Laudnem, you're an ass.

[Baron_Greenback]

@aldiboronti

OK, self-censorship then. Still not good. Google actually defended its stance on not removing the results at first, then folded. It should have stood its ground.

The blog that hosted the Google-bombed image took it down, not Google.

[Nzinga_Seated]

@Baron_Greenback

The blog that hosted the Google-bombed image took it down, not Google.

Would ya’ll stop pointing out that me and aldiboronti don’t know what the hell we are talking about? Can’t you see we want to get worked up about censorship?

[Revtim]

@Laudenum

I have honestly never heard of that.
And, having heard of it, I don’t understand it.
I don’t mean that in a morally superior way, I mean I genuinely don’t ‘get’ it.

I guess the idea is that blacks, especially black babies, can be used as 'gator bait since they aren’t really human.

Here are historic examples:
http://www.authentichistory.com/diversity/african/alligator/01.html

[Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew]

@Baron_Greenback

The blog that hosted the Google-bombed image took it down, not Google.

Not until after Google had already removed it from their search results.

[Nzinga_Seated]

@Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew

Not until after Google had already removed it from their search results.

Sigh. In that case, I am putting back on my t-shirt. DOWN WITH CENSORSHIP.

[Baron_Greenback]

@Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew

Not until after Google had already removed it from their search results.

That’s odd - that article is dated 19th November, and the image was still visible in the search results a few days after that. shrug

Using the .co.uk version of image search, a search for “Michelle Obama” throws up the related search term of “Michelle Obama Monkey” at the moment. I guess that’s just a function of the frequency of user searches, though.

[Zhen_ka]

@Nzinga_Seated

Sigh. In that case, I am putting back on my t-shirt. DOWN WITH CENSORSHIP.

Does that include self-censorship? You’re the one who changed her username under pressure. Isn’t that censorship?

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

Self-censorship is not censorship. As a matter of fact, trying to stop self-censorship is an attack on free expression. If a website doesn’t want to host a racist image, who is anyone else to say they have to?

[willthekittensurvive]

@Revtim

I guess the idea is that blacks, especially black babies, can be used as 'gator bait since they aren’t really human.

Here are historic examples:
The Authentic History Center

wow…

I grew up in South Africa during apartheid, and I don’t think I ever saw anything as horrible as that

just wow

[Olentzero]

@Laudenum

Limerick Pogroms

A Redemptionist Catholic, named Creagh,
Thought the Jews had no reason to stay.
Said Cork folk: “Get bent!
'Tis you should be sent
To reside half an ocean away.”

Sorry, I really couldn’t resist…

[MrDibble]

@willthekittensurvive

wow…

I grew up in South Africa during apartheid, and I don’t think I ever saw anything as horrible as that

just wow

'Course not. Apartheid, as horrible as it was, wasn’t nearly as bad as slavery in the deep South, or (IMO) the Jim Crow aftermath. Even our slavery, which ended long before the American, was rarely as bad in terms of conditions for slaves or even the attitude of the slaveholders. Yes, South African Whites were often racists, but they were rarely as outright mean in their outlook towards Blacks as Americans could be. There was less of the dehumanising and more of the infantalising aspects, as I think of them.

That all goes out the window when it comes to attitudes towards Bushmen, though. I’ve never seen a picture of a pile of American slave heads. I’ve seen them of Bushmen heads, sometimes displayed with other “game” trophies.

[Nzinga_Seated]

@Diogenes_the_Cynic

Self-censorship is not censorship. As a matter of fact, trying to stop self-censorship is an attack on free expression. If a website doesn’t want to host a racist image, who is anyone else to say they have to?

I’m not saying they have to. I’m saying that I’m dissapointed that the didn’t. I am not at all challenging their right to take it down. But I do take your point.

[amanset]

@aldiboronti

I’m surprised too. Sure, it’s blatantly racist and offensive but do we really need censorship to protect us from it? This is a path Google should not be going down, no matter what the pressure.

It is a path Google went down a long time ago and continues to go down.

Censorship by Google

[Yookeroo]

@Enderw24

I think it’s hard to live in America and not know the “black people=monkey” racial stereotype.

That said, I have to ask, what’s so wrong with what Laudnem did? When Bush was in office there were whole websites devoted to pictures of him lined up next to pictures of Monkeys and we all laughed and laughed and laughed on this board. Laudnem even specifically refers to that very thing in his OP! So comparing person A to a monkey is a joke and comparing person B is horribly racist and makes you an asshole?

Yes. Context matters.

[Zsofia]

@MrDibble

'Course not. Apartheid, as horrible as it was, wasn’t nearly as bad as slavery in the deep South, or (IMO) the Jim Crow aftermath. Even our slavery, which ended long before the American, was rarely as bad in terms of conditions for slaves or even the attitude of the slaveholders. Yes, South African Whites were often racists, but they were rarely as outright mean in their outlook towards Blacks as Americans could be. There was less of the dehumanising and more of the infantalising aspects, as I think of them.

That all goes out the window when it comes to attitudes towards Bushmen, though. I’ve never seen a picture of a pile of American slave heads. I’ve seen them of Bushmen heads, sometimes displayed with other “game” trophies.

That’s because a pile of slave heads would be wasted money.

Did you see the Stainiglo soap advertisement on that site? It’s a terrified black baby crawling away from an (admittedly adorable) alligator, and the caption is “For the Removal of Discolorations.”

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@amanset

It is a path Google went down a long time ago and continues to go down.

Censorship by Google - Wikipedia

Google is a multibillion dollar global corporation now. Can’t say as I blame them if they want to insulate themselves from perceptions of bigotry, even if things like Google bombs aren’t their fault.

[Malleus_Incus_Stapes]

@Enderw24

That said, I have to ask, what’s so wrong with what Laudnem did? When Bush was in office there were whole websites devoted to pictures of him lined up next to pictures of Monkeys and we all laughed and laughed and laughed on this board. Laudnem even specifically refers to that very thing in his OP! So comparing person A to a monkey is a joke and comparing person B is horribly racist and makes you an asshole?

Yes, but Bush actually looks like a monkey. Even I noticed. Whereas Obama does have a passing resemblance to a sock monkey, but looks nothing at all like a real ape.