decency to stand and be publicly counted. Don’t weakly issue the likes of the following statement:
We have to balance this rotating calendar with the need to maintain the consistency of the Google homepage.Your calendar looks pretty uncluttered to me (only 15 holidays celebrated in the first 147 days of this year). As for your assertions that the design would be difficult and the subject too somber, or that you welcome any suggestions ...well... Google this.
Furthermore, Google’s special logos tend to be lighthearted in nature. If we were to commemorate Memorial Day, we would 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 have received about this, we are actively considering designs we could display on this day next year. We welcome any suggestions you may have.
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20 comments:
You are awesome. If you'd like, I'll send that last illustration to Google as well. We could start a stampede and they'd be issuing much more profound statements then they did with this last one.
What'd you think of Obamas speech yesterday regarding the "fallen heros" some of which he could "see in the audience today." oops.
Which is worse, this one or the 56 states? Oh dear.
"These are the people fought and died over the course of American history to: (1) Establish our country; (2) Preserve our union
; and (3) put and end to the scourges of two World Wars and Nazi atrocities."
I couldn't agree with you more. Your post is very well written and makes a great point. What is the 56 states comment ssgreylord mentioned? I must have missed this somehow. Enjoyed reading this post!
Law of Politics
Good for you I was not aware of this.
Our entire family is completely opposed to this war and please don't even get me started on Bush and the Republicans.
But my son-in-law just got back Bush's hell over in Iraq and this truly ticks me off.
I shall now place Google along side Halliburton as being traders to the very country that has made them so very very rich!!
This is absolutely the end for me. I always use Yahoo search mostly anyway. But, I shall definitely protest completely against Google n ow for sure.
They shall not see my IP doing a search.
Why do people need Google to assist them in honoring this or any other holiday? If you want to honor it, honor it. If someone else doesn't display something that YOU want them to display, in the way YOU want them to display it, what is the point in attempting to force some kind of acknowledgment? And if you succeed in pushing them to honor it, won't that honoring be a little disingenuous? So what's the point? And I have to laugh at the people who say they are done with Google. LOL. Google isn't going to notice.
Wow, google must be an Obama supporter, you know, us anti-patriots, with our lack of flag pins:)
But seriously, if you decide to honor holidays, it's all or nothing. Otherwise its inclusive and offensive. I don't see any valid reason google didn't honor Memorial Day...I mean, I am pretty sure it celebrated Sweetest Day, and if that isn't a crock of shit, I don't know what is.
That is really interesting... but, I don't think they put a poster up for Victoria Day either. Google is not solely an American site, so it shouldn't advertise a solely American holiday if it's not going to advertise a British/Canadian/Australian holiday.
Or rather... if it's going to celebrate Memorial Day, then it better celebrate every other day in remembrance of soldiers that's celebrated in any given country.
I guess I don't support this so much because I have a strong view on soldiers... don't join the army... and if you get drafted... be a real hero... resist the draft, get arrested, do what you have to do. If everyone refused to fight, we'd have to find a new way to address issues. So, I don't have too much respect for soldiers.
Anyway, I still think your letter was very well written and should be taken seriously. 'Cause, if you're going to celebrate a holiday on a search engine used worldwide, you'd better celebrate every holiday.
LOVE the graphics!
AMEN sister. I completely agree with you and thank you for bringing this to light.
Let me just say, straight away, that I don't support the War (for reasons to numerous to list), and I hate the idea of a litmus test of one's patriotism. I wasn't trying to go after Google as being unpatriotic. Though I can easily see how that might have been the impression I left.
For me it is just a case of separating people from policy where it is warranted. And...admittedly this is something close to my heart. One of my older brother's friends joined as a way to pay for College.
That was before there was any hint that Bush would drag America and the world into this quagmire. Jake was a really good guy (a bit of a dreamer actually) and now he's gone. It's not fair.
So sometimes when I see what looks to me like the pawns being punished for the king's misdeeds, I get a upset. And sometimes I'm wrong, as I'm pretty sure I was in this case.
That said, thank you all, ssgreylord, Blake, Shinade, mike, Brittany,~*~Shadow.Crystal~*~ , Monique and Crystal for your thoughtful comments.
ssgerylord Gotta say, I think Obama is probably so exhausted that hose kinds of brain-farts are probably unavoidable and I'd be inclined to cut him some slack. Those really were just slips of the tounge with no attached agenda (but try and tell that to the mouth-breathers).
Blake Thanks for the concurring opinion.
shinade I'm glad to see fellow Bush/CGOP fanclub member :)
I think I might have been a bit hasty in my round condemnation of Google. Sometimes my psychic powers fail me (mind-reading...well it's a tricky business).
mike Great point, and I get where you are coming from.
Brittney and Shadow The two of you got me thinking (Uh-Oh). I am not above admitting I was wrong (fragile ego (puppy face) be damned). And...uh...I think I might have been.
Not only didn't Google honor Sweetest Day (BTW, thank you for the subtle smart-ass nudge-I sometimes (often) need it:P) looking back over the the days they've chosen to honor over the years, there seems to be a pattern. Which brings me to your point Shadow. The pattern seems to suggest a shift from a more domestically (America) targeted Holiday schedule, to one with a more universal and international appeal.
