
Google has received a lot of good will with their unofficial motto of “Don’t be Evil”. It is (or was) hip, succinct and memorable. Too bad they seem to have completely and utterly abandoned it. How in the world can you say you’re on the side of the angels when you are a sponsor of an anti-gay, anti-choice, right-wing conference?
Oh, didn’t you know? Google is one of the nine primary sponsors of this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. This puts them in the fine company of groups like the NRA, the Heritage Foundation and the American Center for Law and Justice.
You might remember that last one as one of the legal groups that tried to prevent the building of the Islamic Community Center, Park51. These are also the yahoos who asked the DoJ to investigate the Congressional Muslim Staffers Association. As you might guess, they are part of the Sharia hysteria crowd.
Google told Bloomberg News:
The CPAC event was attractive because half the attendees are under 25 and heavy users of technology, Google said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
“This event is a great opportunity for us to showcase Google.com/elections and tools like Google+, which we hope will be used by every candidate and campaign,” the Mountain View, California-based company said.
I actually have some sympathy to that. After all, Google is a business and they want to try to gain as much market-share as possible. But like any business, we consumers can decide if we approve or disapprove of their actions.
Personally I strongly disapprove of this course of action. It will make a difference to me in terms of how I view any company that is not only associated with CPAC but sponsors them.
CPAC is not the Republican Party, saying that Google plans to be at events for both Democrats and Republicans, like the conventions, is to hide behind a false equivalence. Note that Google is not a sponsor of Netroot’s Nation.
Beyond the fact that CPAC is not a solely Republican event, there is the issue of who these groups are. Last year a gay group was invited to participate, GOProud, and it caused the Family Research Council to boycott the event. This year FRC is there, but GOProud is not.
Other scum that attend this conference include the Birthers and White Supremacists groups like Youth for Western Civilization. Check out this clip from last years CPAC
This groups mission statement from their currently down website:
“We have the self-evident right and duty to work for the survival of our own culture and civilization. There is no reason to believe that the advances of modernity and the political freedoms we enjoy will endure with the extinction of the civilization that allowed them to exist. Western Civilization is our civilization and in spite of the continual assault and hatred it endures from the radical left, we wish to revive the West, rather than see our civilization be sent to the graveyard of history.”
There are a hell of a lot of dog whistles there, don't you think?
These are the under 25 tech savvy folks that Google thinks it is a good idea to reach out to. Personally I am fine with these malevolent assholes getting a lot of exposure. Being able to see them and refute them is important, rather then let them fester underground.
That, however, is a far cry from thinking it is a good idea to sponsor a conference where they are not only accepted but embraced. Will Google be sponsoring conferences where Neo-Nazi’s are speaking? Will they think it is a good idea?
It is one thing to have a both there, to promote the technology that Google is pushing, but it is quite another for them to put their corporate dollars behind an endeavor that consistently pushes hate and intolerance.
With any huge business there is going to be some schizophrenic behavior. Google was great in their efforts against PIPPA, they have been instrumental in the Arab Spring. At the same time they have knuckled under to China and are supporting CPAC.
Perhaps they need a little guidance. If so, then lets provide it to them. Here is the number for their main office in Mountain View, CA - +1 650-253-0000
Why not give them a call and leave a message for the senior management that you really don’t approve of their sponsorship of Rightwing conferences filled with people whose world view is antithetical to the one that Google publicly represents?
After all, it is possible this is a case of the left hand have no clue what the right hand is doing, right?
The floor is yours.