Google Finds Another Boot to Lick

I have frequently excoriated Google and other American companies here for their self-destructive enthusiasm for aiding enemies of freedom. Most recently, I discussed this trend in general, after Borders Books earned the dubious distinction of being the first (and may it be the last) American book store to side with Islamofascists by agreeing to stock the Koran only on the top shelf.

Not content to be bested in the realm of collaboration with thugs, Google has seen Borders's useful infidelity and raised it a blood money fine. In a story that has been developing for some time, Google has reportedly "cut off its news relationship with a number of online news publications that include frank discussions of radical Islam".

Here's an excerpt from an article categorized by Google in a letter to its site owner as "[an] article ... expressly promoting [a] hate speech viewpoint". This is, by the way, not the same thing as ruling out a news source for editorializing too much, with which I would have no problem.

Have any of you noticed over the past few years that page after page in your daily newspapers is filled with the latest dysfunctional happenings caused by - or as a result of - the seemingly maniacal Muslim world? Honestly, I cannot open a paper or turn on the television without seeing mobs of Muslim savages celebrating in front of burning embassies, a school, a restaurant or those stupid tires they seem to think are so impressive to burn . And, don't you just love those scenes of men in black ski masks, racing through the streets, shooting guns in the air or standing behind some terrified captive getting ready to be-head him or her?

Yes. This is clearly written from an anti-Islamofascist point of view. But it portrays actual events and fairly well represents what it is like to be a consumer of news these days. And the author does refer to the perpetrators of some of the nonsense he describes as "savages" at one point. So?!?!? If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck....

Are we not supposed to evaluate a religion or its followers when our lives are daily marred (or even threatened outright) by its followers? What will Google do next? Filter out stories about rabid dogs if their authors imply that proximity to same might be a tad bit unpleasant? Start censoring its own blogs?

I had been using Google News quite frequently when blogging. But it is no longer, apparently, a reliable search engine. I wonder what else this company is busy doing to compromise its products and my freedom. This is very disappointing news.

-- CAV

HT: The Resident Egoist