[Bad Hussar]

OK, maybe I'm way off base here, but in light of Google's recent rainbow flag Olympics protest banner, maybe not. Did everyone see the Google banner/doodle on Valentine's Day? This is what it looked like:



Now call me paranoid, but having a triangle in the middle of the heart, especially just days after their Sochi protest, seems like they intended a pretty strong pro-homosexual message. Wouldn't really be a problem if it were, I don't know, International Gay Pride day or something. But it wasn't. Also as and aside: Why do homosexual people persist in using the triangle as a symbol? It was created by the Nazi's as a means of identifying deviants in public areas and later in concentration camps.Very strange. But whatever the reason my opinion is that Google is putting itself on very shaky ground here by choosing sides in the never-ending "Culture War".

For what it matters as a (hypocritical) libertarian I am generally in support of most of what would be described as "Gay Rights", because I regard the person as the foundation and basic unit from which all "rights" flow. I oppose political homosexuality because it regards groups, at least a certain protected group (homosexuals), as preeminent over individuals. My point here is that if I find the modern left's use of homosexual issues in public discourse as irritating, and I do, then probably far more than 50% of the general population have at least equally negative views on the matter.

This is a problem for Google because they really cant be seen to be taking sides in the supposed "Culture War". They are not like the New York Times, or Fox News who can play one side off against the other. People on the right will listen to Fox, on the left they'll read the NYT. There's a market for both, and Fox especially make Big$'s off this division. But Google by it's nature will always be used by all people, from extreme right to extreme left. Just because most people working at Google will trend left (for various reasons) doesn't change this fact about their market. Also governments around the word are always in flux. A left wing government today is replaced by a right wing government tomorrow.

The problem for Google here is that, just like any person, they are "guilty" of something. Guilty of what? Well in their case guilty of offences relating to monopoly control of various technologies (anti-trust). If they piss off the wrong people at the wrong time, and if they are not impartial this is inevitable, they could be facing multiple lawsuits and be forced to unbundle their company. They can't afford to take sides.

Diluting the perception that they are politically impartial on marginal gay issues is pure madness. Especially since in the case of their Olympic protest banner/doodle they were guilty of gross misrepresentation, and really achieved nothing at all. Maybe a very slight pat on the back from US intelligence agencies who were also trying, poorly, to cast Russia in a bad light. But nothing major.

I don't know who/what group has control of the banner/doodle creation and deployment at Google, but IMO they are harming their companies long term interests.

[soup]

(02-17-2014 01:31 PM)Bad Hussar Wrote:  

OK, maybe I'm way off base here, but in light of Google's recent rainbow flag Olympics protest banner, maybe not. Did everyone see the Google banner/doodle on Valentine's Day? This is what it looked like:



Now call me paranoid, but having a triangle in the middle of the heart, especially just days after their Sochi protest, seems like they intended a pretty strong pro-homosexual message. Wouldn't really be a problem if it were, I don't know, International Gay Pride day or something. But it wasn't. Also as and aside: Why do homosexual people persist in using the triangle as a symbol? It was created by the Nazi's as a means of identifying deviants in public areas and later in concentration camps.Very strange. But whatever the reason my opinion is that Google is putting itself on very shaky ground here by choosing sides in the never-ending "Culture War".

For what it matters as a (hypocritical) libertarian I am generally in support of most of what would be described as "Gay Rights", because I regard the person as the foundation and basic unit from which all "rights" flow. I oppose political homosexuality because it regards groups, at least a certain protected group (homosexuals), as preeminent over individuals. My point here is that if I find the modern left's use of homosexual issues in public discourse as irritating, and I do, then probably far more than 50% of the general population have at least equally negative views on the matter.

This is a problem for Google because they really cant be seen to be taking sides in the supposed "Culture War". They are not like the New York Times, or Fox News who can play one side off against the other. People on the right will listen to Fox, on the left they'll read the NYT. There's a market for both, and Fox especially make Big$'s off this division. But Google by it's nature will always be used by all people, from extreme right to extreme left. Just because most people working at Google will trend left (for various reasons) doesn't change this fact about their market. Also governments around the word are always in flux. A left wing government today is replaced by a right wing government tomorrow.

The problem for Google here is that, just like any person, they are "guilty" of something. Guilty of what? Well in their case guilty of offences relating to monopoly control of various technologies (anti-trust). If they piss off the wrong people at the wrong time, and if they are not impartial this is inevitable, they could be facing multiple lawsuits and be forced to unbundle their company. They can't afford to take sides.

Diluting the perception that they are politically impartial on marginal gay issues is pure madness. Especially since in the case of their Olympic protest banner/doodle they were guilty of gross misrepresentation, and really achieved nothing at all. Maybe a very slight pat on the back from US intelligence agencies who were also trying, poorly, to cast Russia in a bad light. But nothing major.

I don't know who/what group has control of the banner/doodle creation and deployment at Google, but IMO they are harming their companies long term interests.

Interesting post, but it's like complaining that McDonald's doesn't make high quality food.

Google is a business and they are going to appeal to as many people as possible.

That triangle could be a lot of things.. it looks like the Youtube icon, and that's part of google.

If you start reading too much into that image, you are going to find a wealth of symbolism and consipiracy- is really worth the time?

The arm on the figure on the left looks like a dick, and the arms on the figure on the right look like tits.. does that mean it's hetero? See what I mean?

