Google this: 'Patriotism'

By Lara Call

Built into the internet giant Google's marketing identity is the quirky, distinctive way in which it incorporates little symbolic ‘doodles' into its logo on those days it deems socially significant. In the past we have been treated to everything from a grinning moose on ‘Canada Day' to a tangled tribute on Jackson Pollock's birthday. Google has celebrated the Chinese New Year with little mice and commemorated Veterans Day with an assortment of military hats. So what touching, compassionate memorial have these creative denizens produced in tribute to this century's most devastating and deeply felt American anniversary?

Nothing.

You read that right. Google have apparently concluded that 9-11 is not a date of sufficient significance to warrant a gesture. Michael Jackson's birthday, yes. First hot air balloon flight? They had it covered. But the fatal flight of those four airliners does not warrant so much as a mention.

To add insult to injury, below the coldly bland, everyday-generic Google logo on this September 11^th is a single subtitle, which reads "Today is a day to give back. Find a service opportunity near you." Apparently President Obama's decision to steer 9-11 toward a ‘National Day of Service' is more historically relevant to Google's liberal executives than the dark day of tragedy that inspired it: another notch in the arrow of leftist multicultural denial.

By contrast, bing.com are running a beautiful backdrop of the light at Ground Zero today; aol.com have a photographic tribute embedded into their homepage. So, in the absence of a fitting tribute from Google, I propose that thinking Americans make a small gesture of their own: make this September 11^th the last time you Google.