trenchant.org - daily

You probably already read about it but - BBC News -'Miserable failure' links to Bush - George W Bush has been Google bombed.

(I of course like the BBC article better than the rest of the coverage since it actually mentions me, and I guess I'm just a famewhore at heart.)

I still find it odd that people think that manipulating search rankings is a valid form of civic action or protest, let alone something worthy of media attention. I personally doubt that search engine rankings really affect our political system. Although the language and terms we use and hear in the media certainly color the way the populace views politicians, I don't see how this sort of thing makes much of a difference. Maybe now that it's been picked up by the mass media, it might. But I can't see people changing their votes for or against Bush because of this.

If anything, it's probably just an indication of the importance that people put on search results, and people's general fascination with Google and search engines in general.

Maybe I just find it a little disappointing that people would choose one of Dick Gephardt's moronic soundbites as something to base a protest around. It seems like people could have come up with a more clever phrase. Like "war profiteer" or "worse than Hoover." (Ok, maybe not those, but, something funnier that might actually say something.)

Also funny but not reported elsewhere: a search for just 'miserable' or 'failure' will also yield Bush's biography. [screenshot, screenshot]

— December 12, 2003

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