[Bad Hussar]

(02-17-2014 01:39 PM)soup Wrote:  

Interesting post, but it's like complaining that McDonald's doesn't make high quality food.

Google is a business and they are going to appeal to as many people as possible.

That triangle could be a lot of things.. it looks like the Youtube icon, and that's part of google.

If you start reading too much into that image, you are going to find a wealth of symbolism and consipiracy- is really worth the time?

The arm on the figure on the left looks like a dick, and the arms on the figure on the right look like tits.. does that mean it's hetero? See what I mean?

Ja, I realise that I may be slightly paranoid here. I suppose I was sensitive to this since it was just days after their Sochi banner which I felt was very unfair. I think in that case they really did pick sides, which they should be sensitive to avoid for the reasons I mentioned.

[cardguy]

The triangle is based on one of Google's logos.



I am fairly sure they were not thinking of the holocaust when they decided to use it as part of the Valentine's day doodle.

But I might be wrong.

[Mr. Calicoat]

(02-17-2014 01:31 PM)Bad Hussar Wrote:  

OK, maybe I'm way off base here, but in light of Google's recent rainbow flag Olympics protest banner, maybe not. Did everyone see the Google banner/doodle on Valentine's Day? This is what it looked like:



Now call me paranoid, but having a triangle in the middle of the heart, especially just days after their Sochi protest, seems like they intended a pretty strong pro-homosexual message.

Are you kidding me? That "triangle" is the universal symbol of "play". It's a play button, the kind of button you also see on your iPod, your DVD-recorder and YouTube player. You could press the triangle (play button) in the heart to see a little Valentines animation.

I'm sorry to say, but yes, you are indeed paranoid and seeing things that aren't there.

[lskdfjldsf]

The triangle was a play button. When I clicked on the image, it converted into a different page.

[Bad Hussar]

(02-17-2014 01:51 PM)cardguy Wrote:  

The triangle is based on one of Google's logos.



I am fairly sure they were not thinking of the holocaust when they decided to use it as part of the Valentine's day doodle.

But I might be wrong.

I see now it could be more like a "Play" icon than a triangle. Maybe a case of me being oversensitive...

[Hotwheels]

You guys are missing the fact the two "people" are asexual.

Which one is the girl?

[Yeti]

(02-17-2014 01:31 PM)Bad Hussar Wrote:  

Also as and aside: Why do homosexual people persist in using the triangle as a symbol? It was created by the Nazi's as a means of identifying deviants in public areas and later in concentration camps.Very strange.

By taking ownership of the vernacular of war, you take away your enemy's ability to use it against you.

Calling a black person n----- became much less effective as a weapon of degradation when black people began to use the word themselves.

[Suits]

[Mr. Calicoat]

(02-17-2014 02:15 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

You guys are missing the fact the two "people" are asexual.

Which one is the girl?

I'd say the character on the right is either a girl or a gay guy. No masculine man would pose like that.

[w00t]

Its the Illuminati!

[cardguy]

Everytime Google has a new doodle as its logo. I imagine Alex Jones doing this:

[Teedub]

Haha cheers for the cardguy, cheered me up!

[kbell]

Well google does seem to promote progressive causes even if obscure on their homepage as opposed to national holidays.

[emuelle1]

Love the Alex Jones clip. That about sums it up.

I rarely use the Google homepage anymore. I typically search from the bar in Chrome. Only time I use the Google homepage is on my work computer which still has IE8.

[Cincinnatus]

I've been using Google services less and less, as their insistence on tying EVERYFUCKINGTHING you do online into one account went overboard a long time ago.

It sucks how centralized they are though. I miss Scroogle.

[Feisbook Control]

Bad Hussar: It seems you're probably off the mark in this particular instance, but I get what you're stabbing at. I think you're wrong though in the conclusions you draw, even if I agree with your premises.

It's not a bad decision on their part to openly embrace progressivist causes. If anything, it's probably a smart decision as it's in group signalling. These people really don't care about people like you. They know that demographically, conservative (white) males and their wives are a spent force. The tipping point has been reached and there is nothing you guys can do short of secede, if that's even possible. They laugh at that demographic now and call them rednecks or dinosaurs and refer to them as living in flyover country. This is basically true anywhere in the Western world now, and the point doesn't hold just for the U.S.

People might take their business elsewhere. Perhaps. Most people are too lazy to take a stand on these cultural issues, and that is precisely why we are where we are today. The Overton Window has shifted dramatically to the left because a small group of very committed people were/are willing to push the envelope and the masses either don't care, begrudgingly go along with them for fear of retribution, or have an active interest in seeing the agenda (or associated parts of the overall package) being promoted. These guys have captured all the real sources of power -- public servants, the schools, most of the media, Hollywood, etc. and so they can rub this stuff in the faces of people like you without any fear these days. No one is going to break Google up for being pro-gay/anti-Russian. If anything, they'll be awarded some form of pork (i.e. government contracts to spy on rednecks in flyover country) as reward.

Of course, in the long term, it's going to be very bad unless these guys don't breed and replace themselves and there's some way (unlikely though) to change demographics. Frankly, exit is probably the only way out. Otherwise, everything is going to resemble this more and more:

The guys in the basement are the average American in flyover country. The guys coming home are Google execs and their pals, inside and outside government. You're Viggo and his kid. Your job is to get the hell out of Dodge before you become someone's dinner.