fighting antisemitism

| 6 Comments | 6 TrackBacks

Tonight is the first night of Passover.

As Michael Froomkin says, what better night to try to dislodge an antisemitic site from the first position in a Google search for "jew," and replace it with the Wikipedia entry for the term. Or, if you don't care for the Wikipedia, you could link to the Judaism 101 article "Who is a Jew." (Google weights pages in search results in part based on the number and rank of sites linking to the page; by linking to the Wikipedia and Judaism 101 pages rather than the antisemitic site, I help to increase their page rank. This is a process known as "Googlebombing," and it's the first time I've seen it used to address an ethically problematic result in Google's search results.)

There have number of incidents recently in my personal and professional lives that have reminded me that hatred and antisemitism are still alive and well and dwelling in our midst. What's almost as bad as the antisemitism is the lack of outrage it seems to generate in those who observe it. It's depressing, and demoralizing.

The Happy Tutor posed a classic question this week on his site: "Must those committed to tolerance tolerate the intolerant?" Then he responded in the affirmative, saying "Because the intolerant must learn to tolerate the tolerant, no less than the other way around, that we all might be forgiven and reintegrated with the Carnival of Self-Acknowledged Fools."

I suspect it's easier to tolerate the intolerant when what they're intolerant of is others rather than you and those you love.

6 TrackBacks

Fighting Anti-Semitism from A View from the Classroom -- Lehmann's Log on April 5, 2004 10:55 AM

From MamaMusings. On the first night of passover, let's make sure that the first Google search for the word Jew isn't an anti-Semitic site. So, bloggers of the world, pick... Read More

On "Fighting antisemitism" from nichole's auxiliary storage on April 5, 2004 12:20 PM

Several bloggers are calling for more links to the Wikipedia entry for "Jew" in an effort to bring its Googlerank above that of an antisemitic site. Liz cites more discussion; I'monna just link it. Read More

This in from Crooked Timber: apparently the first site that comes up when one does a Google search for "Jew"... Read More

Via Liz, Michael Froomkin, Norman Geras, and Jewschool: Wikipedia entry on the word "jew" and Judaism 101 answer to the question, "Who is a jew?"... Read More

Googlebomb from incorporated subversion on April 6, 2004 2:33 AM

Here's a worthwhile googlebomb, replace the antisemitic link at the top of Google by linking to Jew (using this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jew ) via Liz . Read More

Chasing A Me from Daily Delusions on April 7, 2004 3:00 AM

On my way to work I felt chased. I hate when somebody is driving their bike just right behind you, not over-taking, just seeming to follow you. It happens to me quite often. I don't get it, I prefer to either go... Read More

6 Comments

My question would be, how did the site in question get into the #1 slot on Google to begin with?

I'm witchoo, Fred.
Nothing makes me feel quite so Jewish as anti-Semitism...and I've been feeling *real* Jewish lately.

The utter stupidity of the left in collapsing a (justifiable, IMO) disgust for Sharon and Israeli policy with flat-out Jew-hatred; the vile, fawning free pass Mel Gibson's hatefest has gotten in the media; my few days in France (where it's apparently perfectly fine and dandy for an otherwise intelligent young woman to say things like, "Israel will never get held accountable by your Jewish media"); even an intermittently ugly thread I saw on Metafilter, of all places...it adds up.

I'm an atheist Buddhist married to a Korean woman, but in the hearts and eyes of many, I'll always be a Jew. Used to be, America was a place where you could occasionally forget this. Not lately, and, to coin a phrase, never again.

I posted this, and a friend pointed out in comments that it would be nice to push the creepy anti-Semites right off the front page. Now I'm going around spamming people's comments to see if I can get his idea off the ground. If you're going to use a googlebomb, it may as well be a nuke:

jew
jew
jew
jew
jew
jew
jew
jew
jew

while we're on the subject, i wonder if there are any other search terms googlebombs could be used to rectify?

Here's a hint: look up "santorum."
; . )

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