Google gets it wrong
Jason Zimmerman
The GW Hatchet (GeorgeWashington U.)
(U-WIRE) WASHINGTON—The word “anti-Semitism”
has been tossed around more frequently in the
past few months—mainly because of the recent
release of The Passion of the Christ. Rather than
allow people who spout anti-Semitic rhetoric to
go around unchecked, I decided that, as a Jew,
I had a duty to be an opposing voice.
However, I wasn’t confident enough about
some of the details of my religion, nor was I
fluent enough in my religious history, to actively
engage in a debate. So I turned to the Internet,
and with the help of the No. 1 search engine,
Google, I hoped to better understand what it actually
means to be a Jew. I sat down, turned on my monitor,
went to Google’s homepage, and typed “Jew”
in the search box. One of the first links that
came up was a site that was created and maintained
to promote anti-Semitic opinions and ideals.
I was aghast. If one searches Google for the United
States of America, for example, one does not see
al Qaeda’s homepage. If one searches for
Islam, he or she doesn’t receive sites blaming
the entire Muslim community for 9/11. In both
cases, the first hits one receives are basic,
informative sites about the specific topic. Yet,
when a 10-year-old searches the word “Jew”
for a class project and then clicks on the first
site, he will “learn” that the Holocaust
didn’t actually occur, and how it was just
a weak attempt by the Jews to gain a homeland
to which they were not entitled. Perhaps the little
10-year-old will “learn” how the B’nai
Brith, a group that sponsors two of the largest
Jewish youth organizations in the country, is
responsible for corrupting the youth of the world.
The means of corruption, according to this website,
is teaching youth about Zionism and Judaism.
Now, if you are as shocked to hear about it as
I was to see it, then you can actively do something
to protest. A petition is being sent around the
Internet to remove that site from the Google “Jew”
search. As of now, the petition has more than
70,000 signatures, all based on word-of-mouth
spread through e-mails. Google, unfortunately,
believes that it cannot do anything to remove
the site as the lead “Jew” search
result, regardless of how many people sign the
petition. Google has stated that the First Amendment
grants the site Internet access and availability,
so having it in a “Jew” search is
completely legal.
I thought about that point, and as much as I wanted
www.jewwatch.com to be banished from the Internet,
I agreed with Google. Its First Amendment rights
allow it to have that site, saying whatever they
like. However, does that right extend to having
that site appear first or second in a search for
“Jew”? Putting it in perspective,
if one goes to the library and looks in the card
catalog for the term “Jew,” would
the first suggested book be titled The Benefits
of Nazism and the Downfall of Judaism?
Google further states that the term “Jew”
is not an endearing term to the Jewish people,
so rather than searching for “Jew,”
one should try to search for “Judaism”
or “Jewish.” That statement, made
by the corporate office of Google, affected me
terribly. Never in my life has it been “bad”
or “negative” to be a Jew. I’m
not proposing Jewwatch.com be banned from the
Internet. All I am saying is that having it in
a search engine under the heading “anti-Semitic”
would be more appropriate. I urge all of you to
see what Google has allowed, then, if you believe
as I do that it is wrong, I urge you to go and
sign the petition at http://www.PetitionOnline.com/rjw23.
As for me, I plan to boycott Google until this
is fixed. Search engines like Yahoo! offer educational
sites for the search “Jew.” Go out
and make your voice heard.
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