Google, Yahoo, Ask.com and other search engines usually make a rather big deal out of modifying their logos for different holidays and happenings.
Today is Memorial Day the United States, a National Holiday remembering soldiers & veterans lost in war.
Yahoo and Ask.com, even Dogpile all commemorate Memorial Day, along with other holidays, but for some reason Google is not choosing to do so.
Google, we love you, but you really can’t have it both ways. You can send Larry Page to Washington DC the week before Memorial Day to ask our Congress for access to the property of the citizens of the United States, but you cannot honor those who have given their lives to create and protect the Constitution of the United States of America?
When they launch new logos for other holidays and the other search engines have made it a custom to honor America’s fallen, why exactly is it that Google choosing not to honor Memorial Day?
Note : Although Live Search does not honor Memorial Day with a logo, MSN.com does have extensive coverage of the holiday.
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24 responses so far ↓
Loren Baker, Editor on May 26, 2008 at 11:16 am
BTW, I’m not questioning the patriotism of the Google company or those who work at Google.
I’m just wondering why one of the largest companies in the US; which is more or less the embodiment of the American Dream, has made this decision.
Mike on May 26, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Google honored the Chinese New Year and Earth Day this year, but not Memorial Day.
That’s rather sad, in my opinion.
Betts on May 26, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Very sad that those that gave their life for a country are not remembered by Google. Not too cool Google.
James on May 26, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Forget the politics of Vietnam and Iraq for the moment and acknowledge the fact that those Americans died for the same reasons and deserve to be remembered for their selfless sacrifice. If you can’t get past the politics of those wars then at least remember and honor the American WWI, WWII, and Korea veterans who gave their lives for the freedom of the world.
anon on May 26, 2008 at 1:05 pm
yeah what the hells up with that!?!! >:(
Charley Jones on May 26, 2008 at 1:50 pm
You people need to find something more important to complain about. They must be doing an incredible job if this is the worst you can point out about them. Stop sweating Google. They are a for profit company not a symbol of America’s pride. Their shareholders complain when they lose money. No one cares if they wave the flag or not. Grow up and get a life children.
Just Ice on May 26, 2008 at 1:54 pm
No, no, you *should* question their patriotism.
Why is calling the president a chimp ok but off sides for taking BHO to task for his flag pin gaffe (if it was) and Google for their inability to say a public “thanks?”
I have plenty of liberal friends who love America and have friends/family in the armed forces, but as the income level rises, the level of engagement with this country seems to dim. Until you’re a Googler.
Pfagh, a pox on ‘em all.
David on May 26, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I think they have in the past.
Orwell on May 26, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Why are American Companies paying big money for PPC results to a company that is not interested in democracy and liberty? I wonder if they have socialist on the board of directors.
Jaan Kanellis on May 26, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Whats up Google? Dont like the military huh?
MikeM on May 26, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Shame on the people at the Googleplex. Where is Marissa on this one?
She comes from the heartland, she knows better.
Recall too they celebrated some architect a few days back.
An architect’s birthday no less.
God Bless America
Hagrin on May 26, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Definitely a poor oversight on Google’s part for sure. As someone else already commented, polutics aside, Memorial Day is something transcends politics and should be honored - especially when other, lesser holidays have been honored in the past.
QuanH on May 26, 2008 at 7:31 pm
From what I heard, this wasn’t the first year, and it was by intention. It reminds me a lesson I learned at a young age: when someone does something right too many times, one tends to think one is always right. In this case, Google really believes it is the right thing to do. I wonder if all Google’s employees feel the same way.
Charles Ewing on May 26, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Do you people have anything better to complain about ??????
Jason on May 26, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Very sad they protest the Iraq “conundrum” with such arrogance. Obviously the reason.
If it weren’t for our brave fallen heros, Sergey and Larry would be back in the communist homeland working for a pittance.
Pathetic yet predictable. What’s happened to our country?
Jonathan on May 26, 2008 at 9:29 pm
They sure seem willing to redesign their logo for some pretty obscure days, yet aren’t even willing to show respect for our veterans. These are the same veterans that died to protect the “free speech” rights that Google’s business profits from. For evidence of that, one need look no further than the current situation in China. Repressed speech is not good for business, is it? At Yahoo and MSN, at least they know how to show respect.
For those of you asking “why” we complain… you answer your own question. Apathy has taken over and it is now easier to let it be someone else’s problem in this country. Google is a worldwide economic and social powerhouse, but they started and are headquartered HERE. I cannot think of a more relevant subject. And, if you think this is about Iraq, please pick a different day to make that argument. There are plenty of open slots on the calendar. Men and women have died so that you might live free. Without our fallen soldiers, you wouldn’t even be able to ask that question. Chew on that irony… if you are even able to grasp it.
Buck Google’s trend… please show some respect.
Andrew on May 26, 2008 at 9:36 pm
They did Veterans day last year.
http://www.google.com/intl/en/logos/veterans07.gif
MikeM on May 26, 2008 at 10:28 pm
“What’s happened to our country?
Jason, PC gone awry. I have a feeling the doodler was conflicted and none of the other GenXer’s or Millenniums in the office dared to point out the obvious, that this day is important to Americans.
Stefanie on May 27, 2008 at 9:50 am
There are other countries in the world than the US. Your Memorial Day means nothing to anyone else in the world. So let Google decide for themselves how their logo should look like.
Jason Forthofer on May 27, 2008 at 3:04 pm
They are libs. Plain and simple.
Bryan on May 27, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Stefanie:
Funny you should say that. They celebrated Canada’s Memorial Day. Does that mean so much to the rest of the world? Our memorial should mean a lot to many in the world. The people we remember on memorial day are the same ones who stopped half of the world from being dominated in WWII. They could have just fought Japan and left Europe to turn into Germany.
Fred on May 27, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Perhaps it is an unfortunate oversight, but that seems hard to believe given the attention paid to less weighty occasions by Google…presumably many of the folks at Google actually got Memorial Day off too, so there should have been some presence of mind for the holiday.
I think the term “apathy” as referenced in an earlier post is appropriate…very few people in corporate America seem concerned about carrying the American mantle and seem content to be swept up in the globalization mantra, abandoing US ideals and outsourcing US jobs and infrastructure in the process…I question whether our global partners that are the beneficiaries of our policies will be as quick to share the wealth and supplant their culturual norms once the economic balance has tipped too far.
Michael on May 27, 2008 at 10:41 pm
For Stephanie and others like her,
If for WWII alone, our veterans should be honored. Those fallen, who sacrificed so that so many are free today.
Google constantly talks about “do no evil” yet they censor the internet for Chinese Communist oppressors who torture, imprison, and have virtual slave work camps.
Google is pathetic in their hypocrisy and deserved to be called out. For all the good they may do, it is as equally tarnished with the evil they enable in China and the neglect of this nations most cherished men and women that have defended a nation they have such luxury to dwell in today.
I stopped using Google long ago for their obvious political slants long ago.
Being a computer nerd or math wiz does not immediately translate into wisdom of the ages. Being the youthful company they are, in many ways arrogant, they trounce on the feelings of others often if they do not succomb to their politically left ideology.
Lucy on May 30, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Memorial Day is not just about Iraq and the present day, it is to honour the veterans and the dead of all the wars in which America has been involved. Believe it or not, it began as “Confederate Memorial Day” on 9 may, 1864, when my great-grandmother, Helen Bland French and her friend, Sallie Pryor, went out and decorated the graves in Petersburg, Va. It later was expanded to remember the dead on both sides of the Civil War, and then the wars which followed.
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