September 13, 2007
GEEZ, IT IS THE GUY'S BIRTHDAY:
Google Criticized for Honoring ‘Anti-Israel' Author on Rosh Hashanah (ELIOT BROWN, September 13, 2007, NY Sun)
The Web search engine Google drew fire today for decorating its home page in a motif that honored a children's author who has drawn accusations of anti-Semitism, Roald Dahl, on the first day of the Jewish holiday Rosh Hashanah.Google returned its page to the default logo by 2 p.m. after contributors to Web logs criticized the timing of the decoration, which also coincides with the birthday of Dahl. [...]
A native of Wales, Dahl was accused of anti-Semitism in the 1980s after he wrote a book review for a magazine in which he was highly critical of Israel's invasion of Lebanon, saying he was "anti-Israel," according to press reports.
Lest one think the Left has the monopoly on Political Correctness. Posted by Orrin Judd at September 13, 2007 3:07 PM
No kidding. Sheesh.
Posted by: Twn at September 13, 2007 3:49 PMAnd Dahl was one of the authors of the twentieth century that is actually enjoyable to read.
Posted by: Mikey![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://brothersjuddblog.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 13, 2007 4:48 PM
When it comes to Evil Software Empires, it seems Google's goal is to displace Microsoft for that honor.
Considering the limited number of days there are, and the vast number of people with birthdays, this is a curious pick to begin with. They don't normally do birthdays, so they? Why not honor Walter Reed, J.J.Pershiing, Arthur Henderson, Arnold Schoenberg or Sherwood Anderso? Obviously there's a small group (5 or fewer) people making the decisions and they are just reflecting their own biases and prejudices and making it the public face of the company. Other than newspaper editorial pages, what other business allows such a similar small group to speak for the entire company?
(Let's see, there's both Jewish and Muslim holidays to commemorate today,too. But we can't acknowledge them, can we?)
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at September 13, 2007 8:31 PMThey must secretly run Brothers Judd too, which likewise honored Dahl on the front page today:
www.brothersjudd.com
Posted by: oj at September 13, 2007 11:43 PMBig ups to Dahl.
My kids will be forced to read him.
I wondered what the logo was. It was so bad, how could one tell who it honored?
Honoring Dahl does not bother me. The fact that Google consistently does not honor US patriotic holidays (September 11 is the most recent one) does.
Posted by: Bob at September 14, 2007 10:18 AMDahl probably was anti-semitic. But, who on earth cares what Roald Dahl views on Isreal were.
The one ideology important to Dahl's best work is his anti-vermicious knidism. In that, he must be celebrated. We must all be vigilant regarding the knid menace.
I also learned important life lessons from Dahl about how to poach quail using muscle relaxers stuffed in raisins.
Posted by: Kevin Bowman at September 14, 2007 12:55 PM