A google page that I've never seen before
February 28, 2008 5:10 PM   Subscribe

Google explain why searching for a certain word may cause offensive results.

I just find it kinda strange that this word, above all others, brings up this page. Is antisemitism really still that rife?
posted by hnnrs (6 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: posted a few years back -- mathowie



 
It's an oldie.
posted by Orange Pamplemousse at 5:16 PM on February 28, 2008


Ahh, it was on MeFi too.
posted by Orange Pamplemousse at 5:18 PM on February 28, 2008


"If you recently used Google to search for the word 'Jew', you're probably a Google-bombing anti-Semite, because, seriously, who the hell else would search for 'Jew'"?
posted by Horace Rumpole at 5:21 PM on February 28, 2008


The same thing happens when you search using Apple's ill-fated antisemitic search software: Shylock.
posted by ericbop at 5:22 PM on February 28, 2008


The ADL responded with admirable restraint.
posted by grobstein at 5:23 PM on February 28, 2008


The first page of results for "Jew" (no quotes):

1. Wikipedia - Jew
2. Wikipedia - Judaism
3. JewWatch, an antisemitic site
4. Judaism 101 - Who is a Jew?
5. Judaism 101
6. Borat - Throw The Jew Down The Well, a joke YouTube video by a comedian
7. A page on zionism-israel.com named simply "Jew"
8. Henry Ford's "The International Jew"
9. Henry Ford again

And one of the related searches is "jew jokes". OK, so we get one antisemitic site, a joke by a comedian poking fun at antisemitism, and two results for an antisemitic text of historical importance, and the rest is informational articles on Jews and Judaism. Someone was actually pissed about this?

You know, these kinds of tempest-in-a-teapot reactions to any percieved slight only fuels antisemitic propaganda about Jews being the only minority who can't be criticized due to the wrath of some imaginary world conspiracy or the "Jew media". "Jew", as Google explains, is more often used as an ethnic slur than a neutral description anyway, so what did they expect?

Of course antisemitism must be attacked and destroyed wherever it is found, one need only look to WWII to see what happens when it isn't but have some perspective, willya?
posted by DecemberBoy at 5:37 PM on February 28, 2008


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