As most of you are aware, when typing a search term in to Google, the omniscient search engine usually helps you with a slight assist: it lists a bunch of guesses for what it thinks you intend to type even before you are done typing. It prognosticates based on other people’s searches. Go try it yourself. Type in “Sepia” and see what suggestions it offers you.
Often times the suggestion are really silly, often times scary.
I simply could not believe that the following was true so I tried it myself. It was true. I found this at Digg.com today. Click to enlarge the image.
Understand what I am showing you here? Either by their own decision or at someone’s request, Google is actively suppressing its own suggestions feature when someone types in “Islam is…” None of the other religions seem to get such special treatment. Interestingly, the suggestions are also suppressed if someone types in “Christians are,” “Hindus are,” “Muslims are,” etc. My point? This sort of selective suppression is incredibly stupid. People, however bigoted in their intentions, should be able to search for anything they want. This is akin to a form of censorship in my view. It is also kind of patronizing. Does Google think followers of Islam need extra shielding from bad intentions? I don’t want this same treatment given to the other religions either. I should be able to search for hateful terms if I want to.
It looks like Wired.com saw the same Digg post I saw and decided to ask Google. Here is the response they received:
But Google says it’s just a software problem.
“This is a bug and we’re working to fix it as quickly as we can,” a Google spokesman told Wired.com.
The suggestion feature relies on your previous searches and searches from users globally. Google says it filters out “pornographic terms, dirty words, and hate and violence terms.”[link]
I’m not sure I buy the “software bug” explanation.
This is an interesting webpage: http://www.religioustolerance.org/rel_plur.htm
It defines:
Extreme Particularism Exclusivism Agnostic Particularism Traditional Particularism Inclusivism Pluralism
The Arya Samaj is a reformist movement as well as an evangelistic one. Is it one or both of those aspects you’re referring to or something? And how would that make it less funny to Whitey?
1) what is with using the term “Whitey”? most of the world’s christians aren’t even white.
2) yeah. there are westerners who view arya samaj as ‘protestant hinduism,’ just as they view salafism as ‘calvinist islam,’ or reformed sri lankan buddhism as ‘protestant buddhism.’
3) i believe what most non-hindus find strange about hinduism is the pomp & pageantry. statues of gods and such. from what i am to understand arya samaj does away with much of that. so it doesn’t seem so strange to westerners. american catholics have toned down some culturally specific aspects of their practice when they moved from lain america or southern europe too.
The world must be a terrifying place for those who believe every other religion except theirs, and that too their particular denomination, is controlled by a supreme evil being, Satan.
right. “demon haunted world.” as an atheist, i find it ironic some that some of the most exclusive sects in the world seem to converge upon the most superstitious forms of animism in their belief that the supernatural pervades every actions.
Interesting…the origins of the Satan concept. How ironic that Zorastrianism would now be considered by Evangelical Christians as one of Satan’s.
“Archaeologists and anthropologists, religious historians and other researchers have traced the development of the concept of Satan from its origin in the Zoroastrian religion, via the ancient Babylonian Empire, to ancient Judaism, and finally into Christianity and Islam.” http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_sat1.htm
Like u said earlier, it is socialization. Their own ceremonies no matter how elaborate is normal to them. “People are strange when you’re a stranger.”
As for the Arunguzeb thing, don’t mistake his political actions as being the sum total of his actual beliefs. What he was able to do was constrained by his resources and competition. The harm he did inflict on Hindus led to widespread revolt, which means he had to try to tone down how hard he was willing to push. The Ismailis never had the level of political power or ability to challenge the Mughals that the Rajputs, Marathas, and other assorted Hindu rulers did.
this is fair. but do note that there’s data from other parts of the islamic world here. “heretical groups” which seem to be alternatives to islam are generally treated much more harshly than dhimmis as a matter of policy (though sometimes dhimmis are treated as harshly, i don’t know of circumstances where heretics get more slack than dhimmis). the relationship between the alawites and druze with muslims has been fraught to a great extent in a way that that of jacobite or melike christians in syria have not been because of the relationship to islam (the alawites have reconfigured themselves as conventional shia, while the druze are now indisputably non-muslim, resolving the tensions). bahai in iran is the ideal exemplar since the religion is an outgrowth of shia revivalism. and it isn’t just the islamic world. catholic religious authorities in the hapsburgh empire kept track of jewish religious movements; so long as they kept with the bounds of rabbinical judaism they were tolerated, but if they started innovating so as to seem like a possible rival to christianity and not a ‘fossil faith,’ they were suppressed.
my only point is that from what i have seen the tension between affinal religions is qualitatively different than that between distance onces. there’s an aspect of Incommensurability in the latter case. by contrast, christian vs. muslim or jew vs. christian has a number of points of common interface and conflict.
