Nobody asked me, but.... I'll accept your comments (please remain civil!)
I agree that the Google commentary was a tad hard on Michelle Malkin; I wouldn't have used their wordings. But aren't you holding Google to a different standard than Michelle Malkin and you yourself live by? Does not Michelle Malkin make some harsh evaluations of others? Do not you do the same? Should not Google's editorial material be as free to make editorial statements as you or Michelle Malkin?
Google is indeed entitled to their opinion, just as Ms. Malkin is, just as you are. I never suggested otherwise.
However, in a segment that is described as what's hot, isn't it a little disingenuous to present only one opinion in a harsh light? Google presents itself as an information portal (and a damn fine one, at that), but isn't the credibility of their portal presenting all sides fairly strained when they produce a segment with an obvious bias?
Yes, you're right that there is a fundamental difference between you and Ms. Malkin on the one hand and Google on the other: you present yourselves to the world as opinion, not fact, while Google is not presenting itself as a source of opinion, but rather an information source. And as I wrote earlier, I cannot approve of the harshness of their criticism.
Despite these considerations, I think that Google is entitled to some editorial stance, however constrained. The only way to be absolutely fair is to present the entire truth in all its infinite richness; the act of reducing to the truth to any single utterance automatically injects some subjective element into it.
Given Ms. Malkin's overall reputation, I think it was incumbent upon Google to point out that she is coming from a strong right-wing perspective. I agree that it was unfair to portray her as a nut case. And I think that it was fair to represent her as less reliable than the other chap they presented. I would have described her as "a controversial right-wing commentator".
I just basically use Google as a search engine as it was originally designed (at least I think that's what it was originally designed for). Beyond that, I usually go elsewhere.
where's the link to that independent christian voice site? he seems pretty much up in your face.
As far as the censorship goes, the way I look at it is, they censor, or they don't get to have Chinese users. I'd probably make the same decision. Google is gearing up to overtake Microsoft on a global scale, and in order to do that, they need users from the most populated country on the planet.
Commenting by HaloScan
