By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Google made the right call in refusing to block publication of an offensive image of Michelle Obama.
If it started trying to censor everything posted on the Web and linked to by Google users, Google would be taking on a full-time job fraught with problems over what was allowed (and not allowed) on the Web.
Plus, keep in mind that the image of Michelle Obama was not that offensive to millions of people who despise her husband, President Barack Obama.
These are the people who delight in mocking the president, seeing him put in difficult positions, or seeing his loved ones hurt.
And, while the image of Michelle Obama was racially offensive in nature, that also would not have deterred many people from enjoying it, given their thoughts about how Obama, as a black man, is not qualified to be president.
With all that said, it's going to be extremely interesting from here on out to see how Google handles the millions of offensive images and words that are likely to flood the Web (and be linked to by Google searches) in coming years.
After all, many mainstream media regularly delete what they consider offensive material.
And most Web sites have rules or guidelines on what can be posted.
Google, as a search engine, is different from a regular Web site. However, it's still held responsible by many users for what shows up on its searches.
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The excuse is wearing thin.
The children are at it again with their handy excuse: "Well they did it first, Mommy." Whoever designed this simian image of Mrs Obama did the Republican party no favors. Any attempts to expand the GOP so it is inclusive are doomed to failure when this sort of material is accepted rather than treated with contempt. Mr Steel will have some more explaining to do.
These attempts to denigrate the Obamas are a waste of time anyway. President Obama will be in office for at least the next three years and will probably be re-elected. Most presidents are. You can't beat somebody with nobody.
MrHistory - I don't like excuses either
The children are at it again with their handy excuse
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There is no excuse for whoever created the picture. I take it that you suspect a Republican. I instead suspect an idiot.
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The complaint/excuse is directed at folks like Yael - not at excusing the person who made the picture.
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Yael doesn't seem to get it. Whether he's a liberal columnist or not, he is first a journalist, who is supposed to at least be able to understand objectivity. Yael neither understands objectivity, nor does he seem to care.
Wrong mrhistory...
no one has said "they did it first"... what some of us are saying is the selective outrage of you libs gets a ltttle tiring, in addition to being just pure bullshit....
less then 12 months of this insanity, less then 36 months of Jimmy II whose approval rating has dropped below 50%, headed for 37% next November.
Are you drunk?
"These are the people who delight in mocking the president, seeing him put in difficult positions, or seeing his loved ones hurt."
Have you ever heard of a former president by the name of George Bush???
Seriously are you drunk?
Dude, get real!
Right-on YT....
Please provide links to your earlier columns decrying the images of former Pres. Bush as Hitler that you found so offensive as to write a column on.
I expect it to be a short list YT....
less then 12 months of this insanity, less then 36 months of Jimmy II whose approval rating has dropped below 50%, headed for 37% next November.
I want to see a picture of her moving out of the White House
with all her stuff crammed into the trunk and tied to the roof of back of a broken down 1993 Lincoln. With all her cousins and aunties' cars loaded down too. Then a block away from the White House the police pull the caravan over and arrest them for stealing the silverware from the kitchen. That mug shot, that's the one I want to see on Google.
You know the one....the one the Clinton's should have had.
Something lost....
Yael can't find his tongue when Sarah Palin and her family are viciously attacked by those who disagree with her, but he becomes a literary genius in defending those with whom he agrees. This just points out once again the great disconnect between The Star and its readers. Every time The Star can be counted upon to choose its agenda over the truth.
Does even a single fleeting thought...........
...go unpublished, Yael? Are you epoxied to your keyboard? You should take an hour or two off, sometime, and just step outside.
Breathe some fresh air and try to count to 100 slowly without posting a denunciation of Republicans or a song of praise to Obama.
Give it a try, Yael, and give us a break.
Look at any image of her is offensive to me
...will google please remove all photo's of her!
Yea, every time I see her face, it reminds me
of what she said when Obama won the nomination - that she'll be able to be proud of America.