Judaism’s view of Satan is very different from the Christian view and I think I like their version much better: http://www.beingjewish.com/basics/satan.html
“The Christians don’t understand how an angel of G-d can try to seduce people to disobey G-d, so they came to the unsupported conclusion that Satan must have rebelled against G-d. This is completely contrary to everything Judaism believes. We reject that interpretation entirely….. …The Hebrew word “Satan” means “Hinderer.” To hinder someone means to hold him back, to try to prevent him from doing something. G-d created the Hinderer to give us work to do in this world (see my article Why did G-d Create the World?). Satan is here to make things difficult for us, so we can overcome our evil temptations, and PASS the test. That is the purpose of Satan. Satan is an angel whose purpose has been determined by G-d. Temptation is there to try and deter us. It gives us the ability to do the wrong thing. More importantly, it gives us the ability to look at evil and refuse to do it. By presenting us with the opportunity to do evil, it gives us the ability to choose between good and evil. The ability to choose between good and evil is what gives us free will. (See my article On the Nature of Free Will)…. …The truth is that Satan has a job to do, just like every other angel. And angels have no free will. They do as Hashem commands them…
Also this link: http://www.outreachjudaism.org/satan.html
Judaism’s view of Satan is very different from the Christian view and I think I like their version much better: http://www.beingjewish.com/basics/satan.html
“The Christians don’t understand how an angel of G-d can try to seduce people to disobey G-d, so they came to the unsupported conclusion that Satan must have rebelled against G-d. This is completely contrary to everything Judaism believes. We reject that interpretation entirely….. …The Hebrew word “Satan” means “Hinderer.” To hinder someone means to hold him back, to try to prevent him from doing something. G-d created the Hinderer to give us work to do in this world (see my article Why did G-d Create the World?). Satan is here to make things difficult for us, so we can overcome our evil temptations, and PASS the test. That is the purpose of Satan. Satan is an angel whose purpose has been determined by G-d. Temptation is there to try and deter us. It gives us the ability to do the wrong thing. More importantly, it gives us the ability to look at evil and refuse to do it. By presenting us with the opportunity to do evil, it gives us the ability to choose between good and evil. The ability to choose between good and evil is what gives us free will. (See my article On the Nature of Free Will)…. …The truth is that Satan has a job to do, just like every other angel. And angels have no free will. They do as Hashem commands them…
Huh. There is no eternal hell in Judaism, plus it seems people who have died can be placed in the body of a child soon to be born. More than one human life to be lived…
“…Judaism has no eternal hell. That is a Christian invention, to the best of my knowledge. “The judgment of the wicked in purgatory is twelve months,” says the Talmud (Sabbath 33b). Nevertheless, there are exceptions where one might have to go for a little longer.
Sometimes, a soul that has already been here on earth is returned to earth and placed into the body of a child soon to be born. This happens for several reasons. The primary reason is as follows: A person has a job to do on earth. If that job is not done, the soul might have to come down to try again….
…If a person does not accomplish what he has been sent down on earth to accomplish in his first lifetime, he might be sent down to try again. And again. And again. (I do not know if there is a limit.)
There are numerous other things that can bring someone down again. One example (of many) is someone who has died without paying back a loan or something he stole. He is sent down and given the opportunity somehow to do something for the person he owes the debt to.
And sometimes a completely righteous person with no sins is sent down again to be a guide and teacher for others who need him or her….” http://www.beingjewish.com/soul/soul.html
It seems Judaism is more compatible with religions like Hinduism and Buddhism.
sameer, there are streams within islam and christianity which have come to the same positions as judaism. more so in christianity from what i know. see the presiding bishop of the episcopal church: http://geoconger.wordpress.com/2009/04/17/presiding-bishop-jesus-is-not-the-only-way-to-god-cen-41709-p-7/
evangelical 36% mainline protestant 12% historically black church 34% agree with “My religion is the one, true faith leading to eternal life”
catholics – 16% mormons – 57% orthodox – 20% jehovah’s witness – 80% jews – 5% muslims – 33% buddhists – 5% hindus – 5%
http://religions.pewforum.org/comparisons data for USA
It looks very likely to be a software bug/exception.
Try typing Islam in/at/on etc – they all generate suggestions, “Islam a” generates a lot of negative suggestions. Similarly, “Muslim is” generates a lot of negative suggestions. The problem is probably due to the Is at the beginning of the word ‘Islam’.
Interesting…the rabbi attributes the Christian idea of God and a rebellious angel, this dualism, to be from Zoarastrianism. Apparently it goes against the Jewish notion of monotheism to have something like the Christian devil who rebels against God and has a rival kingdom. I begin to wonder if Jews look at Gentiles in the later two Abrahamic faiths and think “Oy vey!”:
“…In Christian theology God never created evil; He is only the author of righteousness and perfection, as you maintained in your question. Therefore, God could never create something as sinister as the devil himself. Rather, Satan’s unyielding wickedness is the result of his own spiritual rebellion.
Although this well-known Christian doctrine has much in common with the pagan Zoroastrian Persian dualism out of which it was born, it is completely alien to the teachings of the Jewish faith and the words of the Jewish scriptures. In fact, the Christian teaching that Satan was originally intended by God to be a good angel but, in an act of outright defiance, ceased to function as God had intended him to, suggests that God created something imperfect or defective.
For the Jewish faith, Satan’s purpose in seducing man away from God poses no problem because Satan is only an agent of God. As a servant of the Almighty, Satan faithfully carries out the divine will of his Creator as he does in all his tasks.
Satan is one of the many angels mentioned in the Bible. It is worth noting that the Hebrew word for angel is malach, meaning “messenger.” The same is true for the English word angel, derived from the Greek word angelos, which also means “messenger.” Throughout the Bible, an angel is a messenger of God who carries out the divine will of the Almighty. There is not one example in the Jewish scriptures where any angel, Satan included, opposes God’s will….” http://www.outreachjudaism.org/satan.html
This is not a thread for debating religion. All further comments along those lines will be deleted. Thanks.
Agree with ittef above, I tried the same phrases and they all produce the standard suggestion list. It is probably a quirk in their system, not an instance of censorship.
The white Christians are, at this point of history, rich. If they choose, they can force their views on others, both by soft power and by military power.