Google Memorial Day Logo

A diarist at RedState and some on Twitter are perpetuating a really tired meme.  Noting that Google has fun logo redesigns for various insignificant observances, they point to a lack of same for Veterans’ Day, Memorial Day, Easter, Christmas, or whathaveyou as proof that Google is a leftist front that hates America and doesn’t love Jesus.

In addition to being a reflection of incredibly low self-esteem — do we really need a search engine to validate the occasions we deem important? — they’re generally simply untrue.

If one bothers to go to Google.com today, one sees:

Technically, it’s not a standard logo redesign.  But, surely, an American flag, a yellow ribbon, and the slogan “In honor of the soldiers who have given their lives for our country” is a reasonable gesture for a search engine to make on the occasion?  It’s more than, say, OTB or RedState have done to redesign our sites.

Beyond that, Google has long stated that, “We try to be sensitive that a doodle is not the most appropriate way to recognize certain events, especially those that are more somber in nature.”  Commemorating the deaths of hundreds of thousands of fallen servicemen would seem to fall into that category.

See also “Google Hates the Troops!” (May 2006) and “Google Snubs Easter” (March 2008).

Correction:  The original attributed the first link to “The gang at RedState” but this is just a random diarist, not a front page poster.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Boyd says:

    I’d rather quibble over the fact that not all of our military dead are soldiers, but that’s still just a quibble since there’s no good term to cover individuals from all of the services. Well, beyond “servicemembers,” which is a term I’ve hated since I first read it.

    Indeed, the angst is overblown.

  2. Please be sure to distinguish between that of a user diary and the front page when you link to RedState. Even those articles that appear on the front page do not represent the views of RedState unless published under the name of The Directors.

  3. Leon Wolf says:

    Come now, James, you know how this goes. That’s some random diarist; his stuff didn’t appear on the front page. He didn’t even make the recommended list. I frankly have no idea how you even found it since I’m a site moderator and I didn’t even notice it. Unless you want people chalking up everything said in the comments here to you personally it’s dishonest to lay this guy’s post at our feet.

  4. James Joyner says:

    Brian and Leon: Fair enough. Came across it when I was Googling for “Google Memorial Day logos.” It’s a pretty widespread meme, or at least I’ve seen it by mainstream folks in the past.

  5. And this is how you spent your Memorial Day?