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Google Explains Racist Search Results
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cirocco
08:50 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
It amazes me how many people rely on Google both personally and professionally (running searches on everything from health concerns to stats they need for work presentations) yet don't have the foggiest idea how it, or the internet at large, works. I used to have to remind my ex-fiance constantly that anyone can put anything on any topic online. Although he had a graduate degree, he treated everything he read on blogs and Wikipedia as gospel truth. This is just careless.
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sybann
05:06 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
So can we change the algorithm by all performing a search and clicking on the NEXT image? Yeah, it was a lame idea.
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chatterboxwriting
04:20 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
It didn't come up when I searched. I got a picture of Michelle Obama looking beautiful as the first result.
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vulcanized
03:45 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
As much as I hate it, I have to say that I think Google is taking the right approach. They can't lose the appearance of neutrality and I think they are trusting and hoping that someone out there in hacker land will take care of this.

I understand where they are coming from. I hesitate to use Bing because it is owned by Microsoft and I don't trust the neutrality of the results. I don't like the idea of a huge corporation controlling that quantity of information.

This entire thing saddens me so deeply, though. I was so excited when Obama was elected and I knew that some ugliness was going to be dredged up, but I never imagined it would be as bad as it has been. I guess I was more of an optimist than I realized and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Pessimist Squad, that's saying something.
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largirl
03:48 PM

@vulcanized: Agreed. I don't see how they can remove it without compromising the ethics of reliable and neutral search engines. If they remove this, what is next? (Obviously I hate that it happened, of course...it's awful.)
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HarpMadness promoted this comment Edited by largirl at 11/24/09 3:49 PM largirl was starred largirl was unstarred

Cimorene
05:26 PM

@vulcanized: The thing that bothers me is that allowing racist shit to be google-bombed into top ratings isn't actually "neutral." It's more like, "We allow racist images and the racist bigots who love them to fuck with our algorithms."
There really isn't such thing as a neutral position.
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vulcanized
07:52 PM

@Cimorene: I guess it's as neutral as it can be. Plenty of liberal jokes have Google-bombed their way to the top without intervention from Google (Santorum, as others have mentioned, the "miserable failure" bomb, etc), so to let these go and jump on this one would suggest a bias. It's a sad day when speaking out against racism makes you biased, but I guess that's where we are. Either Google has to figure out a way to keep everybody from Google bombing or they have to let shit like this slide. The problem isn't racism per se, it's any censoring of any information because the people at Google don't like it (no matter how justified their dislike may be).
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rodmanstreet
03:02 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
Oh my God, I did the search and was so surprised and grossed out by the picture that I instinctively closed the browser within a split second. At least I have another example to cite when my Republican family members roll their eyes at the idea of racism against the Obamas.
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hedonisticme
07:50 PM

@rodmanstreet: I did the same thing! It was worse than I had imagined....
And what you mentioned at the end, do they believe there is actually no racism against them?
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rodmanstreet
08:23 PM

@hedonisticme: They sort of act like calling out racism is a cop out, like, "Oh, these people just call racism on everything, get over it. Stop using the race card."
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willwriteforfood
03:02 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
Seems like it's high time to harness the anarchic powers of 4chan in service of undoing this travesty. Surely someone creative can do something evil to the Free Republic site...not that I'm condoning this, mind you. I would never suggest anyone do something illegal. Just something, er, diabolical.
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HelloTitty
03:07 PM

@willwriteforfood: It's entirely possible that it was 4chan that dropped this Google bomb. It's very 4chan-y isn't it?
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willwriteforfood
03:11 PM

@HelloTitty: Ugh, I hadn't thought about that. I would have expected 4chan to be less ideological, you know? I fully thought this was the work of some freeper. It has the hallmarks of a joke a frat guy thought was hilarious.
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toastandlove
03:16 PM

@HelloTitty: Racist and degrading to women? Yep, sounds like /b/tards to me.
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thrombus
03:29 PM

@willwriteforfood: On 4chan nothing is sacred, nothing is off limits. It's all "for the lulz".
lulz is the first thing that comes to mind when I think about misogyny and racism.
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willwriteforfood
03:41 PM