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That statement still grates at me.
1) Google did initially try
1) Google did initially try and censor the photo. When it appeared on multiple websites then they tried to block the sites that posted it. Only when they could not keep up with it did they "take a stand" and let it go. But they have apologized and groveled to her.
2) Yet I do not recall any apologies, grovelling, attempted to block or ban sites that posted pics of Bush as a Nazi or a chimp, pics of Cheney as a blood sucking vampire and Condie Rice as some sort of Mammie character.
Is it sad that someone, in this day and age, would still harbor racist feelings toward a highly educated black women by morphing her into a monkey or whatever...HELL yes.
But the same can be said about liberals and the vile nasty things said about Bush.
And I do not recall any mainstream, famous people on a live television benefit for hurricane victims claims that Obama hates white people.
Everyone wants to jump on every little comment, feeling, disagreement with Obama and call it racism. Chris Matthews wants to paint every Palin supporter as a racist. The left would have you believe the republican party and ANYONE who disagrees with Obama is doing so because he is a black man....It is those over the top, idiotic and outdated racism claims that make them the party that cried wolf.
And the victim of it are people who really suffer racism. It desensitizes AMericans to real racism because they stop listening due to the idiotic claims.
So when someone takes a woman like Michelle Obama and makes her a monkey..it is sad, sick and WAAAAAY outdated for civilized humans.....but at the same time people dont listen. They dont care, they dont get up in arms over real offenses because they have been lead to believe they are racists about everything.
What would be interesting would be the reaction of the left if it was proven that the person who made this offensive picture of Michelle...was black
But what will their daughters think?
Google can't unring the bell. The picture is already widely ciculated and can't be withdrawn. Although it is vicious and contemptable, I think that Mrs Obama has probably seen worse and that is a sad comentary on the racists who infest our society. I don't know who is responsible for this outrageous picture, but most will blame it on the GOP.
Yael never said anything about the racist comments about Bush.
how About how Bush caused Katina too kill blacks , or how the Iraq war was waged to kill off Black soldiers .
How about how AIDS was created by the gov. and Bush to kill Blacks .
The problem with yael is hes so biased and has no credibility to stand on after all his Left wing blather it just makes him look racist towards whites .And when you delete this yael it just makes my point about the left and censorship.
Yaek didn't have a problem
With Conolizza Rice was insulted in a racially vile manner. I guess only liberal black women can be offended at racial tripe.
Kinda like the racist comments about Sarah Palin by the left.
Ironic yael never said any thing about them , wonder why ? could it be his Liberal views were in the way ?
How about the horrible things that were said about Palin daughter by David Letterman about her 14 year old daughter being raped by a New York yankee baseball player. Sorry Yael you dont have much of a leg to stand on.
Good grief.
Plus, keep in mind that the image of Michelle Obama was not that offensive to millions of people who despise her husband, President Barack Obama. These are the people who delight in mocking the president, seeing him put in difficult positions, or seeing his loved ones hurt.
Do you have FACTS to support this opinion?
This is utter BS.
'facts'
What he says isn't that far-fetched.
I've been on many message-boards since this man was elected president; I've seen many racist statements (i.e. people saying things such as "I sure am tired of this N----r, in fact all apes are a pain in the ass", ect).
Even after such people have identified themselves as "coservative" in their messages, I have never heard a single conservative respond to their bile with something like this: "We don't like the president either, but please stay off our side. Racism has no place in our party."
I find it interesting.
I've made a point to respond to over-the-top comments about Palin, and I don't even like her as a candidate.
Racism is a bad word, and a lot of people (not all)try to camoflage it. "Just because I don't like black people doesn't mean I'm predjudiced against them. And it's my right not to hang out with them."(...and in the recent past, not to HIRE them, even if they're more qualified than someone else.)
If you're not like these people, I hope you refute their comments.
;)