Google Apologizes For "Michelle Obama" Results

theodp writes "CNN reports that for most of the past week, when someone did a Google image search for 'Michelle Obama,' one of the first images that came up was a picture of the First Lady altered to resemble a monkey. After being hit with a firestorm of criticism over the episode, Google first banned the site that posted the photo, saying it could spread malware. Then, when the image appeared on another site, Google displayed the photo in its search results, but displayed an apologetic Google ad above it. On Wednesday morning, the racially offensive image appeared to have been removed from any Google Image searches for 'Michelle Obama.' Google officials could not immediately be reached for comment." Update — 15:38 GMT by SS: A reader pointed out that this article from the Guardian says the image was de-listed simply because it was removed from the blog where it was hosted rather than by any "deliberate" action from Google.

Comments

Re:Stupidity is not color-blind.

[IndustrialComplex]

I'm just saying there is a difference between comparing a white public figure to a monkey, and comparing a black public figure to a monkey.

So, what would be an appropriate way to portray a black politician as a buffoon? (Other than the obvious fact that you called them a politician?)

Your difference only occurs in the motivation of the person who presents the image. Is it right to set aside a group of people as 'protected' from a certain form of speech while allowing that speech to be used against another group of people.

If you suggest that the form of speech is OK against one group of people, it is OK against another. The speech isn't what you should have issue with, it is the motivations of the person who presents the image.

Re:Stupidity is not color-blind.

[Ash Vince]

The US cannot consider itself color-blind or non-racist until the same gamut of insults can be levelled at any public figure without fear of censorship or witch-hunting.

What utter crap. The US can consider itself free of racism when there are the same ratio of black politicians as there are black citizens. This also applies to Caucasians, Hispanics, Native Americans, and every other ethnic group that makes up the population. This applies to any country, which shows that the vast majority are racist to a greater or lesser extent. Much of the racism in the world is subconscious though which makes it much harder to deal with.

There is an excellent section on this in the book "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. He tests himself and discovers that he has a slight autonomic preference towards white faces which he finds disturbing as he is partially of afro-Caribbean descent. It is definitely worth reading.

Back on this original topic of censorship of this image it fairly obvious why Google pulled this image: It is the presidents wife. It is no different to the "Miserable Failure" one that went round a few years ago where it linked to President Bush. Pissing off the ruler of your home country is generally a bad idea, especially when your competitors are busy spending large amounts of money lobbying on Capitol Hill that you are engaging in anti-competitive and privacy abusing practices.