Google and the Land of the Free.
Somewhere between my greasy gang land garagiste era and before sliding into the ice age of the Lord Chancellor’s Office, I ran a small hotel in Suffolk on the outskirts of a vast American air base. I had a sign on the wall – ‘two peoples separated by a common language’ – to remind the staff that our guests might look vaguely like us, but were actually extras from the Invaders TV series, liable to evaporate at the slightest provocation.
I shan’t bore you with the details of exactly why the freezer exploded one lunchtime showering the entire restaurant in frozen peas, nor the three days we spent chasing an incontinent un-quarantined rabbit round the attic, suffice it to say that the problem always boiled down to one of language. Mostly we survived, although one day the after lunch poker school in the back kitchen was disturbed by a very large Montana lad leaning against the door post and drawling ‘You might want to call me a cab’ – I had impressed on the staff the need for a speedy response to any American request – and thus, ‘You’re a cab, Sir’ had escaped from the lips of our chef even before he laid down his Royal flush.
The ensuing row very nearly cost me my contract with the base; I was forced to grovel piteously in the Base Commanders office and agree that never ever, no, never, would any Montana mountain boy dressed up in the fatigues of a lowly grunt ever, ever, be treated so disrespectfully ever, ever, again.
The American sense of humour and proportionate response is a wondrous thing.
As the Chinese are finding out, mind you, they could have asked the Iraqis.
There is a truly incredible row brewing between China and America, which has already enveloped Google.
It seems that a humble Chinese blog, ‘Hot Girls’, hosted on Google’s own platform, Blogger, opted for Michelle Obama as their ‘hot girl’ of the week. They published a number of photographs of her looking – well, airbrushed, made up by the finest cosmeticians, dressed by America’s finest designers, and all was well. They also included, just the one, ‘Photoshopped’ version of her looking somewhat more closely related to our nearest African cousins [kindly note my emphasis on ‘our’] – top left in my image.
Yo! Brother, straight into the Creationism v Darwinism Mother of all rows.
One photograph, one obscure Chinese blog. Welcome to the murky world of free speech, politics and Google.
1700 anonymous commentators descended on the site, shrilly shrieking for the image to be taken down. An unknown army of Americans hit on the site to be duly offended. Lo! The image became No1 on Google’s search return for images of Michelle Obama.
Google responded by removing the image, apparently on the grounds that the site contained malware (?) although they continued to show the site and its other pages in their search results with no malware warning. Still not satisfied, Google bought up some of its own advertising to ensure that anyone Googling Michelle Obama images would be met by an advertisement detailing Google’s policy on offensive images.
Sometimes Google search results from the Internet can include disturbing content, even from innocuous queries. We assure you that the views expressed by such sites are not in any way endorsed by Google. […] We apologize if you’ve had an upsetting experience using Google. We hope you understand our position regarding offensive results.
The site itself has issued the following apology in an attempt to defuse the row.
對於此文章感到非常的抱歉,這是由程式自動發文的文章。請勿對種族與政治的議題做過度偏激的討論,誠摯希望世界是非常和平的。
I am very sorry for this article, and that this is the program automatically issued a document from the article. Do not the subject of race and politics make the discussion too radical and sincere hope that the world is very peaceful.
As a matter of dry academic theory, I don’t think that wives or families should be included in the general satire directed at politicians, but in the real world, some of them are only too keen to step into the arena. If they do so, then they need the same thick skins as their partners. It is a rough, tough life out there in the public eye.
Google Cherie Blair images and you will be presented with a series of letter boxes looking remarkably like her. I ran an image of Gordon Brown as a dead parrot some weeks ago, another of our creationist ancestors incidentally. I shan’t invite you to follow my journey across Google images as I tried to find an image to accompany a story about Liz ‘Truss’ the other morning, my innocent mind has been sullied for ever.
The image is being universally described by the American media as ‘racially offensive’, had it been described as ‘creationalistically’ offensive, I might have understood. If we are all to give up any notion of having been put on this earth by divine right, and I do have a hard job disillusioning myself of that particular notion, then we are all descended from monkeys, cats, dogs, and parrots, and no singular race, no matter how arriviste, has the right to secure offence all for itself.
That being said, Google’s censorship of material to be seen by the American people, when it can still be seen by the Chinese people, and those of us in Europe, needs some explaining.
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1
November 26, 2009 at 12:46 pm -
As you well know Anna, the Americans are not known for their benevolence when it comes to anyone else’s sense of humour portraying the ” face ” of Amurika ( in it’s multiple forms ) in a less than air brushed , polished, detached from reality perfection: as for the commander of the base, (Mildenhall?) he had obviously never seen any real fighting.
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2
November 26, 2009 at 3:09 pm -
Yes….. but where did that image of the (usually beautiful) Mrs Firstlady come from? The Chinese blogger did the ‘touching up’? If not, who did? And is it still lurking somewhere on the interweb?
On the language thing, don’t knock the Americans too much – at least they know how to spell labor, color and honor correctly (just like the original Latin), not with the irritating French influence that we’ve allowed to creep in.
Mind you, I hate it when they pronounce ‘hostile’ as if it’s somewhere young people stay when they are backpacking, or pronounce ‘juvenile’ like a Roman poet………..
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November 26, 2009 at 3:21 pm -
……they’re not my cousins…although, of all the americans i’ve known in my life, one was nice.
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4
November 26, 2009 at 3:59 pm -
In the Science sites in the last few days there has been a feature on the Mount Toba super volcano blast of around 73000 years that all be eliminated the human race. We descend from the few that survived, and they are claimed to be all in Africa at the time.