Humble Apologies, I've apparently channelled my inner ugly American (didn't even know I had one, but there it is.)
It's completely true, you'll find no graphic representation of eitherVictoria Day or, for my Aussie/NZ friends, Anzac Day
Monique Glad you are feeling better!
I wish I could take credit for those wonderful designs! Those graphics actually from the link I have attached to the this that ends the post.
crystal thanks for being kind enough to agree, but, alas, I really think I was wrong on this one (best of intentions and a certain road...).
Stick around...I'm sure it won't be the last time.
Well said. However, I don't think Google will budge, because this is a philosophical argument to them. I believe Google folks are globalists. To celebrate or acknowledge Memorial Day would be to honor the "nationalist philosophy."
I liked your response, please know I feel your side of the argument, completely. And I thought for sure they did sweetest day, as I remembered rolling my eyes at the likes of it, but upon googling it (Ironic), I see they did not. Either way, I am wondering if the universal appeal idea isn't the reason why. I mean, what business wants to risk it's neck by appearing to side for or against such a scandalous war? I think it's a good point.
Way to go, this is quite a thought provoking post and the discussion your blog has been bringing about is amazing, you should be so proud! The Times or CNN should scoop you up!
I didn't know anything about this - thanks! I remember reading a story about the guy at Google who started doing these holiday logos and it was just something he did on the side, outside his regular job. If I were looking at this as a techy inside Google and not from the outside looking in, I'd be saying, uh-oh, what have we started. Because they would have to do it full time to hit all the different holidays around the world.
I think like a geek so I see less of a conspiracy here than just a problem with time and resources and the hoards of people who will get offended if they do something and if they don't.
That said...that was an amazing bunch of graphics that you linked to in your post. Many of them answered Google's concerns about how to approach the holiday lightly but still respectfully. There are a lot of talented people in the Intertubular landia.
Google could solve this problem by allowing people outside of their company to submit logos. They could run contests and reward winners and get huge traffic and huge good will. And it would give their internal artists a break.
Brittany You know how I feel 'bout ya'(you really are wonder woman--minus the boots and plus the food,a whole heap o' funny smarts, and the present husband/family).
politics after 50 thanks so much for the great comment. Hadn't really thought about resource angle, but it's a good point.
Ok, this is in no relation to the current post, but I am SO waiting to see your take on the Mcclellan book! I am giddy about the pending satirical genius. Yikes, can you tell I am a nerd?
I. Can't. Wait.
Didn't Google have a "black page day" recently about climate change or some similar issue ? I'm not familiar with American domestic opinion but I would have thought they could have made some effort for fallen service personnel .
In the UK our corresponding day is November 11th and everyone, even anti-war people, respects it and wears a poppy . I feel some agencies, maybe Google fall in to this category , think that expressing solidarity with the fallen somehow condones war . It doesn't - it's a mark of respect - the most serious any country can make .
I usually notice - and enjoy - when Google posts their special logos to commemorate holidays. To be honest, I didn't notice that there wasn't a Memorial Day logo posted - probably because I have been occupied with different things and not online for the past few Memorial Day celebrations - and I don't know why they wouldn't. If they can find the time to post logos for the 50th anniversary of the LEGO brick and the anniversary of the first ascent of Mount Everest, there damn-well should be a Memorial Day logo, too.
the pics are just awesome!! Maybe you can be google s next designer!!
If you are interested in linking, leave a comment on my site!
Guessing as to what Google's intentions are may not be the best thing to do, since you might be wrong (their own explanation might be the best one). But, I will offer my own guess anyway. My experience with the business school of my university (accounting and a couple of econ courses) leads me to think that Google's marketing dept could be guessing as much as you are at the pub opinion of its audience. The war isn't very popular and so they simply decide to play into it and ignore risking provoking the audience. In any case, as a number of you pointed out, people probably don't pay attention to these things as a norm (until somebody points to it). So, now that it’s finally sinking in, they are trying to fix the mistake.
Also, there is a very good point about the soldiers. Joining the army for GI benefits alone is probably a mistake. I am not sure if I would ever join the army for that reason since the risks outweigh the benefits. Soldiers should clearly understand those pros and cons before joining. I also learned a long time ago that life is generally not fair. There are a number of actions that you could take in order to avoid joining the army to pay college tuition. You could do well in high school for example, get a job or two and save (if you can save that is), get a number of scholarships, loans, and so on. It is also safer to join the Navy or the Air force since casualties in those branches are not as great as they are in the Army. The bottom line is that it is a volunteer army. Of course, I do not know the exact situation of your friend and passing judgment is something that I avoid. I keep in mind the story of our former justice dept head Gonzales. Say what you will, but the guy was clever enough to go from rags all the way to the top. He joined the Navy because for him there was literally no other way to advance in life since his mother was alone and they barely survived. He then joined the Navy, later the Air force Academy (I think it was Air force), then went on to Rice for pol. science and eventually to Harvard law. So, I guess I tend to be kind of skeptical of the whole joining the army for tuition story.
However, I think that it is still important to honor the troops. The US has to have a volunteer army and those people should be honored. The Vietnam experience for those defending the country was especially hard, but I am pretty sure that people in America are past that now.
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