@thrombus: It's too bad their sense of lulz can't be channeled into something more productive. Like blinging out Sarah Palin's image or turning her book cover into a dead moose. But I guess we have Wonkette for that.
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morninggloria
03:02 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
Racists are no good at coming up with new jokes. Witnessing them trying to make a joke about a member of a minority race with jabs that have been used millions of times over hundreds of years is about as interesting as watching an episode of Two And A Half Men.
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phantom lady
02:46 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
You warned me not to look. but I looked anyway. I just can't believe it. the Obama's have really freaked the White Power Bill's out of their gourds, haven't they.
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AndPreciousLittleofThat
02:43 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
I think this fits the definition of First Amendment expression.

Which is why I'd like to propose Amendment 1A: Your right to free speech is only guaranteed by the countervaling right for people to make fun of your stupid, racist ass for all the dumb things you say.
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Atomic Bowling
02:55 PM

@AndPreciousLittleofThat: The right to free speech has nothing to do with whether or not you can google bomb your offensive pic to get it listed highly on google, only with the fact that the government (or more specifically, congress) cannot create a law that would restrict from posting your drivel in the first place. Personally I don't know how realistic it is to think that google could remove or prevent this kind of thing on a permanent basis, but technically it is still perfectly within their rights not to index pics like this in their search engine.
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Jack_Burton promoted this comment Atomic Bowling was starred Atomic Bowling was unstarred

Jack_Burton
03:19 PM

@Atomic Bowling: It may be within their rights, but:
1. How technologically feasable is it?
2. Safe Search relies partially on image-analyzing software, blacklists, and voluntary ratings of content. The content-recognition would have to be of a pretty tall order to tell images of Photoshopped people from real people.
3. Google loses money by people "gaming the system" or Google-bombing, so you can bet that they are doing their best to cost-effectively reduce artificially-inflated hitcounts.
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bluewine
02:42 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
The thing that makes me even more mind-numbingly angry is that the very people who think this is hilarious are the ones who cry the loudest that nooo, they aren't racist! And to even suggest so is reverse-racist!
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Elaken
02:45 PM

@bluewine: Or it is just a joke, they don't mean anything by it! Geez, get a sense of humor.

Apparently I was raised wrong. I always thought saying and thinking racist or misogynist things makes you a racist or misogynist. Guess I was confused.
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vulcanized
03:33 PM

@bluewine: There should be a list of things that are never funny and it should be distributed throughout the country. Comparing black people to monkeys would be on it, as would white people using the N word, gollywog-type illustrations, the majority of rape jokes, jokes about the Holocaust by anyone other than a Holocaust survivor, differentiating between Native Americans and people from India by asking "Dots or feathers?", and most of the things that come out of Chris Buttars' mouth. Then when people try to claim it's a joke, we can say, "Nope, it's on the list and you knew it was on the list. Joke fail. You have now won the coveted title of racist/misogynist/xenophobe/general asshole."
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scarletbegonia
02:41 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
Slightly OT aside, that is a beautiful picture of her accompanying this post.
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scarletbegonia
02:40 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
I need to talk to my cousin at Rensselaer - a very talented hacker with a knack for messing up jerks' computers.
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Triana Orpheus
03:21 PM

@scarletbegonia: Don't put your cousin out there like that. They are watching.
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CurtCole
02:39 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
It's times like these that I wish I still believed in hell. At least then there would be justice for this kind of irrational hatred.
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Rose.Selavy.Needs.A.Drink
04:02 PM

@CurtCole: Yes, but more than likely the people who create the hatred DO believe in hell, so they are going there. They just don't know it yet.
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CurtCole promoted this comment

thesciencegirl
02:36 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
I searched before I read this "First of all, we suggest you refrain from searching" after the jump. That image made me gasp.

Reason # 23598495349574 I hate the world today.
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Edited by thesciencegirl at 11/24/09 2:37 PM thesciencegirl was starred thesciencegirl was unstarred

bluebears
02:42 PM

@thesciencegirl: I jumped back in my seat. Seriously what the hell is wrong with people?
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Khrushchev
02:35 PM

In reply to Google Explains Racist Search Results
Humanity really sucks balls most of the time.
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