Slashdot Mirror
France National Library Attacks Google Book Effort
An anonymous reader writes "The National Library of France is not happy with Google's effort to scan and integrate millions of books into its Web search. Jean-Noel Jeanneney, President of the library, wrote in an editorial that he is concerned Google's initiative to digitalize volumes at five leading libraries will reflect a unipolar worldview dominated by the English language and American culture. Jeanneney is pushing for European libraries to follow in Google's footsteps. Google said it was surprised by Jeanneney's remarks and noted, 'This is a first step for us; we can't do everything at once.'"
If you'd have bothered to read the editorial, you'd find that "attack" is perhaps not the most appropriate word to use.
If you had bothered to read it yourself, you'd find that it is.
Rather, M. Jeanneney calls on his own country to get its act together and do the same sort of thing as Google for the sake of keeping the Internet from becoming even more of a monoculture than it is today. What, exactly, is so bad about that?
Nothing is bad about that in and of itself. However notice that he only suggests that because the alternative he sees won't work and he admits it. See the comparison he draws to post-WWII, when American programming basically dominated the realm of film and television? He suggests that the French imposed quota system was effective and correct, and goes on to point out that such a system wouldn't work on the web.
The fact that the French quota system was total anti-freedom bullshit doesn't seem to have occurred to him. The French have this driving need to prove that they have the best culture or, more often nowadays, to preserve their culture in spite of the fact that nobody likes their culture. Look, when you have to artifically keep your culture, and even your language, alive through forceful means, then maybe, just maybe, it's time for it to die off already. If French culture is in danger of being overrun by other cultures, then perhaps that's a good thing. Stagnation is death.
He's not attacking Google. His main point is "look at what Google is doing--we should be doing the same thing, for the sake of preserving our culture!"
True, he's not attacking Google, but he is attacking American cultural "domination". The problem here is that culture is in the minds of a people. If they change their minds, then the culture changes too. I submit that forcefully preventing such change is neither desireable nor necessary.
Can the inflammatory headline. It's designed to get a cheap rise out of simple-minded people, and it doesn't make Slashdot look good. There's nothing wrong with what this guy is saying--and if he's attacking anybody, it's his own countrymen, not Google.
Inflammatory headlines are well deserved when the other guy is being a prick. And an annoying French prick at that.
- Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set him on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
But at least my posting is informative, unlike most of this discussion...
but English has evolved and degenerated so much that in fact there are now at least two english languages: American english and British english, with different spelling and grammar rules LOL - Thats why I have to use a dictionary when I visit London these days. Your dual citizenship has alos doubled your stupidity :-)