A mistake by Google?
In a week, Google has been hit by a couple of embarrassing incidents.
First, it identified the California GOP as Nazis. And now it calls a North Carolina state senator a "bigot."
I found Google's apology rather interesting:
"We apologize to Senator Wade that this image appeared in the Knowledge Panel in Search," Google said in a tweet.
"Images that appear in the Knowledge Panel are either selected by verified users or are automatically sourced from sites across the web."
Okay – so let's blame material automatically sourced?
There are two problems with this story:
First, who in the world is running Google? It sounds from the apology that Google is at the mercy of others.
More, do you think Google would have allowed anyone to describe Don Lemon of CNN or Charles Blow of the New York Times as a couple of "racialists" always looking for the racial angle?
My good guess is that that description would have been taken down.
Second, and more topical, what does "bigot" mean to Google?
At one time, we all knew what a bigot is. It was a person who discriminates or supports policies that discriminate against people of other ethnic backgrounds, religions, or nationalities.
Today, a bigot is someone who disagrees with The Church of Liberalism, opposing Obamacare or abortion or same-sex "marriage." In other words, a bigot to Google is a Republican or someone who voted for President Trump.
My point is that the word "bigot" did not just show up. It stayed on the state senator's description because Google thought it was appropriate.
So don't blame technology – and let's start talking about the culture running these organizations.
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