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November 27, 2009 at 11:32 am -
Michelle Obama hasn’t exactly shied away from the media spotlight, has she – but of course, once someone plays the ‘race card’ then its game over to her opponents.
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November 27, 2009 at 12:32 pm -
“…the (usually beautiful) Mrs Firstlady…”
*wipes tea from monitor*
Good one there!
And remind me again: how was Bush often portrayed?
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7
November 27, 2009 at 5:02 pm -
@ JuliaM
Lol…nail, hammer, whack!
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November 27, 2009 at 9:50 pm -
I loved Mildenhall! En-suite rooms with a shared kitchen between two and TV in the rooms (that was the enlisted quarters!), the PX, fast-food on base (including a place that did “biscuits” covered in gravy!) and the weird trappings that made it feel like the USA. I also enjoyed the annual 4th July party at another base, to which we Brits were invited as “runners up” and the butt of all jokes. I also recall being surprised at seeing a black culture magazine in the PX, which had the subtitle “for the caring sharing brother”….which spoke of a separate culture, very different than the UK where we tend to take the view we’re all in this shit together (although I think there are magazines for UK black men now)
Not surprising this came from China….only the Japanese are more racist, albeit in an innocent and genuine way. Portraying the first black president’s wife as a chimp is not something most of us would do….if we get to a stage when this passes without comment and the fact a black president is a “black president”, then this will mean a large advancement in race relations.
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November 28, 2009 at 12:09 pm -
As ever, if this was just ignored it would have drifted off into cyber sunset and probably never heard of again (except maybe at a crucial time in the next race for the White House).
Interesting article Anna, loved it, it made me “laugh”.
Americans of course, just do not understand the British sense of humour, but they are learning, after all they did have “Jordan” on one of heir talk shows over there and apparently Jordan is still wondering if she has been got at – or not!
Visiting the States and deploying the British sense of humour can be met with some hilarious results and I forget how many times Americans told me they know someone in Scottt-land, or Cooorn-waaall, and asked; “do you know them”? Probably, I replied, because although the Scots officially hate the English, they all seem to be living in my neck of the woods. (Now, that was a joke), “my best friend is a Scot” (honest) and for a Scot, he has a brilliant sense of humour (as long as people do not put on an appalling Scotch accent and call him “Jimmay” (more than twice a day) , or make obscure references to haggis or bagpipes, or commando wearing kilts, he is fine. Mind you, he is not without a few digs at us and our football or rugby teams, and is never slow at reminding us about the astonishing number of Scots, that invented things and not just “things” really important things etc etc etc, I just ask him to refrain from waxing lyrical ‘Rabbie Burns’ waxing lyrical. Honestly, the mere mention of poor old very long dead Rabbie and my eyes glaze over and trigger severe bouts of psychosomatic yawning. I mean does anyone really want to read the relics of Rabbie translated into the de’il’s tongue? (English)
My friend “Jimmay” (yes his name really is Jimmy sorry), tells me that many people in Scotland, think that all people South of the Border belong to a Morris dancing club and eat our Friday “tea” out of a newspaper, the national dish of, “Vietnamese river cobbler and chips” (since those marauding Spanish nicked all the cod) and that all Londoners really do go out in bowlers and talk with a plum in our mouths and are “freightfully” polite (sic).Apparently, all of us “English” go out on weekends searching for a queue to join, once found, we all stand politely one behind the other and strike up allegiances and develop that strange phenomena of queue camaraderie. Anyone at all can join one of our queues, from a cage fighting cross dresser, to aunty Mable with a Belize bank account and the very English newage mum wearing a long flowing skirt which reaches just above the ankles and a long knitted cardigan (or good old English woolie) and Doc Martins, hair braided and complete with an array of colourful beads and one of those knitted rainbow coloured hats with three corners and dangly bits, clutching the hand of her child, who has his own colourful knitted three cornered hat with dangly bits, “yes sirreee” anyone can join an English queue and one only very slightly raises the end of ones eyebrow, when new age very white and very English, newage stick thin non meat eating daddy, (fresh from his sit in outside McDonalds), complete with a few years worth of dreadlocks, speaks in a very strong “Afro Caribbean” (or politically incorrect better known as Jamaican) accent, the only thing missing is the sucking of the teeth and that strange flicking thing of the finger and thumb. The only rule for queuers is that, people do not even dare think about pushing in the said queue. If anyone dares to push in an English queue, that old stiff upper lip wobbles and people give a disapproving stare and a fleeting glimpse of “the eye”, before going back to the deep and meaningful conversation they were having with a complete stranger about whether “Cuprinol” really does do what it says on the tin and of course, not forgetting, the weather! Last week, there were a great many queue clubs forming, to talk about the weather, after all they had a lot to talk about with “the floods” in that strange and slightly rude sounding place of “Cockermouth” up there somewhere near Scotland. Oh look we have done a Michael Palin and gone “Full Circle”, proving that we really are a truly diverse society these days and the world isn’t really is just a “Great Big Onion” , so no need at the moment to go planting any “love seeds” until it dies, however, I fear we have yet to reach full “Melting Pot” status and I think we may have erred little, we were supposed to; “Take a pinch of white man and Wrap him up in black skin ” but as the afore mentioned new age travelling stick thin Vegan vegitarian daddy with dreads demonstrates in his baffling “Jamaican” accent, we appear to have got the instructions back to front, took a pinch of black man and wrapped the poor sausage (vegitarian sausage f course) up in white skin and the result is, that we have many people in England, running around trying to look and sound like Black people, fortunately, the trend does not seem to have been reversed and Black people, do not go around trying to emulate the plum in the mouth accent of the English. (With the notable exceptions of Sir Trevor McDonald and Trevor Phillips)
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