How Google Searches Are Promoting Genocide Denial

merbs writes: If you use Google Turkey to search for "Ermeni Krm", which means "Armenian genocide" in Turkish, the first thing you'll see is a sponsored link to a website whose purpose is to deny there was any genocide at all. If you Google "Armenia genocide" in the U.S., you'll see the same thing. FactCheckArmenia.com may reflect Turkey's longstanding position that the Ottoman Empire's systematic effort to "relocate" and exterminate its Armenian population does not qualify as a genocide, but it certainly does not reflect the facts. The sponsored link to a credible-looking website risks confusing searchers about the true nature of the event. Worse, it threatens to poison a nascent willingness among Turkish citizens to recognize and discuss the horrors of its past.

Comments

The alternative is... What, exactly?

[Etcetera]

Ban people with an opposing point of view? Google deciding intentionally what's "true" and "not true"? Only people with approved viewpoints get a chance to place ideas out there?

Perhaps he author might want to take some time to Google "epistemically closure," followed a little later for some basic overviews of the history of mankind.

Re:The alternative is... What, exactly?

[Cytotoxic]

I'm pretty shocked how quickly people jump to censoring ideas they don't agree with in this society. The irony of so many people on a public forum like Slashdot advocating for complete censorship of speech they find distasteful or wrong is thick. I would say there is a new mood to suppress opposing ideas, but I think history shows that there is nothing really new about it. Still, The Onion covered this sentiment pretty thoroughly the other day.

Trescott University president Kevin Abrams confirmed Monday that the school encourages a lively exchange of one idea. “As an institution of higher learning, we recognize that it’s inevitable that certain contentious topics will come up from time to time, and when they do, we want to create an atmosphere where both students and faculty feel comfortable voicing a single homogeneous opinion,”

... and lied like a Turk when he said it.

[antiperimetaparalogo]

In Germany is illegal to deny the Jewish genocide... in Turkey is illegal to accept the Armenian's genocide!

Every Armenian, with Greeks (who also suffered horribly), Assyrians, Kurds (who still can't teach their language in Turkish schools or publish/broadcast it), e.t.c., honors the 100 years from the Armenian genocide (about 1,5 millions victims), not only because we dislike Turks (o.k., we even hate them), but because forgetting about it will make us again victims: Hitler once said to his officials about the Jews "but who remembers the Armenians...".

German almost torture themselves with their continues self-critic about their past because they don't want to repeat it (and even Jews accept that they have repent) - Turks... well, we Greeks know about them and take measures agaist the future they still plan for us.

They still exist Armenian people who were alive when Turks genicide their families, so some of them could accept the apology of the Turks - but i doubt if ever happens from a nation that make it illegal to even mention the Armenian genocide (warning: you will go to jail if you mention it in Turkey - actually you may be non Turk, mention it outside Turkey, never visit Turkey, and still be convicted from the Turkish "justice"!).

"... and lied like a Turk when he said it." - Mark Twain

Re:It is an ad.

[oobayly]

I had a script that used to I used to run whenever I found somebody trying to sell a rebadged package like Open/LibreOffice, GIMP, etc. It would simulate clicks on the offending advert via a list of proxies until that advert disappeared - generally they have a fairly low daily click allowance so that they don't get hit by large fees from google.

What ads?

[axl917]

My top 5 search results are;
1. Wikipedia
2. Google news, which hits the LA Daily News first
3. history.com
4. armenian-genocide.org
5. NY Times