[I was so upset about this that I rushed to get it up, with the usual skipped words and missed typos. I think they are all fixed now. I’m sorry for the sloppiness]
Well, isn’t that ducky! Google pledged last month to support the black community in its battle for “initiatives and product ideas that support long-term solutions to systemic racism, and has come up with a nifty way to do it that will assist racists of all colors everywhere.
Now, when you search for a business using the Google search engine or Google Maps, you’ll see the orange and black (wait, I thought orange WAS the new black!) badge above, just like the handy-dandy badges those clever Germans used to distinguish ethnicities before they just decided to kill them and be done with it, next to black-owned businesses. The device will allow all those black users who hate whites and want their businesses to fail to only use businesses owned by brothers. Of course, it will also allow evil whites to avoid businesses owned by blacks and patronize businesses owned by white devils like them. This, of course, would be wrong, and more reason for potential black customers and clients to boycott white owned businesses, even if they have earned trust and loyalty in the community. After all, they might be owned by dirty Jews. Blacks who use the badges to discriminate against white-owned businesses will be engaging in impeccable conduct that isn’t racist at all.
It’s marvelous of Google to make this effort to bind our troubled community together by making racial discrimination of the sort that Black Lives Matter craves so convenient.
Allow me to discard the irony and sarcasm to be direct. This is societal poison. If Google will do this, the same logic will dictate that it have “badges” for Muslim-owned businesses and Christian-owned businesses (yes, and Jewish-owned businesses). Then we will see badges flagging Republican owned bars and restaurants and Democratic ownership of gas stations and markets, and, soon, as Clarence Darrow said in the grand conclusion of his opening statement in the Scopes trial, this nation will have “the setting of man against man and creed against creed until, with flying banners and beating drums, we are marching backward to the glorious ages of the sixteenth century when bigots lighted torches to burn” those who were different from themselves.
It should not matter to any American citizen whether the owner or management of a business is black or white, or whether the ownership “looks like” that that citizen. If it does matter, then that citizen is a bigot, and I renounce and condemn him or her. American citizens are obligated to embody American values, which celebrate competition, fairness, achievement, excellence and performance, to reward businesses that give patrons of all origins the goods and services they want and need, at the best prices, reliably and well.
I know the Marxist, racist movement now tearing up our nation wants to elevate race above such substantive factors—not all races, mind you, just the right race–but it won’t get anything but opposition from me. I now pledge not to use any business that uses such a badge—a business has to assent to them—not because it is black-owned, but because it is endorsing racial discrimination for its own benefit, and harming my country as a result.
As for Google, I’m certain its management is intelligent enough to know that its badge scheme enables racism rather than ameliorates it. Like most of the companies we have seen groveling to Black Lives Matter, it doesn’t care about the real consequences of its virtue-signaling and grandstanding, or won’t until we make this particular offense an embarrassment and a liability.
Ethics Alarms 
Just a note to point out that it could be construed as a pair of black buttocks, bending over.
Or, as one wag noted over at Althouse, an easy chair.
Give Google credit for getting rid of it’s “Don’t be evil” credo before doing this…
Google deserves my boot up their dumbass for this one.
Personally I purchase locally and I don’t give a damn about the color of the skin of the owners or the employees.
“in my businesses, there is no such thing as black power or white power or brown power… The only power is green power”
–Glenn W. Turner
I have done a couple of searches for stuff but I haven’t seen that icon. Perhaps shades of the Night of the Shining Crystals may have set some alarms ringing?
jvb
This is new, apparently.
Isn’t this a back-handed way of admitting that systemic racism doesn’t matter?
People are going to fall into three camps:
1 Go out of their way to patronize black owned businesses
2 Don’t care
3 Go out of their way to avoid black owned businesses
For this to be successful, then one must figure that category number 1 is bigger than category number 3. One must be confident to take the gamble. Since the left and the BLM crowd is advocating this, they must be confident that category 1 is bigger than category 3. If that’s the case, where is the systemic racism?
For Google to supposedly hire the best and the brightest, this turn of events and policy change does not reflect such hiring practices. It seems that every turn and pivotal juncture Google is making not only the wrong decisions but destructive counterproductive ones as well. I am with Jack, and I will not be patronizing outfits using these divisive symbols. However, if I did, I would be looking out for my own. I am tired of people who can’t compete fairly on the levelest playing field in the world.
In contrast to the deification of the late Rep. John L. Lewis, this is how Google commemorates the death of Herman Cain. Very telling. Marxist assholes.
I’m going to bring this to our SEO analysts. I’m even more curious to know if not just badges are being handed out but if algorithms are being adjusted as well; like whether “near me” searches are now pushing results toward black owned businesses rather than a result that best fits your query.
It’s Google’s world. We just live in it.
That Google would provide, and businesses would claim badges indicating owners belong to a certain racial group, or are women or LGBT, is an advertising tool. It’s an opportunity to tell the public something about a business that will hopefully increase sales. If black or female owned businesses are discriminated against in the marketplace the LAST thing one would do is call attention to these facts.
Many advertising media have expressly forbidden any religious reference such as “Christian Owned” or symbols such as the cross. Try getting an ad with either run in the NYT.
If a business wants to identify as black-owned, or woman-owned, it is because they think it will help them in the marketplace, not because of the crushing discrimination they face.
Well yes, Captain Obvious, but that isn’t even close to the issue. It is per se a racist label. If businesses would talk badges that signified “not Jewish owned,” you could say the same thing. If someone is more likely to patronize a store because its owners are black, that means not patronizing a white-owned store because its owner is white. There’s no way around it. It’s discrimination on the basis of race.
Absolutely agree. Point was more that if systemic racism negatively impacted black owned businesses, no business would use the badge. That if businesses want the badge, it proves that Google is offering a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. If the claimed reason for the badge is false, then why is it offered? The answer is as you outline above.